CHAPTER

2
Emergence of Western
Psychology
Psychology as a discipline owes its genesis to numerous ancient cultures. Until the
middle of 19th century, psychology was widely regarded as a branch of philosophy.
It was during the last quarter of 19th century that the Western world began to
seriousty pursue psychology as a scientific discipline.

WesternPsychology
The roots of Western psychology can be traced to Greek philosophy. The word
psvchologv itself is derived from the Greek words 'psyche' which means 'study'.
Psychology chus started as a part of philosophy and became an independent
discipline much later. VWhile psychology did not emerge as a separate disipline
to the time of the eary
until the late 1800s, its eariest history can be traced back
Grecks. During the 17th century, the French philosopher Rene Descartes
introduced the idea of dualism, which asserted that the mind and body were two
entities that interact to form the human experience. Many other issues still
debated by psychologists today, such as the relative contributions of nature v/s
nurture, are rooted in these early philosophical traditions.
The journy f emergenes of Westem psychology is divided into thre periods
(i) Greek heritage (ii) Medieval period (üü) Modern period

Greek Heritage
The modern ideas about mind and its functioning were derived from Greek
Philosopthy. The eminent Greek philosophers who made relevant contribution in
field of psychology are Alcmeon, Hippocrates (460-370 BC), Socrates (469-399 Cin this Chapter
BC), Plato (428-348 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC).Alcmeon was an ancient
Greek physician who laid the foundation of psychology as a science in 6th " Westem Psychology
century BC. Heproposed that 'mental life is a function of the brain.' Hisidea is " Different Schools of Thoughts
even relevant today, where we studies the relationship between mental processes " Founding Paths of Academic
and brain ín the realm of psychology. PsychalogY
" Issues in Psychology
Hippocrates proposed a typology of human personality on the basis of body Indic Inñuences on Modem
fluid or humour ie. sanguine (blood), melancholic (black bile), choleric (yellow Psychology
bile) and phelgmatic (phlegm).
 27
Emergence of Western Psychology

Socrates recognised mind in addition to soul. He In the East, the Byzantine Empire preserved the knowledge of
analvsed the activities of mind in addition to as well as the Greeks and philosophers such as the Jewish Symeon Seth
soul. He had analysed the activities of mind in the form (llth century) and Niketas Stethatos (100-1090 CE) studied
of thinking, dreams, memory and imagination. Plato the nature of dreams and emotions, as well as studying mental
and Aristotle were the students of Socrates and they disorders and the brain.
further reinforced and strengthened the idea of
Gradually,psychology moved away from this focus and started
Socrates. But they do not believe on the concept of soul to establish itself as a scientific discipline which deals with the
called human being; a rational animal, stressing on
human ability to reason and think.
underlying human experience and behaviour. Psychology as a
separate area of study split away from philosophy a little over
Plato was always interested in knowing the role of mind 100 years ago.
in controlling human behaviour, thus, he was the one
who introduced the concept of dualism in psychology. Modern Period
Though he regarded body and mind to be two distinct, In 1879, the first Psychological Laboratory was established at
independent identity, but he could not clearly define the University of Leipzig by (1832-1920). the German
his stand. Philosopher-Psychologist Wilhelm Wundt The
Aristote, the student of Plato was the believer of the first formal Psychological Laboratory in the United States was
idea that soul and living body are inseparable. He set up at Johns Hopkins University in 1883 and within few
further explained his view point insisting that mind is years most of themajor universities had psychology laboratories
the result of psychological processes. It is then and departments.
necessary to understand those psychological processes Although still philosophical in part, psychology developed as a
incuding the activities of sense organs which help the new separate field of study in the last years of 19th century and
individual to experience his environment. Aristotle's iscaptured in Wilhelm Wundt's famous text book of 1890The
assumption had a scientific base, thus, it was accessible Principles of Psychology'.
for verification. It is true that brain controls our
conscious experiences and behaviour. Around 1890 a steady stream of what since then was considered
radical ideas and theories began to appear. While there were
Medieval Period pioneers before him, the acknowledged 'Father of Modern
Psychology' is Sigmund Freud. Over the past 125 years, the
In Europe, there is a huge gap in the development of world of psychology has witnessed the development of several
psychology and psychiatry between the classical period, approaches to theory and practice in response to Freud's work.
where scholars such as Aristotle and Plato first began to Included within the modern framework are names like BF
study the nature of thought and mind. Skinner, Jean Piaget, Carl Rogers, Carl Jung and Erik Erikson.
Commonly known as the Dark Ages from the 6th to the All saw the ongoing development of the human mind as the
13th centuries, this period began when the Roman product not of duality, but of tasks associated with conscious
Empire fell into a terminal decline, a period that we and unconscious levels of functioning. While each one
automatically associate with superstition and fear. It interpreted their findings differently there seemed to be a shared
ended with the work of the great Renaissance men, acceptance of Freud's hypothesis that human thought
whose studies into anatomy and willingness to functioned within its own structure. People achieved maximum
challenge the church laid the groundwork for the functioning or they are dysfunction in relationship to their
Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment itself, development.
where the great empiricists would finally start to probe Wundt, James and other psychologists did experiments to study
the mind. the mind and its processes. They studied the process by which
Scholars such as St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and one becomes aware of some external events and not to others.
Roger Bacon made some astute observations about Several exxperiments were done in the area of imagery, memory,
the inner workings of the human mind, providing a thinking and emotion.
foundation for the Renaissance.
 UGCNET Tutor
28 Psychology
Functionalism
Different Schools of John Dewey (1873-1954), James K Angell (1869.1 9401
and Harvey A Carr (1873-1954)
Thoughts are the main
functionalists. They proposed that psychology should study
what mind and behaviour do. They were interested in
In the initial years of 20th century the development of
psychology as an independent science gained its studying the adaptive nature of mind and behaviour, which
momentum. Different psychologists had different enables human to adjust to changing environment.
approaches to study human mind and behaviour. They held Basically it emphasised on the study function of mind and
quite different views on the nature of mind and proper behaviour like learning memory, problems solving and
subject matter of psychology. motivation that help people and animals to adapt in their
This lead to the emergence of different schools of thoughts environments, rather than the structure of human
like Structuralism, Functionalism, Bhaviourism, Gestaltism, consciousness which was the core basis of structuralism.
Psychoanalysis, Humanistic schools etc. These schools of This school of thought examined the ways in which
psychology set the direction of research on mind and behaviour allows people to satisfy their
behaviour in the early years of this century. needs.
Functionalists were more interested in the operation of the
whole mind rather than of its individual parts which was the
Structuralism focus of structuralism. William James was the founder of
This is the earliest School of Psychology which grew up functional psychology. He believed that introspection
around the ideas of Wilhelm Wundt in Germany and was could serve as one means by which mental activities can be
established at Cornell University in the United States by studied, but James relied on more objective measures,
the student of Wundt, Edward B Titchener. including the use of various recording devices and
examinations of concrete products of mental activities and
Structuralism focused On the basic elements of of anatomy and physiology (Gordon 1995). William James
consciousness. It focused on the 'units' which make up the wrote the first text book of psychology. He was highly
mind. They thought that in order to study mind one must influenced by Darwin's evolutionary theory; which states
study the basic or elementary unit of sensation, image, and that all characteristics of a species must
emotion which compose it. It sought to analyse serve some
adult mind (the sum total of experience from human adaptive purpose."
birth to Three parts ushered functional psychology into the modern
present) in terms of the simplest definable components and
then to find a way in which these day's psychology . Utilising the Darwinian ideology, the
complex forms. components together in
fit mind was considered to perform diverse biological
The major method used by the functions on its own and evolve as well as adapt to vary1ng
these elementary units of mind wasstructuralists discover the
to circumstances. Secondly, the physiological functioning of
introspection. Subjects organisms result in the
they experienced in consciousness. Lastly, the promisedevelopment
were trained to objectively report what of the
connection to a stimuli disregarding the significance or functional psychology in the of the impact of
value of that experience. improvement of education,
mental hygiene and abnormal states.
They believed that an experience should be
fact. For example A subject might be evaluated as a Gestalt School
coloured light, an odor, a tone and askedpresented with a
to describe it as In the early 20th century, a new
miutely as possible such as red, sweet, loud perspective called Gtsa
tone psychology emerged in
respectively. Titchener held the view that 'anatomy of the structuralism of Wundt. It was founded
Germany as a reaction to u
mind' had little to do with how or why the in 1912 by Max
mind functions. Wertheimer and his colleagues Kurt Koffka (1886-1*)
Though, Wundt is credited to be the and Wolfgang Kohler (1887-1967). They rejected u
structuralism, it was actually his student fosnder ofB principle of structuralism which emphasised that mind
Titchener who coined the term Edward
'Structuralism'. made up of simple elements. They pointed that mind is not
Structuralism essentially made up of combination of simple elements. Instead of
Though it was short lived,disappeared
it played an
when Titchener died.
looking at the components of the mind, Gestalt
development early
of important role in the
experimental psychology. psychology and emergence of greater than
psychologists emphasised that the whole of anything
sum of its parts.
Emergence of Western Psychology 29

