FREE ESSAY ON PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

Question 1
Psychology as a science has developed over a long period of time, literally
centuries. During this period of time , man individuals have had an impact on the
development of Psychology as a science. Select three individuals, describe in detail the
contributions of the individuals, and discuss the significance of the person to the
development of Psychology as a science.
In this paper I am going to talk about three different individuals , and describe 
their contributions to Psychology. I am also going to talk about how there contributions
had a significant effect on Psychology as a science. These three people are the three
that I 
consider the most important people of Psychology. Psychology is an interesting science 
in which we need people to help explain why things are the way they are. Many people 
make an attempt to explore this science , but it takes dedication to actually get
something 
out of it.( Themes ).
One of the three people I consider a big impact on Psychology is Wilhelm Wundt. 
Known as the founder of psychology as a formal academic discipline. Wundt founded the 
school of Structuralism. This concept evolved out of the mechanistic nature of the 
Industrial Revolution and the Scientific method of experimentation. Structuralism 
attempted to discover the nature of consciousness into separate parts, and to ultimately

discover the structure of consciousness. Wundt held the first academic course in 
psychology in 1862, and he set up the first experimental laboratory where he conducted a

series of experiments to determine the dimensions of feeling and perception. Wundt help 
people to be able to break things down into groups for what he thought easier 
management . Wundt significance was that he was the first person to actually introduce 
the subject of psychology to others and get them involved ( uidaho.edu ).
Another great Physiologist is Ivan Pavlov. Ivan Pavlov was born in a small 
village in central Russia. His parents wanted him to be a priest , but he soon found that
he 
cared more for scientific pursuits. He then began to study chemistry and physiology and 
soon began to research topics that interested him the most: digestion and blood 
circulation. His work became well known , and he was appointed professor of 
physiology at the Imperial Medical Academy. The work that made Pavlov a household 
name in psychology actually began as a study in digestion. He began looking at the 
digestive process in dogs, especially the interaction between salivation. He soon after 
doing much studying relized that the reason for dogs salivating was the excitement of 
getting food. In his study of the he used different types of ''conditioning '' seeing 
different points when the dog salivates. His over all theory is that the dogs salivates 
because of the expectation of food becoming present .Pavlov signigicance to psychology 
is that something such as dog salivating and no one understood why or much less even 
thought about it, but Pavlov wondered why and found and answer ( uidaho.edu).
The third person that I will discuss in this paper is B. F. Skinner. Skinner went to 
Harvard to study psychology since he had always enjoyed observing animal and human 
behavior. Skinner found himself more and more a behaviorist. He worked in the lab of 
an experimental biologist, however, and developed behavioral studies of rats. He then 
decided to design boxes to automatically reward behavior, such as depressing lever, 
pushing a button, and so on. He then had an interest in pigeons, he developed the ideas
of 
" operant conditioning " and " shaping behavior ". Unlike Pavlov's " classical 
conditioning " where an existing behavior is shaped by association it with a new 
stimulus. Operant conditioning is the rewarding of a partial behavior or random act that

approaches the desired behavior. Skinner's over all believe is that someone with an 
empty system can be anything at that point and time only ( Themes ). Skinner's 
significance to psychology was that he helped people understand that he can get someone 
or something to do anything by using types of conditioning.
All three of these people had a big impact on psychology. All of them had a desire 
to learn and a passion for the science as a whole. This paper talk about how Wilhelm 
Wundt that of things as Structurlism as he broke it down. It also talks about B.F.
Skinner 
who believed he could take anything with a completely empty system and make it into 
anything he wanted to. This paper also talked about Ivan Pavlov and how he came 
interested in dogs, and why they salivate. Pavlov used " Classical Conditioning". All 
three of these people had a great influence in psychology and help other people 
understand different behaviors.