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Introduction to Psychology - The Dialectic Approach
Examination of basic issues in psychology and introducing a dialectic integration
Asaf Rolef Ben-Shahar LicMT LHS LNCP LCPS
Contents
Introduction
Approaches to Psychology
The dialectic approach
Conclusion
Introduction
Most introductory books to Psychology have the same structure: they present as many theories and approaches as possible. No book introduces one ultimate theory and excludes all the others. There is a good reason for this - the contemporary paradigm in most of the sciences is integrative, historical, dialectic.
One can still take a solely bio-psychological approach, for instance, which for him (The use of masculine language is for convenience and consistency only) this approach will be true and whole. But in our multiple-phenomena world of humanity, looking from any 'right' single angle is restricting since this point of view misses a wide range of phenomena, its language is pourer, its world less interesting and not as colourful.
The Dialectic paradigm that I am offering is not in any way truer. It is only more general and flexible. Moreover - it is aesthetically more interesting, since it is constantly changing and being changes by new ideas.
Approaches to Psychology
Introduction
Indeed, any taxonomy is a statement. There are infinite ways to divide doctrines, approaches and theories. You can divide them into integrative or reductionistic approaches, intrinsic or extrinsic; you can chronologically arrange them; you can be very detailed or schematic. I chose a different taxonomy method: I will present issues regarding the human understanding and try to discuss them from several points of view.
In order to prevent an overload, I shall only refer to general approaches and exclude narrow-band theories. The following perspectives are those, which I believe to be the most influential and important, but there are many others. My choice of questions is also a selective one.
Brief outline of the approaches (Gross, 1998; Hayes, 1994; Atkinson et al. 1996)
Major theoretical approaches:
Psychoanalysis - refers to the theory of human personality (which derives from Sigmund Freud's work) as well as to the clinical method (originally using Free Associations method). Major emphasis is given to unconscious processes and conflicts. It is a most comprehensive outlook of human nature and serves as the cornerstone for any clinical psychology or applied psychotherapy. Jung's analytical psychology will be only briefly discussed here, since I believe Jung deserves a wider examination (you may read the critical comparison article, between Freud and Jung).
Behaviourist psychology - a school of thought, founded by John B. Watson, which defines psychology as the study of behaviour. Behaviour therapy aims at changing behaviour through Stimulus-Response manipulating and other social-learning techniques.
Humanistic psychology (as a phenomenological application) - the study of the individual's subjective experience. Began with the works of G Kelly, A Maslow and C Rogers, and emphasises the uniqueness of each human being.
II. Other important perspectives: the psychological arena.
Biological Psychology (or physiological psychology) - the study of the relationship between biological processes and behaviour. Mainly involves brain and nervous system research and genetics. Influenced by Darwin's Evolution theory. The western medical professions primarily adopt this view. Therapy is done trough a direct effect to the body (e.g. drugs, surgery).
Cognitive Psychology - is mainly concerned with mental processes. It is a part of the growing field of cognitive sciences. Cognitive Psychology explains behaviour as the dynamic interaction between mental representations and the processes that operate on these representations. Cognitive psychology integrates with many other psychological fields.
Developmental psychology - a multidisciplinary study of the changes that take place in human beings. Its wide scope can be worn by any approach as a way to examine growth, associations and connection between early and later behaviour patterns.
Social psychology - another multidisciplinary approach that studies social interaction, the ways in which individuals influence one another and how they interpret their social world. It is also concerned with the study of social behaviours.
Biological psychology and social psychology can either be aggregated into a wider scope of a psychological theory, or serve as the solely base for theory or therapy. Cognitive psychology and developmental psychology are dynamic frameworks: mainly for experimental, but also for clinical psychology. They have a process-based vocabulary to explain phenomena.
Ten issues in psychology
I. Humanity and personality
'The soul is material, composed of finely divided particles, Some like breath, some like fire, and some of a third, unnamed kind.' Epicurus
Psychoanalysis - Man is an animal, a very sophisticated animal. His personality is structured by the course of his infantile development, with an emphasis on sexuality. Freud divided personality into Id, the primitive and primal part, the Ego and the Super ego (Transactional Analysis divides personality to Child-Adult-Parent respectively).
Behaviourism - John Locke's perception of man was the theoretical foundation to behaviourism. Locke believed that we have only the knowledge about ideas obtained by the senses (Locke, 1690). Skinner argued that mental or private events should only be explained in terms of behaviours (Gross, 1998). We are what we behave like.