The German word Gestalt means 'form' or

Behaviourism
configuration' and the Gestalt psychologists believed This School of Psychology originated around 1910 when John
that mind is the result of a whole pattern of sensory
activities and the relationships or organisations within B Watson (1879-1958) at John Hopkins University rejected
this pattern.
mind as the subject matter of psychology. He emphasised that
psychology must be concerned with the study of only
For Example behaviour; the observable or potentially observable behaviour
or activities of humans and animals.

DB He was influenced by the work of Ivan Pavlov on classical

conditioning and rejected the notion of 'mind' which is not
observable and 'introspection' which is not verifiable because
it is a subjective notion. In 1913, Watson in his article in
Demonstration of Gestalt
psychological review, wrote behaviourist view of psychology as
Psychology a purely objective and experimental branch of natural science.
When we look at the above figure we perceive it as 0 Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behaviour.
and 'B' inscribed on a wavy line rather than just dots or Introspection presents no essential parts of its methods, nor is
elements. The organisation of dots in a meaningful way the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness
gives way to our mental experience. Thus, they pointed a with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of
very important aspect of mental experience that it is consciousness. The behaviourist in his efforts to get a unitary
based on the organisation and patterning of elements and scheme of animal response, recognises no dividing line
is not due to simply the compounding of elements as between man and brute. The behaviour of man, with all its
proposed by structuralists. refinement and complexity, forms only part of the
The earliest Gestalt's work was mainly in the area of behaviourist's total scheme of investigation.
perception, with particular emphasis on visual perception
and organisation, as elaborated by the phenomena of Characteristics of Behaviourism
illusion. The concept of phi-phenomena is an optical Behaviourism has three important characteristics that define its main
illusion in which the light falling fromn a series of flashing idea. These are
bulbs on our retina, actually make us experience the " Discard all mentalistic concepts (sensations, images or
movement of light. Similarly in case when we are emotions), stick to stimulus-response terminology. It
watching movies in cinema hall, we actually have a series maintained that complex processes are compounds of more
of rapidly moving images of still pictures falling on our elementary ones. But its elements were the conditioned
retina and we experience movement in it. This responses. Behaviourists believed that complex human and
phenomena in which stationary objects shown in rapid animal behaviour is made up of almost all of our of
succession, transcending the threshold at which they can conditioned responses.
be perceived separately, appear to move, was given by They denied the existence of any inborn or innate
Wertheimer in 1912. behavioural tendencies and laid emphasis on learned
The explanation of this phenomena also strengthens the behaviour rather than unlearned behaviour.
Gestalt's view that our perceptual experience is more For investigation he studied animal behaviour and proposed
than the elements. Experience is holistic: it is a gestalt. that there is no difference between man and animal
behaviour. He argued that much can be learnt about human
Inthe next few decades, Wertheimer, Koffka, Kohler and behaviour by studying animal behaviour.
their students extended the Gestalt approach to the
problems of perception, learning, thinking, problem They also had belief on the 'Principle of Extreme
solving, motivation and social psychology. Infact Kurt Environmentalism', which says that environment shapes the
Lewin applied Gestalt principles in his filed theory of behaviour of the organisms. The behaviourist's approach in
personality. The main principle of Gestalt psychology psychology has a wide application in dealing with various
that whole is more than the sum of its parts has played an social problems as their principles can be applied in the
important role in the other areas including our prediction and control of human behaviour.
understanding of the brain and social behaviour.
 UGC NET Tutor . Psychology
30

Views of Various Psychologists Psychoanalysis

Behaviourism of Watson was further developed by many Although behaviourists had a major impact on psychology
influential psychologists like Skinner who applied even after Watson, some other approaches and views of
behaviourism to wide range of situations and further psychology were also developing. The major and the most
popularised the approach. radical viewpoint about human behaviour was presented by
BF Skinner was a radical behaviourist and refused to Sigmund Freud. Freud viewed human behaviour as a resut
acknowledge any part of mental events in human of urges, drives and past experiences.
behaviour. His study was focused on the relationship The crucial point which Freud made about these urges and
between reinforcements and response rate or probability. drives are that they are hidden from our awareness and in
He used his approach to describe environmental and other words are unconscious. Freud developed the theory of
behavioural events. personality while in his course of clinical practice. His
Another influential behaviourist was Edward Thorndike. theory visualised human mind in terms of different levels of
His work on learning theory has a lot of influences on the consciousness. The thoughts of which they were aware of
Skinner's work on operant conditioning Thorndike are in consciousness. Just next to consciousness is
developed his learning theory through studies on animals subconscious or preconsciouswhich we can recall or retrieve
and developed a very important law of learning called the from our memory and beyond the preconscious is
law of ctect which states that any behaviour which is unconscious. Unconscious is the deepest level which
followed by pleasant consequences is likely tobe continued contains the represed desires and impuses including
while any behaviour which is followed by unpleasant primitive and instinctual desires.
consequences are discontinued. Freud believed that human being is constantly struggling to
Ivan Pavlov another behaviourist is famous for his work on find a suitable and socially acceptable way to express these
classical conditioning (which we will study in detail in unconscious impulses and urges. He proposed the
chapter on learning). techniques like free associations, dream analysis as the ways
Another influential work in behaviourism was done by to approach the unconscious of a person.
Edward Chace Tolman. He focused on purposive The personality structure as defined by Freud consists of
behaviour. Purposive behaviour is directed towards a goal three structures, which are as follows
and terminates once the goal is attained. He also (i) ID It operates at an unconscious level and focuses
emphasised on the role of intervening variable in human or solely on basic, instinctual drives and desires. Eros and
animal behaviour. Intervening variables occur between Thanotos, the survival instinct and death instinct
environmental and behavioural events. An example of respectively makes up the Id. It is mainly concerned
Tolman intervening variable is 'Cognitive maps'. Cognitive with the immediate gratification of needs and desires.
maps are the mental representations one makes to make It follows the Pleasure Principle.
associations in order to reach goals.
(i) Ego/Reason It works on the reality principles and
One very important concept introduced by Tolman in his works to meet the Id needs of the 'Id' in a most socially
learning experiments was that of 'Latent Learning', which acceptable ways.
says that learning remains latent or hidden until an (ii) Super Ego/Conscience It works on the moral
organism has a reason to use it.
principle and represents the ideal. It creates the feeling
Thus, it can be concluded that of guilt on doing something wrong and
behaviourism gave many encourages us
important and valuable principles in the field of psychology to act in a socially and morally acceptable ways.
for study and better understanding of human
The three main theorists of behaviour. Ego Super Conscious
and Watson are behaviourism
vital not only to
-Skinner, Tolman Ego
Proconscious
psychology as a whole. behaviourism, but to
Without behaviourism the further modern Unconscious
would not have been possible in advancements
Behaviourism serves as the basis ofpsychology as till date.
further theory building
and new developments. Structure of Personality in Freudian Theory
Emergence of Western Psychology 31

