The 7 Schools of Psychology: Basics, Summaries, and the Best Expert Resources
Counseling & TherapyThe 7 Schools of Psychology: Basics, Summaries, and the Best Expert Resources
The human mind is so vast. No two brains are alike. Which is why psychologists have spent their lives researching what makes a person tick. Why are we the way we are? Why do we feel this way? Why do we act and react in the ways we do? Why, why, why, indeed.
Psychologists are devoted to understanding how someone thinks and behaves, and after years of collaborative research, the major schools of thought in psychology were born.
There are seven schools in psychology: Structuralism, Functionalism, Gestalt Psychology, Behaviorism, Psychoanalysis, Humanism, and Cognitive Psychology. (Note: this is different from the seven approaches to psychology, another topic worth researching.)
These "schools" are the perspectives of groups of experts who share common characteristics of opinion or outlook of a discipline, belief, social, cultural, or art movement. The seven schools of psychology offer various viewpoints needed to understand human life. Here is a breakdown of all seven of the schools and their individual routes toward understanding what makes all of us tick.
Structuralism
What is Structuralism?
Structuralism focuses on relationships of contrast between elements in a conceptual system that reflect patterns underlying a superficial diversity. German physiologist, philosopher, and professor Wilhelm Wundt dedicated his life to experimental psychology [1]. Today, it’s known as structuralism. In the 1800s, Wundt started a research laboratory with the goal of breaking consciousness down into manageable chunks that could be measured. By understanding the structural components of consciousness, Wundt hoped to uncover how the mind operated as a whole.
A key tenet of Wundt’s structuralism was introspection. Introspection is a process of trying to isolate the individual components of perception in order to understand consciousness.
For instance, participants in a lab might be asked to describe the experience of viewing a single colored tile or a black spot on a piece of paper. Eventually, structuralism faded in favor of functionalism, which is up next.
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Functionalism
What is Functionalism?
Functionalists believe that the learning process was aided by consciousness. The study of functionalism also deals with personality, intelligence and other practical problems related to the field of education. The functionalist is interested in the learning process because the learning process is one of the means of adjustment of man to the environment where he lives.
Functionalism’s main proponent was William James, a Harvard professor in the 1800s who believed that consciousness couldn’t be understood by breaking it apart [2]. Instead, he believed that psychologists must understand the function of one’s mental abilities and experiences in order to understand how the mind works. Take, for instance, the emotional experience of fear. James would look to understand how fear serves an adaptive purpose (like motivating one to avoid a certain situation) rather than focusing on the experience of fear itself (as a structuralist would have done).
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Gestalt Psychology
What is Gestalt Psychology?
The Gestalt psychologist analyzes experience by configuration, whole or patterned. These psychologists give importance to the wholeness in the process of learning. They give emphasis that the whole is greater than the sum to its parts. This means that in order to understand perception, we shouldn’t think in terms of isolated pieces, but in terms of how those pieces come together.
Gestalt therapy was originally developed by Frederick Perls, better known as Fritz, in reaction to Freud's psychoanalytic theory. In Gestalt therapy, a person is seen as having a natural tendency to regulate the self: that is, to grow and develop, people strive to maintain a balance between need gratification and tension elimination. This process is referred to as organismic self regulation. At any given time a person is faced with imbalance, either through internal or external demands, so that balance is never maintained.
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Behaviorism
What Is Behaviorism?
Behavioral psychology focuses on the learning process and learning behavior, and how people are controlled by the environment around them. It revolves around the idea of how our observable behavior (the response) is the result of the environmental factors (stimuli). The hope is that if psychologists can use behavioral psychology to help us predict how humans will behave, humanity can build better habits as individuals, create better products as companies, and develop better living spaces as communities [3].
John B. Watson is usually credited as the founder of behaviorism, with his publication of Behaviorism in 1925 being a seminal moment in the field and one of the earliest behavioral psychology books [4]. Watson believed that classical conditioning was both necessary and sufficient to describe and account for all instances of learning across all species. Some 25 years later, B.F. Skinner developed the theory and principles of operant condition. Operant conditioning states that behaviors that are reinforced are more likely to occur, but reinforcement can become a complex proposition.
Ultimately, the behavioral approach to psychology rejects the idea that people have free will, and that the environment determines all of our behavior. Its greatest strength is its ability to clearly observe and measure behaviors.
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Psychoanalysis
What is Psychoanalysis?
Psychoanalysis was developed by Dr. Sigmund Freud. He developed this theory explaining the physical, nervous and emotional disorders with the organic explanations. Sigmund Freud is interested in the subconscious mind [5]. According to him, our behavior and feelings are powerfully affected by unconscious motives. The unconscious mind comprises mental processes that are inaccessible to consciousness but that influence judgments, feelings, or behavior. According to Freud, the subconscious mind is the primary source of human behavior. Like an iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the part you cannot see. Our feelings, motives, and decisions are actually powerfully influenced by our past experiences, and stored in the subconscious.
Unconscious thoughts and feelings can transfer to the conscious mind in the form of parapraxes, popularly known as Freudian slips. We reveal what is really on our mind by saying something we didn't mean to say.
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Humanism
What is Humanism?
Humanistic psychology focuses on the idea that people are driven to grow, do their best, and enhance themselves. It is a perspective that emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans. While behaviorism focuses on how the environment affects an individual, humanistic psychology understands the true nature of the individual [6]. This approach believes that we, as individuals, possess some degree of self-control and are capable of determining our own behavior, and that we possess free will and are ultimately responsible for our actions and behavior. The late Carl Rogers, founder of the humanistic psychology movement, revolutionized psychotherapy with his concept of "client-centered therapy." His influence has spanned decades, but that influence has become so much a part of mainstream psychology that the ingenious nature of his work has almost been forgotten.
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Cognitive Psychology
What Is Cognitive Psychology?
This area of psychology focuses on mental processes, such as memory, thinking, problem-solving, language, and decision-making. It compares the human mind to a computer with the way it receives and processes information and how this information is stored and utilized. Cognitive psychologists are interested in mental plans and thoughts that guide and cause behavior and affect how people feel. Intelligence testing and information-processing theories are examples that fall within the cognitive metatheory [7].
It revolves around the idea that if we want to know what triggers people’s reaction and why they act the way they do is to figure out what processes are actually going on in their minds. Think about when someone tells you to look on the bright side. They’re coming from a cognitive perspective. And when something bad happens, most people feel better if the issue is resolved. But how should you feel if nothing changes? Do you have to feel bad forever? Cognitive psychologists say no. In most cases, people can change the way they think about a situation.
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Buying Guide
If you’re interested in learning even more about psychology, consider taking courses from Coursera.
But if you’re looking to get a psychologist to learn more about your own mind, BetterHelp is the way to go.
Keep your mind sharp with online brain teasers at MentalUP.
Thriftbooks has all the psychology books you’d need to learn about what doctors like Wundt, James and Skinner discovered.
And if you’re looking to delve into your past and how it’s affecting you now, sign up for 23andMe.