Humanistic - A person is a whole; feeling and thinking; striving and behaving. The humanistic psychology's view of a person is quite similar to the common notion of a human being, and it treats the person with interest, integrity and respect. Man's basic nature is good and he seeks happiness.
Biological - Man is Homo Sapiens. Some even argued that a Human, an Orang-utan and a Chimpanzee are of the same species (Lavejoy, 1968). Personality can thus be seen in several ways: a specific neural network pattern, a unique proteins' transcription and
translation manifestation or the balance between the endocrine, the neural and the immune systems (there are, of course, many other ways). [Transcription is the process of creating an RNA copy of a gene sequence, while translation is the process of synthesizing proteins, using the RNA replica as the template].
Cognitive - Many psychologists consider cognitive processes as responsible for constructing the self. Self-efficacy beliefs, for instance, can be used to interpret our abilities and influence our future actions (Bandura, 1989, in Hayes, 1994).
Developmental - Lifespan development psychologists see humans as active agents in their lives. We are constantly changing and creating our environment and are being influenced by it. No single point of view, they argue, could fully understand or explain people (Sugarman, 1986, in Hayes, 1994)
Social - Humans are social animals. William James (1890) argued that the 'Self concept' is developing through social comparisons. The Self is seen by many researchers as a social product, to some extent. For examples, Tajfel (1979) sees social groups as the basic unit we use for interpreting our social worlds (Hayes, 1994)
Is man free?
'No one is slave by nature.' Seneca.
Psychoanalysis - Human behaviour is determined by forces beyond our control - unconscious motives, sexual and aggressive drives, pressures of society and our genetic heritage. Our personality is determined - by our inborn drives and by our infantile development. Groddeck (1866-1934) believed that unconscious entity (called 'it') determines the entire course of our lives (Hayes, 1994).
Behaviourism - Learning processes shape and determine our behaviour. J. Watson asserted (1924) that he could create any desired personality from any child, regardless of his genetics or of other factors (Atkinson et al., 1996). He argued that personality was the sum of the learned S-R connections (Hayes, 1994).
Humanistic - The freedom of man is perhaps the humanistic psychology's basic argument. We are active agents of our future. Biology and the environment indeed influence our behaviour but man can create his own destiny (Atkinson et al., 1996). According to Rogers (1961), a healthy man is characterised by the freedom to examine his potentials (Hayes, 1994)
Biological - Darwin's Evolution theory (1859) was determinist by its very nature. Some biological psychologists believe (as Freud did) that in last account, all phenomena can be explained by biochemical terms (however, today most scientists agree that no reductionism is applicable when discussing human personality).
Cognitive - If, as Kant's followers (Immanuel Kant, Salomon Maimon, and even Hegel) argued, consciousness shapes the world, then for those who believe that they are free - freedom existed; while those who see themselves as externally determined lacked this freedom (Bergman, 1979,1993).
Developmental - Researchers vary in their opinions. Some, like J. Piaget (1952), the renowned child psychologist, or even Kohlberg (1969), formed quite a fixed course of development. Others, like Fischer (1980), saw development as a complex manoeuvre within a wide optional range of paths (Hayes, 1994).
Social - Some social psychologists regarded society and culture as the basic unit for
determining our behaviour, but mostly, society was seen as a context that influences rather than determines our destiny.
III & IV - What man aspires? What Drives man? (The relationship between the questions can be seen as Active-Passive relation or Intrinsic-Extrinsic sources to action).
Psychoanalysis - In Freud's Psychoanalysis, our basic motivation was directed towards pleasure. Our mental energy derived from the endeavour to maximise pleasure (the pleasure principle of the Id). It was restrained by the Ego (and reality principle) and the Super-ego. That was a hedonist perspective (Bonaventura, 1952). According to K Horney, the endeavour was the effort to overcome our basic anxiety (Brown, 1964). Man was totally driven by his unconscious drives - sexual and aggressive drives (Freud), Striving for Power (Adler) or 'life force' Libido (Jung). According to Freud, reality and conscience (or super-ego) limited the Id's gratification process through the defence mechanisms of the ego. (Hayes, 1994), (Brown, 1964)
Behaviourism - With deeply rooted determinist premises, extreme behaviourism held that man sought pleasurable stimuli. According to Thorndike's law of effect (1911), we form only stimulus-response connections that lead to satisfying effect (Miller, 1962). This attitude was influences by Utilitarianism as presented by J.Bentham and J.S.Mill. J.S.Mill's Utilitarianism was published in 1863. Bentham's Principles of Morals and Legislation was published in 1789. The basic idea of utilitarianism is that we seek pleasure and should maximize the sum of the pleasure in the world. The mere concept of intention is somewhat void, when the only recognised phenomenon is behaviour. Whether we act or are acted upon is only a matter of learning processes: classical conditioning (in which we are passive), operant conditioning (where we are active) or social learning processes.