Freud gave emphasis to childhood traumas as the key to assertive element-the animus and unconscious of every male
neurotic disorder during adulthood. He believed that includes a feminine passive element-the anima. Erik
people normally progresses through five stages of Erikson, Karen Horney, Eric Fromm and Alferd Adler too
psvehosexual development. Each of his five states focused are well known and influential psychoanalysts.
on different sources of pleasure. But psychoanalysis because of its lack of scientific approach
Stage Age Activity/Focus has to face a lot of criticisms and led to which development
Oral 0-2 yrs Infant achieves gratification through oral of Humanistic School of Thought.
activities such as feeding, thumb
Sucking etc.
Anal stage 2-3 yrs Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder Humanistic Psychology
elimination, coping with demands for Humanistic psychology developed as a response to
control.
psychoanalysis and behaviourism. It emphasises on looking
Phallic stage 3-6 yrs Pleasure zone is the genitals, coping at the whole individual and stresses the concepts such as
with incestuous sexual feeling
(oedipus-electra complex). free will, self efficacy and self actualisation.
Latency stage 6 to Dormant sexual feelings, identification Humanist thinkers believe that both behaviourism and
puberty process-gender identity.
Maturation of sexual interests.
psychoarnalysis have a pessimistic approach as these schools
Genital stage Puberty
focus on the abnormal behaviour, tragedy and gives no
Freud believed that people acquire defences to transform importance to the personal choices of an individual.
the wishes of Id into an acceptable form. These defence Humanisticpsychology focuses on the whole person and
mechanisms are identifies each individual as unique such that the thought
processes of every individual can be different.
"Repression Threatening and disturbing thoughts are

pushed out of consciouness. They focus on individual's free will. Thus, each individual
" Denial Blocking of upsetting or overwhelming has an ability to make their own choices and select their
experiences from awareness. own path in life. Humanistic psychologists refer to this
Projection Attribution of own objectionable impulses to concept as "Personal Agency'.
another person. They believe on the goodness of humans beings and thus
Displacement A mechanism to satisfy an impulse by proposed that human have an innate desire to make world a
acting out on a substitute person in a socially better place. The emphasis of Humanistic psychology is on
unacceptable way. persons's perception of self worth, creativity and
" Regression Moving backward in development to cope overreaching human values. They pointed that the mental
with stress. and social problems that arise are the result of deviations
Sublimation Satisfying an impulse by acting on a from the natural tendency of humans to be good.
substitute, but in a socially acceptable way. According to Humanistic psychology,"people are

Freud gave a lot of emphasis to human dreams and studied continually looking for different ways to grow, to become
them intensively. He called dreams a royal road to better, toexperience self growth and self actualisation."
unconscious. He said that dreams fulfill three purposes. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers are the key psychologists
They work as wish fulfillment device, releases unconscious whose ideas have heavy influence on humanistic psychology.
tension and work as guardians of sleep. Other prominent thinkers were Rollo May and Viktor
Frankl.
However, the traditional psychoanalytic approach is
criticised on many grounds. It is said that the concepts are In 1943, Maslow described his hierarchy of needs in 'A
vaguely defined, distinctions are not made, techniques have theory of Human Motivation', published in 'Psychological
low reliability and the theory is not testable. Thus, posing a Review'.
question on efficiency of such approach in study of Human
Behaviour. In 1951, Carl Rogers published Client-Centered Therapy'
which described his humanistic client-centered approach to
Other major Psychoanalytic thinkers include Carl Jung who therapy. In 1961, 'Journal of Humanistic Psychology' was
gave the concept of Collective Unconscious and Archetypes.
He proposed that human psyche includes conscious as well published. It was in 1962 that the American Association for
as a shadow aspect that is unconscious. He proposed that Humanistic psychology was formed and by 1971,
the unconscious of every female includes a masculine, Humanistic psychology became an 'APA' division.
 32 UGC NETTutor " Psychology

In 1962, Maslow published, Toward a Psychology of Being', Ludwig Binswanger an existentialist, proposed that ou
in which he described humanistic psychology as the "Third conscious experience of being alive has three
force in psychology. The first and second being
Behaviourism and Psychoanalysis.
biological (umwelt), social (mitwelt) and inner components,
psychological (eigen melt).
The major strengths of Hunmanistic psychology lies in the fact
that it emphasises the role of the individual in controlling and Rollo May
determining their mental health. It also accounts the He introduced existential perspective in USA. May sauy
importance of environmental influences on our experiences. people living in the world of present experiences and
It also lifts the stigma on therapy and made it more normal ultimately being responsible for who they become.
and acceptable with a view that even a normal and healthy He believed that people lack the courage to face
individual can realise his/her full potential through therapy. their
destiny and while in the process of feeling from it they give
Humanistic psychology has a major impact on education, up much of their freedom. Having negated their
therapy, healthcare and other areas. Its relevance cannot be they likewise run from their responsibility and not freedom,
denied even today. It endeavours to empower individuals and being
willing to make choices, they lose sight of who they are
enhance well-being. The influence of which leads to insignificance and alienation.
can be easily seen on other areasHumanistic psychology
of psychology like He gave concepts of Normal Anxiety, Neurotic
Transpersonal psychology and Positive psychology. and Guilt. He wrote the famous book Love and Anxiety
Will. in
which many of his unique ideas can be found. He also
Existential Psychology
Existential psychology represents the philosophical root of
elaborated on forms of love in which sex is defined as a
biological urge that can be satisfied through sexual
the phenomenological approach to personality. intercourse or some other release of sexual tension.
Existentialism was at its height in 1930-1950's in Europe. Eros is a psychological desire of a lasting union with a
Key figures associated with this school of thought are
Jean loved one, Philia is intimate
Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Friedrich
Nietzsche, and Soren non-sexual friendship
Kierkegaard, who were earlier philosophers. between two people and Agape is altruistic brotherly love.
He defined certain stages of development,
The purpose of though these
Existentialism was to make contact of an were not as strict as that of Freud. Psychosexual stages,
individual with the experiences of being Alive and Aware. rather signify a sequence of major issues in an individual's
According to Existentialists, "Human beings have no life. These stages are
existence apart from the world. Being in the world or Dasein " Innocence Stage of infant,
pre-egoic, pre-self
is man's existence. The basic issue in life is that inevitably it " Rebellion Person wants freedom, but does conscious.
ends in death and we experience angst or not have
anguish because our understanding of the responsibilities attached to it.
awareness of death is inevitable." Thus, either human Ordinary The normal adult has learnt his
retreat into nothingness or have the courage to 'BE' being
order to 'BE', we have to live life and in responsibility, but finds it too demanding SO seeks
is about living genuinely with one'sauthentically. Authenticity refuge in conformity and traditional values.
angst Creative The authentic adult, the existential stage, self
meaning despite thetemporary nature of one's and achieving
existence. Life
has no meaning, unless you create it. actualising state.
Rollo May was one of the major
Existentialist philosophy and his ideas hadproponents
O
Viewson Existential Psychology wide influence
on numerous psychologists like Eric Fromm, who also
Friedrich Nietszche, said the only logical response to this focused on self expression and free will.
void and meaninglessness was to rise about it and becomne a
super man. According toExistentialists, "Human
all responsible for the choices they beings are Viktor Frankl
make, but
choices are also not the good ones always and the honest Hewas an influential Existential therapist. He developed
that make a what is called Logo therapy which is based on the principle
person feel guilty if he is unable to fulfill all the
ones' life." Existential guilt, possibilities in that the primary motivational force in human beings 1s
inescapable. existential anxiety or angst is their search for a meaning in life. Frankl's approach is
based on three philosophical and psychological concepts.
Emergence of Western Psychology 33

