In psychology we have the five schools of thought. Structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, Gestalt psychology and psychoanalysis. Famous psychologists have used all of these schools of thought throughout history. Some were kept around and some ended. They all had an effect on psychology in their own way. We will discuss the major themes and concepts of each of the schools of thought. Structuralism became the first school of thought, and some of the ideas associated with the structuralist school were supported by the founder of the first psychology laboratory, Wilhelm Wundt. One of his students, a man named E.B. Titchener, founded and called structuralism, although he distanced himself from many of Wundt's ideas and sometimes misrepresented them. Gestalt psychology focuses primarily on the elemental nature of Wundt's work. The foundation of Wundt's psychology was the sensory elements. Gestalt psychologists made it the target of their opposition. Watson's behavior began his attack on Wundt and Titchener and functionalism in 1912. They eventually ended up opposing each other. Gestalt psychology derives from research conducted in 1910 by Max Wertheimer while he was on vacation by train in Germany. He came up with the idea of an experiment on seeing motion when no actual motion was occurring. He got off the train, abandoning his plans, bought a toy stroboscope and preliminarily tested his intuition. The stroboscope, a precursor to the camera, rapidly projects a series of different images onto the eye, producing apparent movement. He subsequently carried out extensive research at the University of Frankfurt (Schultz, et al., 2012). The fifth school of thought is Psychoanalysis. Initially, psychoanalysis was distinct from traditional psychological thinking in its methods, topics, and goals. The topic is psychopathology, or abnormal behavior that has been relatively neglected by other schools of thought. The primary method was clinical observation rather than controlled laboratory experiments. Psychoanalysis deals with the unconscious which was practically ignored by other systems of thought (Schultz, et al., 2012). Psychoanalysis was meant. Psychoanalysis covers a broad class of scientific methods. Psychoanalysis is a system of psychological theory and therapy that aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind through techniques such as dream interpretation and free association. One psychoanalysis method I like to use on my clients is the Ink Blot test. It is used for associative responses (Example of Psychoanalysis, n.d.). The inkblot test is also called the Rorschach test. It is a method of psychological evaluation. I use these tests in an attempt to examine the personality characteristics and emotional functioning of my patients. The inkblot test is used to diagnose underlying thought disorders and differentiate psychotic from nonpsychotic thinking. This happens in cases where the patient is reluctant to openly admit his psychotic thinking (Online Rorschach test,
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