Humanistic - People strive for self-actualisation. According to Abraham Maslow (1954), there existed a hierarchy of needs (consisting of seven categories) - from our basic physiological needs to the highest self-actualisation needs. Only once you have satisfied 'lower' needs, the 'higher' needs emerge (Hayes, 1994). Carl Rogers (1961) believed that we needed positive regard and that our development was extremely influenced by its existence or absence (Hayes, 1994). Yet, no influence was strong enough to be regarded as a drive - we were active participants in our lives.
Biological - In 1954, Miler and Olds found the Pleasure-Centre in the Hypothalamus of a rat brain (Miller, 1962). It is rather impossible to explain wishes, longings or aspirations in biological terms. Biology can explain needs, homeostasis and cortical activity (Hayes, 1994). We have many biological needs - oxygen, water, nutrients, sleep and more. The basic rule is maintaining the dynamic systems' balance (homeostasis); it combines activity needs (such as getting food) and passivity needs (such as sleep).
Cognitive - Our beliefs on the world can induce our behaviour. Kelly's personal construct theory (1955) is a cognitive-humanistic theory. When a person holds a tight system of constructs, whose applications are unsatisfactory - he believes, for example, that everyone tries to criticise him, then he is likely to behave defensively. Experimental cognitive psychology tries to define and understand mental processes. It is a way to observe aspiration, rather than determining a point of view.
Developmental - One important point of developmental theories, is that we aspire and appreciate different things at various stages of our development. Diverse needs too occur during our life span development. For example - we seek attachment in infancy and intimate relationship and love in adulthood (one can say that they are the same, of course).
Social - Social Psychology stresses our social needs. Social identification is said to be important to our self-esteem (Tajfel and Tutner, 1979, in Hayes, 1994). Bowlby described our basic need for attachment and the grave consequences of its absence (Bowlby, 1951 - Bowlby referred solely to maternal attachment and deprivation, but this can be widely applied.). We are influenced in infinite ways by culture and society. Researches show that people are extremely prone to social pressure. The famous studies of Milgram and Ash on obedience to authority and conformity are only a small demonstration of our social-oriented nature (Hayes, 1994). As social animals, we seek human contact in various forms. Thus, one can argue that people can only be understood in their social and cultural context.
V. What is abnormality?
Psychoanalysis - For Freud, abnormality only differed from normality quantitatively - when it became maladaptive in the person's everyday performances (Hayes, 1994). Unconscious conflicts and mechanisms for coping with them (especially repressing) were the fundamental reasons for neuroses. As an M.D, Freud was amongst the firsts to accept neuroses as real, limiting illnesses (Stafford-Clark, 1965). By doing so, the study of psychic pain gained its foremost motivational shift.
Behaviourism - Abnormality is regarded as maladaptive, albeit learned behaviour. It develops through reinforcements of inadequate Stimulus-Response connections or other social leaning processes (Atkinson et al., 1996). The behaviourist criteria for judging abnormality is whether the behaviour is maladaptive or not.
Humanistic - Normality is reflected in positive psychological growth. Disruptions of this pattern are abnormal (Hayes, 1994). However, Humanistic psychology was mainly targeting healthy normal people, and its abnormal psychology is deduced from the normal psychology, thus less effective (as some say) when applied to the abnormal. Rogers (1961) claimed that mental disorders originated from the patients' attempt to cope with lack of positive-regard from his environment (Hayes, 1994).
Biological - Biopsychology emphasises the biological causes of abnormality. Among them are genetic problems, neural and brain disorders, nutrition deficiencies and more (Hayes, 1994; Atkinson et al., 1996). Some psychoses are caused by organic brain dysfunction (Brown and Pedder, 1979); even degeneration of tissues can sometimes cause psychosis (Seinfeld, 1981). Abnormality is usually seen from a biological perspective as a statistically deviant manifestation of a process or a structure.
Cognitive - Many mental-disorders (such as Anorexia Nervosa - an eating disorder in which the person is deliberately loosing weight, sometimes to a life-threatening extent) correlate to the way a person thinks of himself. Mental disorders, from this point of view, can be seen as an inadequate perception of one's self (or of the world) (Hayes, 1994).