These are While the field of Transpersonal psychology formally

(i) Freedom of will (ii) Will to meaning began in 1960s, it had rooted in early work by
(iüi) Meaning of life Psychologists, including William James and Carl Jung
who were deeply interested in the spiritual aspects of
He believed that a person has a control over the choices they
make in their lives and thus have some control over their fate.
human nature. In addition of understading the spiritual
He also used the technique of Paradoxical intention in aspects of human nature, Transpersonal psychology also
treating his clients in which he encourages the client to strives to provide a deeper and richer understanding of
individuals and help them to achieve their greatest
exercise and even exaggerate their problem behaviour, in potential.
order torealise that they can have control over the problem
and thus can overcome it. Lofore and Shapiro identified spirituality, higher
He wrote many famous books like 'Man's Search for potential, transcendence and other states of consciousness
Meaning', The Will to Meaning, "The Doctor and The Soul' as the key concepts of Transpersonal psychology.
and 'Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning'. Transpersonal psychology addresses the full spectrum of
human psychological and spiritual development from our
Existentialists believe that individuals have free will and free deepest wounds and needs, to the existential crisis of the
choices of how to behave. So, they can choose better ways of human being, to the most transcendent capacities of our
coping with life's suffering. Existentialism is in fact a blend of consciousness. (Mariana Caplan's, book 'Eyes Wide
philosophy and psychology. Open: Cultivating Discernment on the Spiritual Path)'".
Transpersonal psychology has been attracting a lot of
Transpersonal Psychology attention in modern days as the theories and ideas from
Inspite of the popularity of Humanistic psychology, Maslow this field can be applied to different sub-fields of
and Switch began to get dissatisfied from the conceptual psychology. Mindfulness meditation is an element of
framework, which they created earlier. They were aware of the Transpersonal psychology which has become popular
truth that they have left out an extremely important element; these days.
the spiritual element of human psyche (Switch 1976).
The growing interest in Eastern spiritual philosophy, various Cognitive Revolution
mystical traditions, meditation and the widespread Cognitive Revolution in psychology is mostly a response
psychedelic experimentation during 1960s made it quite clear to behaviourism which emphasised on objectivity and
that a comprehensive and cross-culturally valid psychology focused on the overt behaviour for studying human
had to include observations from the areas like Psychedelic psyche. The focus on the principles of behaviourism had
experiences, trance phenomerna, creativity, religious, artistic pulled away the attention of psychologists from the mind
and scientific inspirations. for a prolonged period of time. Humanistic psychologists
In 1967, Abraham Maslow along with Anthony Switch, emphasised on studying human being as a whole and as a
Stanislar Grof, James Fadiman, Miles Vich and Sonya conscious and self aware being.
Margulie met with a purpose of creating a new psychology In 1950s, new disciplinary fields like linguistics,
that would honour the entire spectrum of human experience neuroscience and computer science again revived interest
ncluding various non-ordinary states of consciousness. They in mind as focus of scientific enquiry. This particular
Named this new discipline "Transpersonal psychology'. They perspective was known as the Cognitive Revolution. There
launched the Association of Transpersonal psychology and were numerous publications by psychologists which
arted the Journal of Transpersonal psychology. In 1975, further triggered the Cognitive Revolution e.g. George
KObert Frager founded the Institute of Transpersonal Miller's l1956 article The Magical Number Seven, Plus
Psychology' in Palo Alto. or Minus Two', linguist Noam Chomski's rejection of
the behaviourist approach in his 1959, review of BF
Transpersonal psychology integrates spiritual
transcendent exxperiences within the framework of modern
and
Skinner's "Verbal Behaviour (1957)', foundational works
psychology. It including, but
a range of themes transcendence, in the field of artificial intelligence by John McCarthy,
not limited to,encompasses
spiritual self-development, Marvin Minsky, Allen Newell and Herbert Simon, 1958
beyond ego experiences, peak experiences, mystical article 'Elements of a Theory of Human Problem Solving
periences, spiritual crises, altered states of consciousness, and Ulric Neisser's 1967 book 'Cognitive psychology.'
Spiritual practices and so forth. which served as a core text in cognitive psychology courses
 34
UGC NET Tutor " Psychology

