FINAL EXAM

Jennibeth D. Baculna MA Psychology II October 22, 2013

1. DISCUSS HOW THE TWO PARENT DISCIPLINES OF PSYCHOLOGY CONTRIBUTED TO ITS MODERN BODY OF CONCEPTS SPANNING FROM THE ANCIENTS, MEDIEVAL, RENAISSANCE, AND POST RENAISSANCE ERA. SITE KEY PERSONS INVOLVED.

Philosophy and Physiology are the two parent disciplines or the roots of Psychology which have contributed to its present concepts influenced by the Psychology of the past such as during Ancient times, Medieval, Renaissance and Post-Renaissance Era based on their early record in understanding psychology. Philosophy is said to have contributed various frameworks for thinking about the nature of reality, theories of knowledge, social psychology, the use of introspection in their attempt to understand the human nature or the self-examination of one’s experiences and other more. Moreover, it is through the process of self-questioning and questioning others that the Philosophers have attempted to explain how we think, learn, gain knowledge and how we use our experiences. On the other hand, it is the Physiology that provides a research model for scientific psychology. By definition, Physiology is the study of human body and through observation early Greek scholars attempted to understand the workings of the human body.

The father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, argued that there was a close connection between the mind and the body. He suggested that it was the physical malfunctions which caused the mental illness of a person rather than demons. By dissecting human cadavers and operating on living organisms, he concluded that the mind controlled the human body. He was the first to suggest that the mind resides in the brain. Rene Descartes, a French mathematician and philosopher viewed that introspection and reflection are investigatory methods superior to observation. He was the one who revived the Platonic ideas of mind-body dualism and innate knowledge. Galen is a Greek physician who combined what he learned from animal dissections as well treating the injuries of gladiators to form his views of brain functions.

2. PLOT A TIMELINE ILLUSTRATING THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY THEORIES WITH SIGNIFICANT INDIVIDUALS AS PROPONENTS

At around 600 BC, the time of Sumerians/Assyrians which originally based on astrological studies, states personality is related to birthday. There were 18 constellations and currently there are 12 signs such as Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

Galen (130-200 AD) discovered the theory of temperaments and stated the four basic temperaments reflecting amounts of bodily fluid. Main classifications of which are phlegmatic, sluggish type; choleric, quick-tempered type; melancholic, dejected type.

Around 1800 AD, the Psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud began. He broke personalities into id, ego and superego to define a psychosexual developmental model namely oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital stage. During this time, Developmental theory was developed having Jean Piaget as its Proponent. He developed the idea of stages of cognitive development. The focused of the said theory is on children and adolescents. The stages were classified into sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operations.

In 1850 AD, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was formulated by Isabel Biggs Myers. It is based upon Carl Jung’s notions of psychological types. Personalities reflect a balance from four scales: first, the extraversion/introversion, second is the sensate/intuitive, third is the thinking/feeling and lastly the judging/perceiving. Furthermore, George Ivanovitch Gurjieff developed the Ennagrams. He summarized that everyone emerges from childhood with one of the nine types dominating their personality such as Reformer, Helper, Achiever, Individualist, Investigator, Loyalist, Enthusiast, Challenger and Peacemaker. W.H. Sheldon produced the Somatotypes theory which draws a connection between body types and personalities. Classifications include mesomorph, endomorph and ectomorph.

In 1937, Psychologist Gordon Allport categorized personality traits into three namely cardinal traits which dominate an individual’s whole life, central traits are the general characteristics that form the basic foundations of personality and the secondary traits which are related to attitudes or preferences and often appear only in certain situations or under specific circumstances. He further suggested the development of self-esteem as one of the important tasks of early childhood.

In 1947, Hans Eysenck wrote Dimensions of Personality in which he outlined his Theory of Personality factors. Neuroticism/Psychotocism and Introversion/Extroversion make up the backbone of Eysenck’s dimensional theory. He later performs research suggesting psychotherapy is of no value.

Raymond Cattell publishes the objective personality test in 1949; the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF). His studies in factor analysis solidify his trait theory of personality. He believes there are 16 core personality traits in adults which can be measured on a continuum.

In 1950, Erik Erikson’s eight-stage theory of human development was built on Freud’s stages of psychosexual development, however, Erikson focused on how social relationships mpact personality development. The theory extends beyond childhood to look at development across the entire lifespan.

The Hierarchy of Needs of Abraham Maslow flourished in 1954 when he wrote Motivation and Personality. Some needs take precedence over others. Once lower needs are met attention is shifted to higher needs. Needs include physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs and self-actualization.

Lawrence Kohlberg developed a theory of personality development that focused on the growth of moral thought in 1963. Building on a two-stage process proposed by Piaget, he expanded the

theory to include six stages of moral reasoning. His levels of moral development include pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional morality. The theory of Kohlberg helps in our understanding of how personality develops.

3. HOW DOES ORIENTAL PSYCHOLOGY DIFFER FROM THAT OF WESTERN PSYCHOLOGICAL THOUGHTS AND PRACTICES? CITE EXAMPLES.

Oriental Psychology consists of psychologically relevant materials taken from ancient writings in the Orient such as Indian Psychology, Buddhism Psychology, Taoism, Zen of Japan and Jainism. Primarily, it is the Eastern philosophies that influenced Oriental Psychology as that the writings of Buddha. It is noted that the practice of Oriental Psychology is called meditation or “dhyana” which was later changed to realization to mean making certain principles real to oneself. In Eastern Psychology, this realization is expressed through religious techniques. On the other hand, Western Psychology can be traced to Greek philosophy. Amongst those philosophers who contributed, it was Plato and Aristotle who first thought about the mind. The body-mind duality was considered to be the strong roots of the western psychology as believed by Plato, Aristotle, Rene Descartes. Later Western Psychologists like Carl Jung, Abraham Maslow and other were known who were able to break free from those past concepts.

In comparing the Eastern to the Western Psychology, the former is said to be more introverted, collectivist and mystical while the latter is described as rational, extroverted and individualistic in a way that each person has to be responsible and depend on himself without relying on the external guru as typically observed in Asia. According to Carl Jung, in is in doing that the West believes while it is in impassive being for the East. Religions have arisen in Asia wherein consciousness has been directed inwardly to understand the essential nature of life. The Oriental Psychology acknowledges that the mind can be redirected through the use of meditative practices in exploring the inner and subjective side of things. Eastern philosophy and the practice of Buddhist meditation are considered scientific as that of the Western science in a way that they have been created by testing and discovering not by the use of technology but through the human mind itself.

With regard to the systems of thought, East developed a greater metaphysical, complexity and sophistication. The emphasis of Western Psychology is on the ego and its adjustment to the world and the physical level while the goal of Eastern Psychology is more of a transpersonal one. For instance, during the time of Sigmund Freud, which is classified as that in the West, the ego or the self has a central position, taking the side of the East, self is mainly a delusion where a matter of dissolving an ego is a psychological practice.

As conclusion, Western Psychology is scientific tradition and analytical. Moreover, it concerned with the improvement and supporting of the mind or the ego and making it healthy. On one hand, Eastern Psychology follows a philosophical and religious tradition especially Taoism, Buddhism and Hinduism and is oriented toward the liberation or enlightenment of the individual cited as Nirvana in the definition of Buddhism Psychology. In addition, it involved with making the individual aware of the interconnectedness of all things. Both perspectives have a view of the mind and the self or the psyche, thus, both can be said to have a psychological view.