Developmental - The concept of vulnerability is basic to the understanding of abnormality. There are characteristics (such as genetics) or situations (such as parental care) that make us prone to mental illnesses. Many researchers studied the connection between critical periods (a somewhat determined time during development in which the specific learning should take place. Today this concept is much more flexible and referred to as sensitive-period), vulnerability and mental illnesses. Is our bio-social-cognitive resume carry inevitable consequences?
Social - Most modern psychologists agree that definitions of abnormality are socially and culturally bounded (Hayes, 1994). Some argued (Bateson et al 1956, in Hayes 1994) that there were schizophrenogenic families, which tended to induce schizophrenia in its members. Schizophrenia should therefore be studied in social context, wherein the family is seen as the basic unit for diagnosis and treatment.
How can man be helped?
Psychoanalysis - Talk therapy is the basic feature of the Psychodynamic approach (Pedder, 1979). Through talking techniques such as free-associations, reflecting transference (Transference: redirection of feelings - especially from childhood - towards a new object - the therapist) and dream interpreting, the person learns to know himself. Acknowledging unconscious drives and working through them enables the strengthening of the patient's Ego.
Behaviourism - Behaviourism equates help with changing behaviours (Hayes, 1994). Behaviour therapy uses desensitisation (gradually extinguishing a response to stimuli that formerly induced it) and methodological implosion therapy (deliberately exposing the person to the feared stimuli to extinguish its effect as a way to treat phobias and anxieties). Operant conditioning techniques (such as token economy) are used to generate new behaviours. Social-learning methods like imitation and modeling can modify behaviours as well.
Humanistic - Giving the client positive regard, thus enabling him to actively help himself is a Rogerian (after Carl Rogers) principle (Hayes, 1994). When given such an opportunity, the person can minimise the gap between his 'Ideal self' and his 'Real self'. As an active agent the person is capable of helping himself, though the therapist ought to supply the proper context.
Biological - Drugs, Electric Convulsive Therapy (ECT) and brain surgeries are the main devices to help sufferers (Hayes, 1994). Gene therapy aims at changing genetic defects: curative Eugenics (the study and practice of genetic improvement of humans) is a DNA surgery, deliberately changing the genetic substance, assuring that these mutations will be further transferred (Graur and Graur, 1992).
Cognitive - Existential therapy sees the patient as directly responsible for his condition. In a way, he chose to be mentally ill. Helping him is done through changing his judgements (mainly social judgements) and ways of thinking about the world (Hayes, 1994). By modifying the client's attributions, expectations, beliefs and appraisals, therapists help him to improve inadequacies. Changing personal constructs also serves the same goal.
Developmental - Throughout our development we seek various stimuli and activities. Erik Erickson purposed 8 distinct developmental stages, wherein each we ought to face a different conflict. In order to help a person we should supply him with the tools to resolve his unsolved conflicts (Atkinson et al., 1996).
Social - Social support correlates with low rates of physical and psychological illnesses. The connection between social support and health is nowadays widely acknowledged (Totman, 1990). Any group psychology, regardless of its approach, uses social factors to bring relief to the sufferer. Solving conflicts, learning more appropriate behaviours and getting feedback are only examples to these processes (Brown and Pedder, 1979). Since many problems are associated with relationships, group-therapy or family therapy can help from within the problematic context (Atkinson et al., 1996).
Man and society
We are by nature filtered to form unions, societies and states. Cicero
Psychoanalysis - We are asocial by nature - homo humini lupus (man is wolf to man, Latin), therefore the relationship between man and society is an artificial contract (Psychoanalysis was influenced by the theories of Hobbs and Rousseau). Nevertheless, the parental influence upon the course of development is enormous. Education and supplying proper role models for solving conflicts (authoritative father, supporting mother) is a prerequisite for healthy personality. In Totem and Taboo (1913), Freud described the society as the offspring of the primal horde, which is driven by Oedipus complex. Society is not constituted on reason or love (Miller, 1962)
Behaviourism - 'Economic' approaches explain relationships in terms of costs and benefits. Homans (1974) argued that we needed social approval as an important social reinforcement (Hayes, 1994). We were shaped through interacting with society. Imitation and identification were important learning mechanisms. Bandura (1969) showed that children tended to imitate rewarded people. Observation was another way of getting vicarious reinforcements (Hayes, 1994).