and were the landmark contributions, Noam Chomski Multiculturalism

argued in favour of cognitive studies saying that
psvchology's focus on behaviour is short sighted, and the Multicultural psychology refers to the systematic
field had to incorporate mental functioning if it has to offer investigation, analysis and assessment of human behaviour
any meaningful contributions in understanding human as they are experienced in surroundings where people of
behaviour. different cultural background interact (American
Psychological Association, 2003). It studies the impact of
Advent of psychology towards cognitive processes for the culture on individual lives and behaviour.
study of Human Behaviour also led to several developments
in the field, as now European psychology which was never Multicultural psychology is one of the most recent and
influenced by behaviourism to a great extent like American dynamic fields in psychology and is crucial for learning the
psychology, witnessed the role of cognitive psychology in role of culture in psychological study. It is considered to be
reestablishing the line of communication between European the fourth force in psychology after psychoanalysis,
and American psychologists. behaviourism and humanistic psychology.
Furthermore, psychologists began to cooperate with Multiculturalism, emerged as a prominent area of interest
scientists in other fields like linguistics, computer science, during the Civil Rights Movement that started in 1964 in
neuroscience etc. This inter disciplinary approach was
USA. In this movement the minority ethnic group of people
known as cognitive science, and its influence and who were initially regarded as inferior were demanding
prominence is quite visible in modern day psychology. equal treatment especially in shelter, education and
employment opportunities. The study of psychology was
This development of information processing models, also affected by this as the provisions which psychology was
psycho linguistics and neuropsychology in the second half following tilldate were not culturally sensitive. Numerous
of the 20th century produced what has been called the psychologists pushed for necessary changes in the field.
Cognitive Revolution in psychology, which transformed nearly
all areas of the field. The necessary changes were made and brought in effect. In
2002, the APA's Ethical Principles of Psychologists and
This approach emphasised on cognitive processes and it Code of Conduct' were revised to include the diverse
claimed that the scientific analysis of mental processes and cultural issues (APA, 2003).
structures are possible.
The basic assumption of cognitive perspective was The APA (American Psychological Association) has also
established specific provisions for the enhancement of
" Only by studying mental processes we can understand multicultural psychology.
what organisms do,
Multicultural psychology has been developing since then as
" We can study mental processes in an objective fashion by aunique field of study. The importance of this field lies in
focusing on specific behaviours but interpreting them in the fact that it takes into account the uniqueness of groups
terms of underlying mental processes.
of people on the basis of their belief systems, values,
In making these interpretations, cognitive psychologists principles and norms that are part of the different cultures
have often relied on an analogy between the mind and a they belong to.
Computer. Incoming information is processed in various Moreover, psychology till then was just focussing on the
ways. It is selected, compared and combined with other
information already in memory, transformed, rearranged scientific dimensions in understanding human behaviour.
and so on. Now, with the advent of multiculturalism a lot of emphasts
was put on culture. Further studies in the field were not
In sum, during the 20th century the focus of psychology ignoring the aspect of culture in their research.
expanded. After rejecting conscious experiences as ill-suited The inclusion of different cultural themes in research has
to scientific investigation and turning to the study of overt,
observable behaviour, Psychologists are once again led to the elimination of stereotype tendencies.Most of tne
studies done initially in the field did not consider culture n
theorising about covert aspects of the mind, such as selecting theparticipants, thus, the conclusions made were
thoughts and emotions, but this time with much scientific
approach. not inclusive.
 35
Emergence of Western Psychology

Furthermore, the world is increasingly becoming globalised and the the father of Psychology. Wundt's contribution
development of multiculturalism in psychology has made it easy for in thefield is regarded to be very important as he
made a distinction between the field of
conducting investigations in diverse societies. 'Multiculturalism' is an
asset in the field which deals with human behaviour. philosophy and psychology. The impetus for the
establishment of the Wundt's lab was the belief
The understanding of multiculturalism has led to the formulation of that mind and behaviour like planets, chemicals,
better and appropriate interventions in the field and has also led to the
human organs coukd be subject to scientific
alleviation of hatred and discrimination. This subspeciality can be seen analysis. Wundt's own research was concerned
as enhancing the fields of psychology since cultural differences are primarily with the senses, especially vision, but
viewed as a part of humanity. Thus, it can be said that multicultural he and his co-workers also studied attention,
psychology is crucial in the development of the broad field of
emotion and memory.
psychology, as it has helped in understanding human behaviours from a
cultural perspective where people with different cultural backgrounds The laboratory set by Wundt became a focus
co-exist. for those with a serious interest in psychology,
first for German philosophers and psychology
The Most Important Approaches (Schools) of Psychology students then for American and British
School of Description students. All subsequent psychological
Important Contribution
Psychology laboratories were closely modeled in their early
Stracturalism Uses introspection to identify basic Wilhelm Wundt, Edward
elements, structures of psychological B Tüchener years on Wundt's model.
experience
Functionaism Atternpts to understand why animals William James Wundt's background was in physiology and this
and humans have developed the was reflected in the topics with which the
particula psychological aspect they institute was concerned, such as the study of
possess
Psychocynamic Focuses on rale of unconscious Sigmund Freud, Cart
reaction time and sensory processes, and
thoughts, feelings and menories and Jung Alfred Adler, Erik attention. Wundt's aim was to record thoughts
our early childhood experiences in Erickson and sensations, and to analyse them into their
determíning behaviour
Behaviourism
constituent elements in much the same way as a
Study of overt observable behaviour is John B Watson,BF
important Skinner chemist analyses chemical compounds in order
Cognitive The study of mental processes Hermann, Ebbighaus, to get underlying structure.
including percepion, thinking, memory Jean Piaget, Sir Frederic
and judgements Bertlelt His School of psychology was called voluntarism,
Social cultural Studies how the social situations and Fritz Heider, Leon the process of organising mind. During his
the cultures influence thinking and Festinger, Stanley
Schachter
academic career Wundt trained 186 graduate
behaviour students (116 in psychology). Edward
Titchener, Wundt's student promoted Wundt's
theory and described his system as
structuralism, or the analysis of the basic
elements that constituted the mind.
Founding Paths of Academic Wundt relied on Introspection to study mental
Psychology
Academic psychology assist the children with psychological needs and
processes. Introspection refers to observing and
recording the nature of one's own perceptions,
thoughts and feelings. Examples of
relates directly to their learning style, academic challenges, family
environments, learning disabilities and social interactions. The four introspection includes people's subjective
jounding pillar or famousscholars of academic psychology are Wilkln Wundt, reports of how hot or cold they perceive an
Sigmund Freud, William James, Wilhelm Dilthey. object to be, or how bright a flash of light seems
to be.

Wilhelm Wundt Though the method of introspection was

inherited from philosophy, Wundt added a new
Wilhelm Wundt opened the 'Institute for Experiment Psychology' at dimension to this concept. Pure self observation
the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879. This was the first was not sufficient. It had to be supplemented by
laboratory dedicated to psychology and its opening is usually thought experiments.
of as the beginning of modern psychology. Wundt is often regarded as
 36 UGC NET Tutor . Psychology

