Psychology

  Ethics   Ethical standards in the discipline have changed over time. Some famous past studies are today considered unethical and in violation of  established codes   the Canadian Code of Conduct for Research Involving Humans, and the ( Belmont Report ). The American Psychological Association has advanced a set of ethical principles and a  code  of conduct for the profession. The most important contemporary standards include informed and voluntary consent. After World War II, the   Nuremberg Code   was established because of Nazi abuses of experimental subjects. Later, most countries (and scientific journals) adopted the   Declaration of Helsinki . In the U.S., the   National Institutes of Health   established the   Institutional Review Board   in 1966, and in 1974 adopted the   National Research Act   (HR 7724). All of these measures encouraged researchers to obtain informed consent from human partici...

  Women in psychology 1900–1949 Women in the early 1900s started to make key findings within the world of psychology. In 1923,   Anna Freud   the daughter of   Sigmund Freud , built on her father's work using different   defense mechanisms   (denial, repression, and suppression) to   psychoanalyze   children. She believed that once a child reached the   l atency period ,   child analysis   could be used as a mode of   therapy . She stated it is important focus on the child's environment, support their development, and prevent   neurosis . She believed a child should be recognized as their own person with their own right and have each session catered to the child's specific needs. She encouraged drawing, moving freely, and expressing themselves in any way. This helped build a strong therapeutic alliance with child patients, which allows psychologists to observe their normal behavior. She continued her research on the impact...

  Controlled experiments   A  true experiment  with random assignment of research participants (sometimes called subjects) to rival conditions allows researchers to make strong inferences about causal relationships. When there are large numbers of research participants, the random assignment (also called random allocation) of those participants to rival conditions ensures that the individuals in those conditions will, on average, be similar on most characteristics, including characteristics that went unmeasured. In an experiment, the researcher alters one or more variables of influence, called  independent variables , and measures resulting changes in the factors of interest, called  dependent variables . Prototypical experimental research is conducted in a laboratory with a carefully controlled environment.   A  quasi-experiment  is a situation in which different conditions are being studied, but random assignment to the different conditions...

  Military and intelligence One role for  psychologists in the military  has been to evaluate and counsel soldiers and other personnel. In the U.S., this function began during World War I, when Robert Yerkes established the School of Military Psychology at  Fort Oglethorpe  in Georgia. The school provided psychological training for military staff.  Today, U.S. Army psychologists perform psychological screening, clinical psychotherapy,  suicide prevention , and treatment for post-traumatic stress, as well as provide prevention-related services, for example, smoking cessation.  The United States Army's Mental Health Advisory Teams implement psychological interventions to help combat troops experiencing mental problems.   Psychologists may also work on a diverse set of campaigns known broadly as psychological warfare. Psychological warfare chiefly involves the use of propaganda to influence enemy soldiers and civilians. This so-called black prop...

  psychology organizations In 1920,  Édouard Claparède  and  Pierre Bovet  created a new applied psychology organization  called the International Congress of Psychotechnics Applied to Vocational Guidance, later called  the International Congress of Psychotechnics and then the  International Association of Applied   Psychology  The IAAP is considered the oldest international psychology association.  Today, at  least 65 international groups deal with specialized aspects of psychology  In response to male  predominance in the field, female psychologists in the U.S. formed the National Council of  Women Psychologists in 1941. This organization became the International Council of Women  Psychologists after World War II and the International Council of Psychologists in 1959. Several  associations including the  Association of Black Psychologists  and the Asian American  Psychological Associat...

  Genes and environment All researched psychological traits are influenced by both  genes  and  environment , to varying degrees.  These two sources of influence are often confounded in observational research of individuals and families. An example of this confounding can be shown in the transmission of  depression  from a depressed mother to her offspring. A theory based on environmental transmission would hold that an offspring, by virtue of their having a problematic rearing environment managed by a depressed mother, is at risk for developing depression. On the other hand, a hereditarian theory would hold that depression risk in an offspring is influenced to some extent by genes passed to the child from the mother. Genes and environment in these simple transmission models are completely confounded. A depressed mother may both carry genes that contribute to depression in her offspring and also create a rearing environment that increases the risk of d...

