Eight Schools Of Psychology

There are a many schools of psychology. Throughout this course we only focused on eight schools, but there are many more than that. In order to understand which school of psychology is most important, we need to describe what a school of psychology should be. There are two priorities I believe are important for ranking the schools of psychology; interesting and practical. An interesting school of psychology will appeal to more people and would develop more support. A school of psychology should also be practical. Practicality is an important criterion because it allows us to apply psychology to real-world problems (BOOK). In order to understand the criteria necessary to be a school of psychology, it is time to rank the schools in order of which …show more content…
The reason why this school of psychology is so low on the list is simple; they objected to the Structuralists. While the Structuralist tried to discover the “elements” of consciousness, the Gestalt psychologists claimed that breaking ideas apart would destroy the whole (Unit 11 Introduction). The Gestalt school of psychology was known for their illusions, and tried to prove that there was an innate organization to the brain (BOOK). These illusions and the moral behind them made this school more interesting, but being very interested in structuralism caused this school of psychology to be low on this …show more content…
Humanism contrasted form behaviorism because humanists put an emphasis on inner experience and the individual (Unit 14 Introduction). This school of psychology had a positive view on human nature, or on the potential for human growth. There was another school of psychology that was close in rank with humanism and that was existentialism. The existentialists discussed life, death, and meaning. There were two existentialists, Neitszche and Kierkegarrd, who made these two schools more interesting and practical. Kierkegaard was an interesting man because he contemplated on whether he wanted a happy, married life, or the life of eccentric individual focused on philosophy (Unit 7 Introduction). He made the decision, broke off his engagement and focused on proclaiming the rights of individuals to be different and unique. Nietzsche had a major influence on psychology. Many theorists are interested in integration of the personality (Human, All Too Human). The existential analysts wrote of authenticity. Nietzche’s ideas are also important to the humanist’s tradition of creating the self and the famous quote – “be all that you can be” (Unit 14