John Locke's Contributions To The Study Of Psychology

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Psychology can be primarily defined as a type of science. It is the science that encompasses all aspects of the mind especially with regards to thought, conscious and unconscious events as well as behaviour. It is studying the various processes that occur mentally which relate these activities to the brain in terms of intelligence, perception, emotion etc. Psychology is the main field of study having subdivisions that allows individuals to focus on and specialize in an area of psychology such as clinical psychology. This science dates to the early 1870s and the word psychology is the arrangement of two Greek terminologies which are psyche meaning “the study of “and Logos implying that it is the foundation of all” ology’s” for instance biology …show more content…

He proposed that an individual’s thoughts were based on their personal experiences. Due to these experiences and ideas from an individual, it made attaining knowledge severely inadequate and without much certainty. He postulated many concepts but is regarded as the father of modern conceptions in terms of identity and “the self” however his main conception was that all humans are born without fundamental ideas acknowledged as “tabula rasa” or “blank slate” opposing Christian thinking. [Hatfield, G. …show more content…

There are seven schools of psychology namely structuralism, functionalism, behaviourism, cognitive revolution, gestalt psychology, psychodynamic theory and humanistic psychology. Each school focuses comprehensively on various parts of psychology. John Locke’s views based entirely on behaviour and interpreting how experiences influence an individual’s thought process due to experience means that he is the forerunner for the school of functionalism. The school of functionalism deals entirely with behaviour. [Roback AA (1923)]
Locke’s ideas and views relatively coincide with the basis of knowledge from other schools of thought mainly behaviourism. This school ultimately focuses on experience which is the foundation of behaviour. We have acknowledged that lock make use of experience to supplement his investigate of how experience has an effect and outcome on a person. The school of functionalism is also not subjugated by a single dominant theory. [ Cacioppo, J.T. and Freberg

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