Humanistic - Humanistic therapy constitutes a relationship between two people. The social context is the place in which we actualise our self as well as a part of our personality. According to Maslow, before fulfilling self-actualisation needs, one must pass through 'belonging and love needs', as well as through 'self-esteem needs', deriving from society (Maslow, 1970 in Atkinson et al., 1996).
Biological - Infantile instincts, such as smiling towards faces, imitation and vocalising may suggest that babies have inborn social tendencies (this is also an evolutionary probable) (Hayes, 1994). An important aspect in socialising is, of course, sexual drive, evolutionary aiming at reproduction. Physical attraction influences our choice of relationships and attitudes (Hayes, 1994).
Cognitive - Man perceives himself as a part of a socio-cultural context. Social interaction is important for developing the 'Self concept' (Mead, 1934 in Hayes, 1994). High social self-esteem is correlated with activity and success (Coopersmith, 1968 in Hayes, 1994).
Developmental - After Bowlby's study of Attachment (1951), social skill development became a popular studied subject. We are born social and seek human contact throughout our lives. For Freud (1901), normal sexual development was necessary for the infant's healthy future (Hayes, 1994). During adolescence we needed to form new patterns of ideas and behaviour. Society provides us with the background to find these new patterns (Hayes, 1994).
Social - Society is the basic unit in which a man is perceived. Studies on social influence stress the almost ungraspable power of society over us. Studies of audience effect show that our motivation and our capacities are socially influenced. Our social-pleasing orientation as appears in Ash's Conformity studies and in Milgram's obedience experiments amazed many researchers. Milgram suggested (1973) that social obedience was of great evolutionary value (Hayes, 1994).
What is the purpose of experimental psychology?
Psychoanalysis - The theoretical core of psychoanalysis was barely changed since the work of Freud. Nevertheless, contemporary studies emphasise the Ego and ego-mechanisms, as well as further study of unconscious processes. Psychoanalysis was seriously criticised as a non-scientific theory due to its irrefutability (Gross, 1998). It is a normative rather than a descriptive theory (the difference between them is of the matching direction. When there is a descriptive inadequacy, the theory must adjust it self to the world, whereas the world is to be adjusted when normative inadequacy occur).
Behaviourism - Psychology's objective is a scientific study. Watson (1913) criticised introspection as unscientific and pled that the only measurable variant was behaviour. Therefore, behaviourism studied S-R connections, which were created during interaction with the environment as well as other social-learning processes, such as imitation and modeling. It also studied social behaviour, imagination, association, language and abnormal behaviour (Hayes, 1994; Gross, 1998).
Humanistic - Humanistic psychology seeks to understand how we interpret our worlds. It studies constructs, and diverse personalities (Hayes, 1994). It is also concerned with the ways we shape our world by means of perceiving it, and studying the 'self concept' (Gross, 1998).
Biological - Principally, physiological psychology is the study of Mind-Body connection from the 'Body' perspective. It studies the brain, the nervous system and processing and analysing information in the cortex. Biopsychologists also study physiological aspects of sleep, consciousness and motivation (Hayes, 1994). Other related subjects are pharmacology, organic study of abnormality, genetics and comparative psychology (compares human and animals' processes).
Cognitive - As a part of cognitive sciences, cognitive psychology aims to understand mental processes like perception, memory and language (Hayes, 1994). The study of Information-processing began with the cognitive revolution in 1956 (Gross, 1998). It also studies intelligence and artificial intelligence.
Developmental - Research is concerned with the development aspects of our lives. Language and cognition development are widely studied, as well as physiological and social development, moral and identity development (Hayes, 1994).
Social - Social research tries to decipher human interaction. It studies interpretations of our social world, social behaviour and social cognition (Hayes, 1994). Intercultural psychology studies and compares variance in cultures and societies all over the world (Gross, 1998)
What is the purpose of clinical psychology?
Psychoanalysis - all psychotherapies have originated from Sigmund Freud's work. Psychoanalysis objectives are to ease the psychic pain, by bringing fuller understanding of oneself and resolving unconscious conflicts. The therapeutic relationship (the working alliance) is a purpose in itself (Brown and Pedder, 1979). Jung aimed at Individuation - process of integrating contrasted forces within the person, while raising beyond the resolution of problematic pattern, and achieving synthesis of the aspects within the self. Jung's perspective deserves a wider consideration, due to its complexity and depth (Storr, 1995).
