History of Psychology Essay

I decl be that this assignment is my avouch work and has not been submitted in every form for an other unit, class or diploma at whatever university or other ground of tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been admit in the text and a list of references is given. I warrant that any disks and/or computer files submitted as part of this assignment have been checked for viruses and reported clean.Student sig spirit __________________________Date __________________________AbstractThis paper aims to delimit and analyze the historical development of the essential nature of faithfulness, the sources and receptions towards the theory. The implications of the theory of indispensable legality ar vast since a position on the nature of law permeates whizzs psycheal deportment goals and purposes, cognition, and morality of respective(prenominal) and hence also affects research methodological analysis and psychotherapy.Subjec tivism contractes on individuals thoughts and feelings as swell up as the proposition that association of humanitys fag never be separated from the knower. This literature re fascinate covers the cosmea of honor as universeness inseparable during the time of the early Greek philosophers, present within Hellenic and Roman psychological science and persisting within romantic and existential philosophical system, humane psychological science and the climb upes of the postmoderns in the mid-1960s.Keywords inhering rectitude, narrative, postmodernismThe Subjective Nature Of Truth A Historical DevelopmentThe constant tension of whether truth is objective or subjective has long since existed throughout history and continues to pervade in period grooms of psychotherapies. Science versus Humanism is the term Conway (1992) gives to the philosophic dimension along which the set central the theories of psychologists disagree. A scientific approach path to psychology is based on the epistemological tradition of objectivism. Mahoney (1989) summarizes objectivism as beliefs that an objective and separate real humanness lies beyond the organism, item-by-item of perception and that valid knowledge is ultimately rendered from our sensory(prenominal) experiences, and can be totally separated from the knower (Mahoney, 1989 as cited in Conway, 1992).In contrast, the humanist approach to psychology is based on the epistemological tradition of subjectivism which managementes on thoughts and feelings. Furtherto a greater extent, knowledge of humans can never be separated from the knower (Conway, 1992). due to different theories on the nature of truth, methodology for observing consciousness and the role of internal experience differ. The human learning approach to psychology seeks to explain mien in terms of a persons subjective existence (Kendler, 2005). Humanistic psychology and philosophical phenomenology ar two schools of thought that employ t he human science interpretation of psychology (Kendler, 2005). The implications of the theory of the relativity of truth is seen in the individuals face-to-face life goals, purpose of life, cognitive styles, morality, ethics, counseling goals, research methodology and conceptualization of definitions.Due to the great releforefrontce of the case to psychology, this essay traces and analyzes the historical development of the subjective nature of truth, the sources and reactions towards the theory. Early Greek Philosophers and Hellenistic and Roman Psychology The sophists were a group of philosophers who believed that nothing is inherently right or wrong only if that believing something is right makes it right and vice versa (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 41). Protagoras (485-420 B.C.) was the almost popular Sophist who proposed that man is the measure of all things, meaning that man determines whether something is current or untrue and hence, truth depends on the perceiver not physical macrocosm (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 41).The context of this perspective of the nature of truth is that Protagoras lived in the Periclean democracy where skills for effectual communication were rich to own especially in the political landing field (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 42) where some beliefs were to a greater extent than advantageous to utilitarian harmony than others. Hence, Protagoras was primarily raise in teaching effective argumentation to demonstrate the practicality of the relativity of truth. Socrates (470-399 B.C.) disagreed with the Sophists vision that no truth exists beyond personal opinion. In the second vitamin C A.D., a school of thought named Skepticism get upd suspension of judgment and favourite(a) to say This is how things appear to me rather than to claim having arrived at irrevocable truth (Hergenhahn, 2009).They were of the view that dogmatists constantly fought amongst themselves and were always agitated unlike the Skeptics who sought a life of peace and lived by two primary guides appearances (sensations and feelings) and fond blueprint (Hergenhahn, 2009). Displaying a similarity with the Sophists and the Skeptics, the Cynics such as Diogenes (412-323) advocated individualism and that true felicity depended on self-sufficiency and living a life that was natural, rejecting any face of control, be it bodily or social control. The make-up of piteous out-of-door from absolute truth and towards a relativistic conception of truth, individual feelings, opinions, social convention or whatever truth brings gain (e.g., political place or living peaceably with others) will manifest itself again throughout history.Instrumental theory of truth Profitability as criteria for truth William crowd together (1842-1910) was of the view that ideas become true as long as they ease people satisfactorily relate with other parts of ones experience (De Waal, 2005, p. 43). pack proposes that it is far from essential for our thoughts, beliefs or in other words, conceptions of truth, to copy universe. Hence, he opposes the singularity of truth and posits that multiple, though different beliefs are acceptable. In contrast, on that point can only be one truth for the empiricists and the rationalists since truth is the perfect copy of reality (De Waal, 2005, p. 47).Based on hardheaded principles, James proposes that any hypothesis cannot be rejected if there are useful results that come from it. Pragmatism is hence a principle that views any truth as true as long as it profits. In other words, the pragmatists notion of truth