Major Schools of Thought in Psychology Essay Example for Free

Major Schools of Thought in Psychology Essay When psychology was first established as a science separate from biology and philosophy, the debate over how to describe and explain the human mind and behavior began. The first school of thought, structuralism, was advocated by the founder of the first psychology lab, Wilhelm Wundt. Almost immediately, other theories began to emerge and vie for dominance in psychology. The following are some of the major schools of thought that have influenced our knowledge and understanding of psychology: Structuralism vs. Functionalism: 1) Structuralism was the first school of psychology, and focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components. Major structuralist thinkers include Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchner. 2) Functionalism formed as a reaction to the theories of the structuralist school of thought and was heavily influenced by the work of William James. This school focused on the functions of human behaviors and not their structure. Major functionalist thinkers included John Dewey and Harvey Carr. Evolutionary psychology is founded on the view that the function of all psychological phenomena in human evolution is a necessary perspective to their understanding. Gestalt Psychology: 3) Gestalt psychology is based upon the idea that we experience things as unified wholes. This approach to psychology began in Germany and Austria during the late 19th century in response to the molecular approach of structuralism. Rather that breaking down thoughts and behavior to their smallest element, the gestalt psychologists believed that you must look at the whole of experience. According to the gestalt thinkers, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Max Wertheimer is often credited as the founder of this movement. Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud was the found of 4) Psychodynamic approach. This school of thought emphasizes the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior. Freud believed that the human mind was composed of three elements: the id, the ego, and the superego. Other major psychodynamic thinkers include Anna Freud, Carl Jung, and Erik Erikson. Behaviorism: 5) Behaviorism became the dominant school of thought during the 1950s. Based upon the work of thinkers such as John Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B. F. Skinner, behaviorism holds that all behavior can be explained by environmental causes, rather than by internal forces. Behaviorism is focused on observable behavior. Theories of learning including classical conditioning and operant conditioning were the focus of a great deal of research. Humanistic Psychology: 6) Humanistic psychology developed as a response to psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Humanistic psychology instead focused on individual free will, personal growth, and self-actualization. Major humanist thinkers included Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. Cognitive Psychology: 7) Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes including how people think, perceive, problem solve, remember, and learn. As part of the larger field of cognitive science, this branch of psychology is related to other disciplines including neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics. One of the most influential theories from this school of thought was the stages of cognitive development theory proposed by Jean Piaget. Later work in this field was pioneered by names like Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck.

The Eyes of the Dragon Essays -- essays research papers

â€Å"A kingdom is in turmoil as the old King Roland dies and its worthy successor, Prince Peter, must do battle to claim what is rightly his. Plotting against him is the evil Flagg and his pawn, young Prince Thomas. Yet with every plan there are holes – like Thomas’s terrible secret. And the determined Prince Peter, who is planning a daring escape from his imprisonment†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (very first page)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The sequence of events that occur in the plot go like this: Two sons are born from Queen Sasha and King Roland, Prince Peter then Prince Thomas. Fearing that the Queen Sasha would ruin his plans, Flagg, the several hundred years old magician and royal advisor succeeded in deposing of her when Peter is only five. Eleven years later, after Peter served the King his nightly glass of vine, Flagg came in and killed Roland by offering him a second glass of wine that was poison. Peter was found guilty of the murder, as Flagg had planned, and was sentenced to life imprisonment atop a tower called the Needle by Anders Peyna, the Judge-General. Peter would spend a good five years in the Needle until he decides to make a successful escape, only to encounter Flagg for a final confrontation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Thomas, one of the main characters, is a particularly interesting character for several reasons. First the narrator, portrayed as a storyteller, describes Thomas as the weak, vulnerable, sad, confused, lonely younger brother of Prince Peter, who was the heir of...

