WOMEN AND RACE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY - Essay Example

Introduction While it is true that recent studies has focused on the roles of women on the development of psychology, historically, men are almost exclusively credited for its creation and development and this has been the case for since time immemorial. The subtle subordination of women in the historical foundation of psychology has even carried on up to the present times. Rummaging through the rich historical literature, it can be found that the foundation and development psychology is associated to the greats of the early Greek civilizations.

Famous ancient Greek philosophers including Thales has come up with detailed theory on what they initially called psuche and terminologies that cropped up within the field (Everson, 1991). As a matter of fact, famous Greek philosophers like Plato, Pythagoras and Aristotle had accounts of the study of the human mind and soul (Durrant, 1993). By and large, historical accounts really point towards men as the pioneers in the discovery and development of psychology. Even in the Western Culture where the use of the term psychology was first initiated by German Scholastic philosopher Rudolf Gockel (Durrant, 1993).

Rene Descartes and other famous mathematicians have also been credited for its creation. Psychology spread all over Europe, and up to this day, perhaps, the most influential of all psychologists is Sigmund Freud. Now, apart from the fact that although women “may” have significant contributions to its development, there is also the issue of race and color. The creation of psychology has been dominated by White men. Throughout history, there are no substantial accounts that integrate Blacks in the development of psychology – it has all been White people.

And it is this fact even though psychology has travelled across continents. Barring women and people of color from early psychology Themes of disenfranchisement and subordination would encompass this whole argument. First of all, I think the reason why women are not significantly credited to the development of psychology is that in the ancient civilizations, women are considered subordinates of men. They are deemed as helpers or housekeepers and are oftentimes put on the sidelines when it comes to discussing important societal issues.

This argument can be validated by the fact that although women have relatively come out as great contributors to the field i.e. Anna Freud, Mary Ainsworth, and Karen Horney among others, they only came out at the later part of the field’s development. Just as any other intellectual fields in social science and natural sciences, women in the history of psychology were considered as second-rate from that of the White men. This is despite the great possibility that women could have better improved the overall contents of psychology today.

For instance, Anna Freud, who is the late daughter of arguably the most famous psychologist of all, Sigmund Freud, developed a psychological theory on child psychology, which improved our understanding of child development and welfare. My take on this case is that women are just as equally talented as men. Unfortunately, because of how largely patriarchal ancient civilizations were, the creation and development of psychology has merely bloomed from the perceptions and notions of White men. It is fair to infer that psychology today is much more like field of varying maturity: although it has established its influence and importance in our society almost completely, some parts of it are still under development such as child psychology and feminine psychology (developed by Karen Horney), because the recognition that they are able to come up with solid psychological theories came in late.

The Issue of Race Disenfranchisement is another issue in the lop-sided development of psychology. While it is true that there were Black people that contributed to the development of psychology, the credits almost exclusively go to the White men. This I think roots from the fact that Black people during the time are deemed as slaves and are thought of as dumb and uneducated; that is why, although there were some who made contributions to the field, their identities were not as clearly recognized in most historical texts of psychology because of certain racial issues.

References Durrant, M. (Ed). (1993). Aristotle’s De Anima in focus. London: Routledge Everson, S. (Ed.)(1991). Companions to Ancient thought 2: Psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press. .