is that beliefs originating from within ones self tho does not copy anything without the believer will silent count as true when these lead people to directions that are worthy (De Waal, 2005, p. 50).The theme of moving away from a singular truth independent of the knower and towards whichever concept, idea or belief brings profit is a invention seen even during the Early Greek Philosophers and Helleni stic and Roman Psychology. A profit- concentrate approach to handling truth, as proposed by the pragmatists, will strongly permeate and an underlying principle in future philosophies and approaches to psychology such as romanticism, existentialism, humanist and postmodern psychology.Romantic and existential philosophy Feelings, human choice and exemptionIn the late 18th century, an artistic and intellectual exploit named love story rebelled against Enlightenment rationality that overemphasized linear and the investigation of causes by trying to add up feelings and intuition to rationality (Schneider, 1998). love affair emphasized the wholeness of experience via unverbalised processes such as affect, intuition, kinesthesia, imagination as well as the descriptions of these processes (Schneider, 1998). Rousseau was of the view that facts of history were of less importance than what values can be lettered from them and that history should be considered as a collection of fables ( Rousseau, 1762 as cited in Robinson, 2008).This type of thinking is seen again in Postmodernist thinking afterwards on in history although to Rousseau, historical facts were not subjective but unknowable because of human error and interpretation. In psychology, romanticism is manifested in orientations of existential-humanistic, hermeneutical, narrative, and transpersonal psychologies (Schneider, 1998). Carl Rogers of the school of humanistic psychology, whose thoughts will be further explored later on in this paper, has much similarity with the romantics since experience is Rogers highest authority and makes decisions based on what feels fury mine right, valuable or worth doing (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 593). Like romanticism, existentialism stresses subjective experience.The existentialists (18th and 19th centuries) hike up us humans to consider the meaning of living authentically, in ones own personal way (Oaklander, 1992). If one chooses freely, one chooses authentically and lea ds an authentic life. Since there are no objective values for the existentialist, it depends more on how one chooses rather than what their choice is. An existential philosopher, Kierkegaard proposed that each persons life individually has its own self-determined meaning. Subjectivity is truth, that is, the persons beliefs pose that persons reality (Oaklander, 1992, p. 577).Though the existentialist philosophers differ in their views in a few thoughts of their thinking, one common theme is the emphasis on human freedom and choice and the related motto of Sartre that existence precedes essence which means that humans have no packaged nature or essence but that we are is what we choose to be (Oaklander, 1992). In other words, subjectivity must be the starting taper (Oaklander, 1992). Sartre also says that Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. Such is the for the first time principle of existentialism. It is also what is called subjectivity Influenced by existential p hilosophy, a scar of contemporary psychology which has the key concepts of freedom, individuality, authenticity and responsibility emerged called existential psychology (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 574).The man who is generally considered to be the bridge between existential philosophy and existential psychology is Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) who is of the view that there is no ultimate truth but emphasizes interpretation and that there is no real meaning can a phenomenon (Daitz, 2011). He proposed that humans choose nature of their own existence and it is worthy of notice that Heidegger chose to be committed to Nazism (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 574).The theme of moving away from a singular truth independent of the knower and towards personal truth as self-defined by individuals as well as the luckless consequence of individuals freely choosing what they think is right or desirable which whitethorn conflict with what society views as desirable. This will manifest itself again with ignore d ifferences in humanistic and postmodern psychology.Humanistic psychology An application of subjective truthIn the early 1960s, humanistic psychology, a new human science that would study humans as aware, choosing and turned on(p) beings, appeared in reaction to traditional scientific approaches to psychology (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 571). opposed the two existing schools of psychology, behavioristic psychology and psychoanalysis, which assume determinism in explaining human behavior, humanistic psychology assumes humans are free to choose their own existence and that subjective reality is the most important cause of behavior (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 571). A basic tenet of humanistic psychology is that subjective reality is the primary guide for human behavior (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 586).Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was of the view that humanistic science should allow the individual to be freer and more inner determined (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 586). What he deemed as self-actualization is wha t humans achieve when they are true to their own nature (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 587). Carl Rogers (1902-1987) also proposed that a person who is believably to live a fulfilling life is motivated by his true inner feelings instead of beliefs, traditions and values imposed by others outside the individual (Hergenhahn, 2009, p. 593).Rogers started the movement of Person-Centered therapy which stress an essential trust in the experiential domain of a function of the lymph gland and stress three conditions to promote the invitees growth congruity (genuineness on the healer part), true empathy, monotonic positive regard. A terminus ad quem that Owen (1999) notes in his analysis of two psychoanalysis and person-centred therapy is the conflict for the person-centred therapist to both communicate unconditional positive regard as well as congruence with a negative feeling almost a