Employer Associations & Modern Awards Essay

There have been substantial changes to modern awards over the years that employer associations have historically and are currently advocating. In this regard, issues such as penalty rates and flexibility stemming from employer association submissions have been researched and examined by (Sheldon & Thornthwaite 2013) portraying evidence that employer associations relatively prefer cost cutting and enhanced managerial prerogative as oppose to productivity. Entailed within this essay the key concepts such as penalty rates, managerial prerogative, flexibility and productivity will be discussed with particular focus the modern award reviews combined with an overview of Sheldon and Thornthwaite’s argument in summary and concurrence. According to (Boxall & Purcell, 2011) management goals are predominantly associated with cost efficiency, controllable flexibility, legitimacy and managerial power. It is these goals that evidently become the concern of relevant employer associations, as such they take on the role of combining, allocating and utilising resources in order to achieve organisational objectives. There have however been significant changes over the years regarding employer association involvement particularly seen over the course of the 1980’s. Employer associations aim to influence and negotiate with the Government of the day as well as tribunals in an effort to ensure that the mutual concerns of organisations are being met. (Sheldon & Thornthwaite, 2013) discuss key system issues with regard to employer associations mainly focusing on restricting union’s right of entry, penalty rates and other provisions incorporating aspects of substantive and procedural rules. Modern Award reviews primarily began in 2012, it is during this time that leading associations took the opportunity to not only push for more workable provisions but also to campaign for more substantial changes within various awards. Employer associations accounted for a large number of submissions to the tribunal on a broad range of issued in particular penalty rates, public holidays and flexibility. In the technical sense, penalty rates are a form of tangible benefit within the financial context which generally refers to those payments made to workers outside normal working hours. Regulator motivations for including penalty rates in modern awards as stated by (Sloane, 2014) are twofold: firstly, to compensate workers for work performed during what was historically known as ‘unsociable hours’ and secondly, to dissuade employers from operating within those hours. However,  as advocated by (Sheldon & Thornthwaite, 2013) the modern award reviews have ‘provided a forum for employers and their associations to escalate their campaign to the significance of penalty rates in industries operating during the traditionally ‘unsociable hours’, which is evidence that employer associations prefer to enhance managerial prerogative over productivity which is predominantly concerned with the cost of resources. The push for the examination of provisions regarding penalty rates has mostly been seen to affect the tourism and retail industries. Flexibility is made up of numerous components however, within in the context of the workplace involves thinking creatively about how working lives can be better structured to match individual and business needs (Job Access, 2012). Following the review of penalty rate provisions, amendments to the flexibility clause were sought after with particular attention paid to the manufacturing industry. Greater flexibility was requested in the taking and cashing out of annual leave in a further attempt to enhance cost cutting initiatives through control measures which ultimately leads to the underlying concept of elevated managerial prerogative. Managerial prerogative may be defined as management’s unqualified authority to exercise its discretion in certain areas under the belief that they have exclusive rights to make decisions and therefore resist any interference with that control (Storey, 1983). Sheldon & Thornthwaite make reference to managerial prerogative in the defensive context through aggressive industrial action which has historically been used as a means of strengthening managerial prerogative. The 2011 Qantas lockout serves as one of the most significant demonstrations of managerial prerogative through the organisations decision to engage in a lockout. As part of a wider push to entrench managerial prerogative employers were also seen to be engaging in aggressive bargaining strategies in order to escalate disputes with the intention of gaining access to arbitration which has an adverse affect on productivity. (Stewart, 2005) promotes the fact that there needs to be greater emphasis on productivity which forges greater efficiency and high trust work systems founded on flexible and fair employment. Productivity is the economic factor stemming from the adequate use of resources; productivity is essentially the measure of achievement through the amount of output that is achieved as result of the input predominantly referring to land, labour and capital as the key resources. Between penalty rates and productivity there is no association they are separated by the contexts of which they are defined. (AI Group, 2012) identify key problem areas within the Fair Work Act Review and state that it is ‘hampering productivity growth, workplace flexibility and competitiveness’ thus meaning that penalty rates do not influence productivity levels. (Sheldon & Thornthwaite, 2013) do make it apparent that employer association’s main concerns do in fact favour cost cutting and managerial prerogative rather than focusing on the importance of productivity enhancement. (Sheldon & Thornthwaite, 2013) further explored critiques from employer associations whose predominant concern was based on the fact that managerial prerogative was reduced through the increasing weakness of employer’ freedom to contract. (DEEWR, 2012) Released a report referring to more productive and equitable workplaces which disappointed employer associations thus further confirming productivity enhancement to be of no concern. It is clearly demonstrated that employer associations’ main concerns were that of cost cutting and managerial prerogative it is however, the amalgamation of all the relevant key concepts discussed that essentially equip organisations with a competitive advantage. The core concepts behind the submissions made by employer associations clearly obscure the importance of larger issues which further represents that employer associations prioritise the ease of managements working lives over that of the worker. Bibliography Australian Industry (AI) Group (2012), Applications to Vary a Modern Award – 2012 Review, Stephen Smith, Director – National Workplace Relations. Boxall, P and Purcell, J (2011), The Goals of Human Resource Management, Strategy and Human Resource Management, 3rd Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, pp. 1-36. Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) (2012), Towards More Productive and Equitable Workplaces: An Evaluation of the Fair Work Legislation, Australian Government. Job Access, Flexibility in the Workplace, Australian Government, Accessed 1st May 2014 Sheldon, P and Thornthwaite, L. (2013), Employer and Employer Association Matters in 2012, Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 55: No. 3, pp. 386-402. Sloane, J (2014), Pay Penalty Rates, but not Through Awards System, The Australian. Stewart, A (2005), A Simple Plan for Workplace Regulation, Industrial Law News, Issue 7. Storey, J (1983). Managerial Prerogative and the Question of Control, Routledge & Kegan Paul Publishing, London.

Essay about War on Drugs Causes the Viloation of...

Everyone knows the parable of the emperor with no clothes. The significance of a child being the one to point out the emperors nudity, as opposed to a sermonizing preacher or self-righteous intellectual, is simple to understand. Neither morality nor logic was responsible for stripping the emperors veil of falsehood. All it took was the truth. One cant help but think of this when considering Gary Johnson, the Republican governor of New Mexico, who, despite pressure from power brokers at the top of his own party, has proclaimed that the emperor that is this countrys war on drugs is not only naked to the world, but that its body is festering with the sores of moral decay and corruption. In the governors own words, The drug problem†¦show more content†¦Of course, many people have closed their eyes to the truth about the drug war for so long that they cant help but respond negatively to Johnsons common-sense approach. Given how many billions of dollars have been thrown into advertisements that criminalize all drug use without making any distinctions, it is no wonder that many people have trouble divorcing themselves from the illusion of righteousness. This is not a reflection on these people, of course, but a testament to the magnitude of the propaganda machine that has been let loose upon them. But no amount of propaganda can make a lie true, and examining the truth of just one tool of the war on drugs is sufficient to illustrate that it is not such a noble crusade. Civil asset forfeiture statutes allow law enforcement agencies to seize money and property without convicting, indicting or arresting the owners for any crime. Indeed, property can be seized even if the owners have been acquitted. Eighty percent of people who have property forfeited are not charged with a crime. Police are allowed to seize any assets that they claim to be involved with illicit drugs. Civil asset forfeiture is based on the concept that property that is allegedly connected to a crime is itself incriminating, and can be seized and tried in civil court. To challenge the forfeiture, persons who have their property taken must pay a bond of 10 percent of the value of their seized