  Unconscious mind Study of the unconscious mind, a part of the psyche outside the individual's awareness but that is believed to influence conscious thought and behavior, was a hallmark of early psychology. In one of the first psychology experiments conducted in the United States,  C.S. Peirce  and  Joseph Jastrow  found in 1884 that research subjects could choose the minutely heavier of two weights even if consciously uncertain of the difference.  Freud popularized the concept of the unconscious mind, particularly when he referred to an uncensored intrusion of unconscious thought into one's speech (a  Freudian slip ) or to his efforts  to interpret dreams .  His 1901 book  The Psychopathology of Everyday Life  catalogs hundreds of everyday events that Freud explains in terms of unconscious influence.  Pierre Janet  advanced the idea of a subconscious mind, which could contain autonomous mental elements unavailable to the...

  Humanistic psychology Humanistic psychology , which has been influenced by existentialism and phenomenology,  stresses   free will  and  self-actualization .  It emerged in the 1950s as a movement within academic psychology, in reaction to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis.  The humanistic approach seeks to view the whole person, not just fragmented parts of the personality or isolated cognitions.  Humanistic psychology also focuses on personal growth,  self-identity , death, aloneness, and freedom. It emphasizes subjective meaning, the rejection of determinism, and concern for positive growth rather than pathology. Some founders of the humanistic school of thought were American psychologists  Abraham Maslow , who formulated a  hierarchy of human needs , and  Carl Rogers , who created and developed  client-centered therapy .   Later,  positive psychology  opened up humanistic themes to scientific study....

Psychodynamics Psychodynamics , also known as  psychodynamic psychology , in its broadest sense, is an approach to  psychology  that emphasizes systematic study of the psychological forces underlying human behavior, feelings, and emotions and how they might relate to early experience. It is especially interested in the dynamic relations between  conscious   motivation  and  unconscious  motivation.   The term psychodynamics is sometimes used to refer specifically to the  psychoanalytical approach  developed by  Sigmund Freud  (1856–1939) and his followers. Freud was inspired by the theory of thermodynamics and used the term psychodynamics to describe the processes of the  mind  as flows of  psychological energy   ( libido  or psi) in an organically complex  brain  However, modern usage differentiates psychoanalytic practice as referring specifically to the earliest forms of psychotherapy,...

  Psychological behaviorism Psychological behaviorism  is a form of  behaviorism —a major theory within psychology which holds that generally human behaviors are learned—proposed by  Arthur W. Staats . The theory is constructed to advance from basic animal learning principles to deal with all types of human behavior, including personality, culture, and human evolution. Behaviorism was first developed by  John B. Watson  (1912), who coined the term "behaviorism", and then  B. F. Skinner   who developed what is known as "radical behaviorism". Watson and Skinner rejected the idea that psychological data could be obtained through introspection or by an attempt to describe consciousness; all psychological data, in their view, was to be derived from the observation of outward behavior. The strategy of these behaviorists was that the animal learning principles should then be used to explain human behavior. Thus, their behaviorisms were based upon researc...

Psychophysiology Psychophysiology  is the study of the relationship between the mind (psychology) and the body (physiology), focusing on how psychological processes, emotions, and behaviors influence physiological responses in the body. It is an interdisciplinary field that combines elements of psychology, biology, neuroscience, and medicine to understand the complex ways in which mental states can affect bodily functions, and vice versa. Here are some key aspects of  psychophysiology : 1.  Physiological Responses to Psychological States: Heart rate : Emotional stress, anxiety, or excitement can cause an increase in heart rate. Skin conductance (GSR) : Sweating, even at a low level, can indicate emotional arousal or stress, often measured through the skin's electrical conductance. Blood pressure : Psychological stress can lead to a rise in blood pressure, whereas relaxation techniques can lower it. Muscle tension : Stress, fear, or anger can cause increased muscle tension...