client. In other words, prizing the client and also at the same time, being sound with personal feelings towards client.This poses a question of what a therapist should rightly do when being honest also means being non-empathic and withholding unconditional positive regard from the client. This occupation of congruency undeniably stems from the theory of truth and its subjective nature since what the therapist believes to be true and what the client believes to be true are both equally true if the assumption is that the individual self-defines truth. Postmodernism approaches modern development of the theory of truth Modernists believe in objective reality that exists independent of any attempt to observe it whereas postmodernists believe in subjective realities that do not exist independent of observational processes (Corey, 2005).Postmodernism is similar to the romantics, existentialists, the Sophists, and Skeptics and aspects of James psychology in that there multiple truths and these vary with individual experience, frankincense paving the way for postmodernism. According to Schne ider (1998), the postmodernist were different from the romantics in that postmodernists promote a relativistic chaos when this conflicted with the sensibility of Romanticism (Schneider, 1998). The Romantics assumed knowledge as determinate and argued for the universality of autonomous experience while postmodernism assumes it as indeterminate and relativistic, thus fragmenting knowledge and experience (Webb, 2006).Similar to James pragmatism, the postmodernist is of the view that a problem exists only when people agree there is a problem needing to be addressed. Narrative therapy is an application of the Postmodernist approach to psychology and encourages clients to see their stories from different perspectives (Corey, 2005). The clients reality is focused on without disagreeing whether it is accurate or rational (Weishaar, 1993 as cited in Corey, 2005). Unlike traditional therapists who see the client as the problem, the narrative therapists believe that the problem is the problem (Corey, 2005). This separation of client from problem allows one to take a stance against specific storylines, be hopeful in generating a more positive, healing story and thus reducing self-blame.The therapist searches for times when the client made a choice and times when the client was successful (Corey, 2005, p. 403). in truth similar to the assumptions of the Cynics and particularly the Romantics, the Postmodernist approach is based on the bullish assumption that people are able and that they possess alternative stories that can enhance their lives (Corey, 2005, p. 403). The nature of truth and the approach to psychology Future research direction Within the United States and internationally, Kirschenbaum and Jourdan (2005) carried out a survey that ground an increasing number of therapists who identify themselves as eclectic or integrative amongst Carl Rogers client-centered/person-centered therapists over the past 30 years.In his writing on the topic of romanticisms potentia l in complementing psychology, Schneider (1998) writes that experimental research, whether in hypothesis-making or verification, cannot effectivey replace romantic insights and needs to refer back to qualitative data that Romantics emphasize (Schneider, 1998). Hence, there are advantages in employing research as well as therapy methodology that take into account aspects of the intuitive and emotional aspect of human beings that romanticism emphasizes. In view of the advantages, Schneider also writes about the implications for therapists in training. He proposes the provision of rich and sensitive qualitative descriptions of their clients in addition to sermon plans that are problem-oriented or behavioral in focus (Schneider, 1998).Therapists in training should also pay attention to emotional, kinesthetic, and cognitive experiences of clients. in any case just assessing progress toward therapy goals, the meaning of therapy goals for clients should also be considered. Schneider is of the view that therapist with the full range of experiential data about their clients would be in an optimal position to collate essential data for a treatment plan. Hence, research should be done to measure the effectiveness of this approach to therapy in addition to (i.e., eclectic approaches) or instead of traditional approaches.In his parity of person-centred therapy with psychodynamic therapy, Owen (1999) notes the possibility of conflict that person-centred therapists might face in trying to be congruent to their own personal feelings while at the same time, being non-judgmental and providing unconditional positive regard. Further research should be carried out in the area of long-term consequences to the therapist and to the client as well as strategies that can be employed when there is a conflict in the congruence of the therapist and the therapist provision of unconditional positive regard. look for whitethorn also include investigating the incorporation of one aspect o f the psychodynamic approach which is neutrality (neither making interpretations nor providing unconditional positive regard) towards the clients sharing of his personal experience or thoughts (Owen, 1999). Neutrality allows for a full range of emotions including negative emotions of the client.ConclusionWhether truth is absolute and independent of the knower and perceiver has been supported and argued against since the period of the early Greek philosophers. Similar themes that focus on the human individual to evaluate and make their own choices, define their own meaning and ultimately, define and act upon what is the nature of truth and the truth itself recur time and time again whether in the form of an emphasis on affect like the Romantics or Postmodernist who selects part of a narrative, whether accurate or true, to put it to good use in portion the individual cope during therapy.The implications of the position taken on the nature of truth have been demonstrated throughout hi story in major schools of philosophy, psychology and in this paper. Future speculation of this theory of truth is that, after authoritative negative events that will happen in future times as a result of pragmatic and postmodern thinking, a reaction against relativistic and individualized conceptions of truth that may take a shape of fundamentalism may return to schools of philosophy and the social sciences.ReferencesConway, J. B. (1992). 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