He trained psychology students to make observations. disorders, primarily of women with a wide variety of
Wundt's experiments systematically varied some physical symptoms, including physical symptoms and emotional
dimension of a stimulus, such as its intensity and used the disturbances, none of which had any apparent physical
introspective method to determine how these physical cause. Freud theorised that many of his patients' problems
changes modified the participants conscious experience of arose from the unconscious mind. Gaining access to the
the stimulus. He used the results to develop a theory of unconscious then was crucial for the resolution of patient's
Conscious Thoughts. problems.
The reliance on introspection, particularly for very rapid 'Psychoanalysis' is both a theory of personality and a
mental events, proved unworkable; even after extensive method of psychotherapy originated by Freud around the
training, different people produced very different turn of 20th century.
introspections about simple sensory experiences and few At the center of Freud's theory is the concept of
conclusions could be drawn from these differences. Though
Wundt's method of introspection did not remain a unconscious, the thoughts, attitudes, impulses, wishes,
fundamental tool of psychological experimentation past the motivations and emotions of which we are unaware. Freud
earBy 1920s, this greatest contribution was to show that believed that the childhood's unacceptable (forbidden or
punished) wishes are driven out of conscious awareness and
psychology could be a valid experimental science. become a part of the unconscious, where they continue to
The major contribution of Wundt to psychology was to do influence our thoughts, feelings and actions.
his research in carefully controlled conditions ie. In Classical Freudian Theory', the motivations behind
experimental methods. Wundt concentrated on three areas
of mental functioning- thoughts, images and feelings. These unconscious wishes almost always involved sex Or
are the basic areas studied under the realm of cognitive aggression. He said that sexual and aggressive impulses are
psychology. This means that the study of perceptual inperpetual conflict for supremacy with the defences against
processes can be traced back to Wundt. Wundt's work them. In 1897, he began an intensive analysis of himself. In
stimulated interest in cognitive psychology. 1990 his major work "The Interpretation of Dreams' was
published in which Freud analysed dreams in terms of
Wundt'sContribution in Psychology unconscious desires and experiences.
Wundt's contribution to psychology can be summarised in In 1902, Freud was appointed as the Professor of Neuro
four main points: These are as follow Pathology at the University of Vienaa and in 1910, the
(i) He wrOte first text book of psychology (Principles of International Psychoanalytic Association was founded by
Freud in collaboration with Carl Jung, a close associate.
Physiological psychology, 1873-74).
(ii) He set up the first Laboratory of Experimental Jung, later broke with Freud and developed his own
theories.
Psychology (1875).
(ii) He used the scientific method to study the structure of After World War First, Freud spent less time in clinical
sensation and perception. observation and concentrated on the application of his
(iv) He showed that introspection could be used to study theories to history, art, literature and anthropology. In
mental states in replicable laboratory experiments. 1923, he published The Ego and The ld', which suggested a
It was Wundt's
new structural model of the mind, divided into the 'id', the
contribution and interest in the field of 'ego' and the 'super ego'.
psychology in late 1800 and early 1900 that saved the
future of psychology to be known as a distinct field of study. It In particular Freud combined cognitive notions of
was Wundt's work and his establishment of a consciousness, perception and memory with ideas about
laboratory that cemented psychology's identity psychological biologically based instincts to forge a bold new theory of
as human behaviour.
legitimate discipline. He is therefore often referred to as
The Father of Experimental
Psychology'. The basic assumption of the psychoanalysis was that
behaviour stems from unconscious processes meaning,
Sigmund Freud beliefs, fears and desires that aperson is unaware of, but
Freud is one of the most influential and well knowm that nonetheless influence behaviour. Freud believed that
in psychology. Freud (1856-1939) was an Austrian
figures many of the impulses that are forbidden or punished by
neurologist who was fascinated by patient's suffering from parents and society during childhood are derived from
innate instincts.
hysteria and neurosis. Hysteria was an ancient diagnosis for
 37
Emergence of Western Psychology

Because each of us is born with these impulses, they

exert a schools of thought still in use such as cognitive behavioural
some manner. and behavioural schools. Functionalism focused on human
nervasive influence that must be dealt with in
Forbidding them merely forces them out of awareness into natural tendency for individualism and this heavily
influenced how education was structured. Janmes was
the unconscious. However, they do not disappear. They
may manifest themselves as emotional problems and influenced by his education in physiology and the work of
Charles Darwin. Functionalism was a much more systematic
symptoms of mental illness or as socially approved developed
behaviour such as artistic and literary activity. approach to study mental processes. He behaviour.
Functionalism in search for consciousness and
Freud believed that we are driven by the same basic
instincts as animals (primarily hunger, sex, aggression) and During his life, he was a member of the Theosophical
Society and one of the founders of the American Society for
that we are continually struggling against a society that Psychical Research. From spiritualism to pragmatic
stresses on a control of these impulses.
philosophy and the Functionalist School of Psychology,
Thus, it can be concluded that psychoanalysis suggested William James has something to add ; he was eventually
new ways of lookingat the human problems like aggression named the 14th most eminent psychologist of the 20th
which is viewed as an innate instinct. Freud's thoughts and century.
his perspective has a deep impact on the progress of the
field In his famous book The Principles of Psychology', James
learning
of psychology and also in the research and the
of
put forth four main concepts which are 'stream
happening in the field. will'. His book The
consciousness, emotion, habit and
Principles of Psychology' was a comprehensive work did
William James covering the entire field of psychology. The book itself
scholarly knowledge
William James was an American psychologist and more than providing a compendium of for
philosopher who is sometimes referred to as the
'Father of for intellectuals, it provided text for teaching and
James also
American Psychology'. He was the first to offer a course in learning. In addition to above concepts,
and discussed theories and hypotheses about centers of brain
psychology in United States. He wrote numerous books senses. The
the
emerged as the leading thinker during the later half ofboth receiving specific input from the physical
brain function,
in concept of instinct and the evolution of
19th century. His theories were influential
psychology and philosophy. particularly the cerebrum is also discussed.
in the
The topic of experimental psychology is covered
His approach in psychology was based on pragmatic and visual
book. He explained the concept of both auditoryaccustomed
of truth) and his
philosophy (pragmatism is a philosophycalled illusions. He explained that the mind becomes
work is still viable to many. Though he
information and when similar
thought, to recognise something that is repeated made and this
and thoughts from various sources and schools of stimuli is presented, an assumption is
believed
he carefully picked and choose only information he assumption is Illusion'.
to be useful.
Pragmatism and Functionalism are the two philosophies Various Concepts of Psychology
understanding of the consciousness,
used by William James to further his The four main concepts like habit, stream of The
work.
world around him. James put forward the pragmatic theory emotion and will, make up the bulk of his
re-define, erplanations of these concepts in his work are given as below
of truth and he used this philosophy to define and
tiltering answers to questions through this theory. " A Stream of Consciousness The metaphor 'a
stream of
his true consciousness' was coined by James. He showed a shift in
Although he was a trained Doctor, but he found then. It was no
how consciousness was understood till
interest in the workings of the mind. He began his career
With a doctorate in physical medicine, but from
there he longer a 'chain' of consciousness, strung together like the
links of the chain. It was a 'stream. always flowing and
Studied psychology and philosophy in the brightest and best
of his days. moving forward. According to James, "consciousness is
continuous and humans could never experience the same
He founded the 'School of Functionalism', which was a idea or thought more than once."
direct result of the 'School of Thought' founded by Wilhelm contribution was the
Wundt known as Structuralism. Wundt criticised " Emotion In emotion, his major
theory of emotion, known as the James-Lange Theory. In
runctionalism as nothing more than literature and James the result of the
criticised structuralism as All School and No Thought'. his theory he proposed that emotion is that
When criticisms faded functionalism influenced major bodily experience and not a result of the stimuli
 38 UGC NET Tutor " Psychology

triggers that bodily experience. When a stimulus triggers choices of a given person and the knowledge that thev gain
bodily reaction, the bodily reaction triggers a emotion. from these expericnces and choices). Finding lived
His explanation of emotion has been criticised then and experience to be inherently connected and meaningful
now. Dilthey opposed traditional atomistit and associationlist
Habit It was understood that habits were formed in Psychologies and developed a descriptive psychology that
response to a desire, a want or need. Habits focus the has been recognised as anticipating phenomenology.
mind on achieving the desire, want or need. James Dilthey first thought that this descriptive psychology could
observed that habits are not always bad, they are good provide a neutral foundation for the other human sciences
and this ability to form habits shows the power of the but in his later Hermeneutical writings, he rejected this idea
mind to focus and achieve. of a foundational discipline or method. Thus, he ends up
Will James relied on his personal experiences to express claiming that all the human sciences are interpretative and
his understanding of free will. To him, "free will was the mutually dependent.
ability to attend to difficult object and hold it fast before The human sciences will henceforth be conceived as
the mind.'" For him, "free will is an ability to hold on
primarily concerned with understanding the meaning of
principles even when facing opposition and lack of human action and interaction. Also he emphasised in his
support."
essay The Origin of Our Belief in the Reality of the External
Though psychology came a long way since then, still great World and Its ustification' of 1890, that our initial access
thinkers like William James are viable sources of insight and to the external world is not inferential, but is felt as
information. His work in the field of psychology is highly resistance to the will. The world of our lived experience is
influential and has helped psychology to reach the level of not merely a theoretical representation, but is directly
advancement on which it is standing today. presented to us as embodying values that are relevant to our
purposes.
Wilhelm Dilthey Final phase of Dilthey's life until his death in 1911, begins
Wilhelm Dilthey was born in Biebrich on the Rhine in with the realisation in the essay "The Rise of Hermeneutics'
1833, two years after Hegel had died. He was the Professor of 1900 that the inner intelligibility of lived experiences
of philosophy at Basel in 1867, at Kiel from 1869 to 1870, does not yet constitute understanding. Self understanding
at Breslau fromn 1871 to 1881 and at Berlin, he succeeded
Hermann Lotze in 1882.
can only evolve as a result of dialogue with the world. The
way we express ourselves, whether in communication or in
He admired Hegel's recognition of the historical dimension action, is a crucial intermediary in defining ourselves.
of philosophical thought, but rejected the speculative and Understanding can only be reliable, if it proceeds through
metaphysical ways. Dilthey's researches revolved around the interpretation of human objectifications. Thus, we
the questions of scientific methodology, historical evidence understand ourselves not through introspection, but
and history's status as a science. He could be considered as through history.
an empiricist. According to Dilthey, "the human sciences He also introduced a distinction between explanatory
(humanities and social science),help to define what Dilthey psychology and descriptive psychology. In his terminology,
calls the Historical world".
Explanatory Psychology is the study of psychological
By making use of inner as well as outer phenomena fromn the point of view of a third person, which
experiences, the involves subordination to a system of causality, while
human sciences preserve a more direct link with our original
sense of life than the natural sciences that seek to
focus on Descriptive Psychology is a discipline that attempts to
the way things behave indeperndently of human explicate how different mental processes converge in the
involvement, although human sciences take account of this structural nexus of consciousness.
involvement. Thus, the notable ideas from the desk of Dilthey were
The natural sciences seek explanations of numerous like Hermeneutics which is the theory and
connecting thediscrete representations nature, methodology of interpretation, especially interpretation Or
of outer experience
through hypothetical generalisations and causal laws, while biblical texts, wisdom literature and philosophical texts,
the human sciences aim at distinction between explanatory and descriptive
structures of historical life understanding
the fundamental
given in lived experience (lived psychology, distinction beetween explanatory and
experience refers toa representation of the experiences and descriptive sciences and typology of the three basic
Weltanschauungen (German world for world view).
 39
Emergence of Western Psychology

induction and underrated that of hvpothesis and

denounced realism and materialism as metaphvsical
Issues in Psychology nonsense. Although it has never been practiced in natural
sciences and has been criticised by many philosophers.
Psvchology emphasises on a strict adherence to Natabely Popper's version of (1959) logical empiricism
experimental method (logical empiricism), logical remains the tacit of philosophy for many scientists.
positivism, operationism and use of inferential statistics.
This adherence has given genesis to replication crisis in The logical empiricism sought to reduce all experience to
psychology. sensory experience and to reduce every sensory experience
to aconclusive or exact statement. This has proved to be an
Crisis in Psychology Due to Strict unattainable goal.
Adherence to Logical Empiricism Logical empiricism was opposed by Hayek, who proposed
Logical Empiricism (LE) is a term that was coined by the that there are two orders through which individuals
Austrian sociologist and economist Otto neurath consider, the world the sensory order and the physical
(1880-1945)to name the philosophical work of theVienna order. The sensory order is what we sense and the physical
Circle and related work being pursued by the physicist and world is real world of existence beyond or senses. As he
philosopher Hans Reich en bach (1891-1953) and his believed physical world to be external to mind, he ascribed
associates. The central thesis of logical empiricism was almost no (if any) properties to it.
verificationism,'a theory of knowledge which asserted that Logical empiricism appears to be attractive to those people
only statements verifiable through empirical observation who do not want to worry about what they cannot observe.
are meaningful. The movement flourished in 1920s and It is ultimately a theory about meaning and about the
1930s in several European centers. content of theory. It has a great impact on the field of
The reproducibility of experiments is an essential part of the psychology in which the study of subjective feelings,
empiricist method. The inability to replicate the studies of thoughts and intentions make the major part of its studies.
others has potentially grave consequences for many fields of Thus following the ideas of logical empiricism has created a
science in which significant theories are based on sense of crisis in the field.
unreproducible experimental work. The strict adherence to
experimental-analytical paradigm has created replication
crisis in psychology where a number of efforts have been
made to re-investigate classic results and to attempt to
determine both the reliability of the results and the reasons Indic Influences on
for the failure of replication if it is found to be unreliable.
The notion of verificationism also created a lot of crisis in
Modern Psychology
The Psychologist Cyril Burt once summarised the modern
the field as according to this doctrine a proposition is history of psychological science as "psychology first lost its
Cognitively meaningful,' only if there is a finite procedure soul, then lost its mind, until it was finally in danger of
for conclusively determining whether it is true or false. An losing consciousness altogether". Officially, psychology is
intended consequence of this view for most logical
empiricists, is that metaphysical, theological and ethical said to begin in 1879, when Wilhelm Wundt established
statements fall short of this criterion and so are not
the first Psychological Lab in Leipzig, Germany. This
school of thought was primarily concermed with the senses,
cognitively meaningfull. especially vision, but he and his co-workers also studied
Empiricism believes that all kinds of knowledge related to attention, emotion and memory.
existence, can be derived only rom experience. There is no Wundt relied on the method of 'introspection' to study
place for the pure reason to get knowledge about the world. mental processes. There was a little progress made during
In short it can be said that, logical empiricism gives negation
tointuition and thoughts which are the core inputs of study 30-40 years when this school was in existence.
in psychology. The second psychological school represented a radical break
Logical empiricism has failed dismally to give a faithful from the introspectionists and was initiated by John
account of science, whether natural or social. It failed Watson in 1913. The behaviourists tend to discuss
because it remained anchored to sense data and to psychological phenomena in terms of stimuli and responses,
phenomenalist metaphysics, overrated the power of giving rise to the tem stimulus response (SR) psychology.
S-R terminology is still used in psychology today.
 40 UGC NET Tutor "
Psychology
ln 1950s Cognitive Revolution began with the classic article Carl Jung There are many studies of Eastern influencee
by George Miller, "The Magic Nunmber 7, Plus or Minus 2' on Jung. 'Jung engaged in extensive studies of Taoism
(lt refers tothe amount of information that our memory can
Mahayana and Vajrayarna, Buddhism as well as
hold at a time) with the advent of computers and and the Yoga Sutras. The book Jung and Vedanto
technology. Eastern
Thought' by Harold Coward highlights the impact of
In 1950s Herbert Simon and his colleagues described how East on Jung's life, teachings and works.
psvchological phenomena could be simulated with
computers. Many psychological issues were recasted in Various Influencer of Modern
terms of information processing nmodels, which viewed Psychology
human beings as processors of information and provided a Gordon Allport was a personality psychologist at Haward:
more dynamic approach to psychology. met regularly with Swami Akhilanada of the vedanta society
All these were the crucial developments in the fields of of Boston to discuss Upanishads, Yoga Sutras and other
psvchologv. It has been observed that university, Indian texts.
departments of psychology hold the purely scientific In 1950s Michael Murphy visited Sri Aurobindo Ashram
disciplines in much higher esteem than the applied and got deeply inspired and started Esalen on returning to
disciplines of psychotherapy, educational psychology etc. California. Many ideas of humanistic and transpersonal
The scholars in the filed of psychology are familiar with psychology developed at Esalen. DT Surzuki from Japan
popular versions of psychology i.e. four forces of also propogated Zen. Buddhism in America.
psychology-psychoanalysis, behavioural therapy, Herbert Benoit 1955, a French Psychiatrist, wrote on
humanistic therapy and transpersonal therapy. Technically Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism.
these are four divisions of psychotherapy.
In 1960s many Asian teachers became popular in the West,
It is inthe area of Transpersonal theory that the Indic traditions including Swami Satchitanand, Kirpal Singh, Nahana
have had the most direct influence on modern psychologists which Ponika.Thera, Swami Muktananda, Pir Vilayat Khan and
are asfollows many others.
" Franz Brentano Brentano was a
philosopher as well as a In 1960 only Eric Fromm wrote on Psychoanalysis and Zen
teacher of Sigmund Freud. According to JJ Clarke, Buddhism.
Brentano has been familiar with Indian Philosophy as
many of his works were inspired by the readings of In 1965, Medrad Boss, a psychiatrist who visited India to
various Indian texts. It can be a possibility that the study Yoga, was deeply impressed and on his return to
Freud's idea of unconsciousness is rooted in Indian Europe wrOte on Yoga and Psychotherapy.
philosophy. Clarke noted that Canus and Von Leaders of the Humanistic psychology were also influenced
Hartmann, two Pre-Freudian popularisers of the notion with the Eastern thoughts like Maslow referred to Vedanta
of the unconscious were influenced by Vedanta. in his writings on 'Beings vs doing', where as Roger was
William James James too was familiar with Vedanta and highly influenced by Taoism' in the development of his
other branches of Indian philosqphy, which is quite notion of anatural Organism' process of self actualisation.
evident in his work Varieties of Religious Experience.' Transpersonal psychology too has a lot of influences from
Roberto Assagioli Assagioli, a psychiatrist and founder the Eastern thought especially of Buddhism.
of the Psychotherapeutiç,technique known as Daniel Goleman, a psychologist wrote Th Variiçs of
Psychosynthesis had a knowiedge of the Upnishads, the Meditative Experience' in 1977, after his visit to India
Yoga Sutra and various Buddhist texts. He openly"
acknowledged his debt to these writings. where he studied, about Hindu and Buddhist meditation.
He wrote his dissertation after returning from India, under
" JH Schultz In the 1920's, JH Schultz, a psychiatrist
Herbert Benson at Haward. It was Goleman who suggested
developed his 'Autogenic training' a fairly, widely used the use of meditation as a form of 'Stress management'
system of visualisation and relaxation, which is largely
derived from yogic practices. Another notable person is Jon Kabat Zinn who used
Caroline Rhys Davids Caroline Rhys Davids published Buddhist meditation to treat pain in over 10,000patients at
"Buddhist psychology' in 1914 and claimed that Massachusetts Medical Center, most of who were referred
'Buddhist thought is very largely an enquiry into mind because conventional medical treatments had been
and itsactivities and has much to teach in the West."
effective. He published several excellent research studies in
may journal_.
 41
Emergence of Western Psychology

book Timeline showing some of the most Important Psychologists

Ken Wilber published his first
in
"The Spectrum of Consciousness bio Date Psychologist Description
Greek philosopher who argued for the role of nature in
1977. In the same year pioneers in 428-327 BC Plato
psychological development
feedback technique Elmer and Alyce Greek philosopher who argued for the role of nature in
Green published 'Beyond Bio feedback',
384-322 BC Aristotle
psychological development
in which they described their ground 1588-1679 Thomas Hobbes English philosopher
breaking studies of Swami Rama's ability 1596-1650 Rene Descartes French philosopher
to control parts of his nervous system, English philosopher
which were previously thought to be 1632-1704 John Locke
Jean-Jacques French philosopher
beyond control of mind, 1712-1778
Rousseau

Renneth Pelletier, 1983 published an 1801-1887 Gustav Fechner Developed the idea of Just Noticeable Difference (JND)
which is considered to be first empirical psychological
excellent book titled "Toward a Science measurement
of Consciousness', which very well 1809-1882 Charles Darwin His theory of natural selection influenced the
summarised the integration of Indian functionalist school and field of evolutionary
ideas and modern science, including not psychology.
just psychology, but neuroscience, 1832-1920 William VWundt He opened the first psychology laboratory and helped
developed the field of Structuralism
quantam physics and other disciplines. He contributed to the field of Functionalism
1842-1910 William James
In between various other books were Ivan Pavlov Russian physiologists contributed to the field of
1849-1936
published by psychologists, which learning by his experiments on classical conditioning
emphasises the role of Indian philosphy 1850-1909 Hermann German psychologist who studied the ability of people
and Buddhism on the filed of Ebbinghaus to learn nonsense syllables in different conditions
psychology. 1856-1939 Sigmund Freud Austrian psychologist who founded the field of
psychodynamics
In 1990 Crook and Fontana published 1867-1927 Edward Bradford American psychologist who contributed to the field of
an excellent book'A Buddhist Influences Titchener Structuralism
on Moderm Psychology'. 1878-1958 John B Watson American psychologist who contributed to the filed of
behaviourism
In1991, Robert Thurman along with
1886-1969 Sir Fredric Bartlett British psychologist, who studied the cognitive and
Dalai Lama and scientists from several Social processes of remembering
disciplines including neuroscience, Swiss psychologist who developed the theory of
1896-1980 Jean Piaget cognitive development in children
psychology, biology, among other
Contributed to the School of Behaviourism and gave
convene the first of several 'Mind 1904-1990 BF Skinner
Science' conferences at Haward. the concept of Operant Conditioning in learning
1926-1993 Donald Broadbent Cognitive psychologist, Pioneer in study of attention
Thus, it can be concluded that Eastern 20th and 21st Linda Bartoshuk, American psychologist contributed to the cognitive
thoughts have a major implication on centuries Daniel Kahneman, School of Psychology by studying, learning, memory
psychology for health psychology, Elizabeth Loftus, and judgement. Daniel Kahneman won the Noble Prize
George Miller Economics for his work on psychological decision
education, organisational management making
and human and social development 20th & 21 st Mahzarin Banaji, Contributed to the social cultural school of psychology.
Their contributions have included an understanding of
studies. Emphasis on Indian psychology centuries Marilynn Brewer,
Susan Fisker, Fritz how people develop and are influenced by social
would provide comprehensive Heider, Kurt Lewin, norms
foundation and a refreshing new and Stanley Schachter,
Claude Steele,
indigenous orientation to all the Harry Triandis
branches of psychology.