Behaviourism - Behaviourists treat abnormal behaviours using conditioning techniques to change behaviours and social learning methods to generate new ones (Hayes, 1994). Biofeedback is also a clinical application of behaviourist theories (Gross, 1998). Occupational therapy also involves behaviourist premises (Totman, 1990), and so many techniques and applications in clinical hypnosis (Hypnotherapy).
Humanistic - Its main purpose is to understand the person as a whole, to help him become happier and more complete (Hayes, 1994). Humanistic therapy mainly involves supplying the client with a warm relationship, of which he draws security and positive regard. Rogerian therapy aims to help the man become freer (Gross, 1998). Another aim is to narrow the gap between 'ideal' and 'real' self (Atkinson et al., 1996). The modern holistic approach of many therapists draws its western roots from humanistic psychology.
Biological - This is the domain of psychiatry, gene therapy and brain surgery. It aims at extinguishing or diminishing the symptoms. ECT, for example, is used to treat endogenous depression (and some argue that it is mainly effective due to the amnesia that follows the shocks) (Hayes, 1994).
Cognitive - Its purpose is helping the patient to change inadequate cognitive processes and to feel better. Gestalt therapy, for instance, tries to unite and integrate perceptions in an organised, meaningful way (Hayes, 1994).
Developmental - As I have noted earlier, according to many 'stage' theories, we carry distinct problems and conflicts at different stages of our lives. Development-oriented therapy observes the stage in which the person is in, as a part of the diagnosis and treatment course.
Social - Helping the person by social means and helping a social-group through individual therapy is an important social quest. Even support-groups strengthen people in need. Family therapy tries to balance the sub-systems in a family (Hayes, 1994). Treating families of schizophrenics helps in minimising relapses, creating healthier attitudes and improved communication. A supportive social community, in which therapeutic processes can take place, serves as a powerful social-therapeutic tool (Brown and Pedder, 1979).
X. Language and man.
Psychoanalysis - Besides serving as the main tool for communication in therapy, language reflects the psyche's structure. Therapeutic psychoanalysis makes a fundamental premise regarding to language: there is a reciprocal relationship between language and mental states; speech can, for example, readily access emotions. Associative speech, as applied in the free-associations technique, can bypass conscious processes, thus revealing unconscious matter. Slips of the tongue are another way in which unconscious material is revealed through language.
Behaviourism - In Verbal behaviour (1957), Skinner argued that language was a learned skill, acquired through Operant-conditioning (Hayes, 1994) - The child's production of Phonemes is manipulated towards language through parental positive reinforcements.. Speech was seen as a distinctive pattern of behaviour.
Humanistic - The area of attribution, especially as presented in Kelly's personal constructs theory, is highly language-based. Language is the commonest reference-point for making attributions and thus it immensely influences us. The power of words can be demonstrated by Einstein's saying: 'Dostoyevsky had given me more than any scientist ever did' (Dietz, 1951).
Biological - Brain localisation of language is a mostly studied area. When, for instance, Broca's area (In the Frontal lobe, the left cerebral hemisphere) is damaged, the speech is abrupt and stammering (Atkinson et al., 1996). Sever psychoses often involve abnormal language patterns.
Cognitive - Psycholinguist Noam Chomsky claimed (1959) that we possessed an innate Language Acquisition Device (LAD). We automatically perceived linguistic structures (Hayes, 1994). Language combines many cognitive processes and as such it is widely studied in cognitive sciences.
Developmental - For J Piaget (1959), language abilities reflected the cognitive development. As the child decentred, his egocentric language changed too (Hayes, 1994). There were three steps in language development: learning phonemes, learning rules for combining them - beginning with two-worded sentences, and then elaborating complex speech (Hayes, 1994).
Social - Vygotsky (1934) said that language was a social, rather than a cognitive phenomenon (Hayes, 1994). It was by far the most important and distinctive feature of human communication. John Searle purposed (1969) that language and action were part of the same process, both were rule-governed forms of behaviour, which responded to social situations (Totman, 1990).
The dialectic approach
Introduction
When we give-up the claim for objective truth and submit ourselves to the waves of relativity, we are giving up certainty yet gaining flexibility and magic. I do not wish to submit myself to any one way. There is no single preferable theory - each has its beauty, each has its advantages, each has its truth.
The dialectic approach
Philosophy equals the spirit of time at which it appears: it is not superior to its era, but rather the mere consciousness of the objective essence of its time (Hegel, 1823-8).
Theoretically speaking, the history of psychology is psychology itself. The theories' content is ever changing and so are the subjects of study. The connection between Wundt's introspection to comparative-psychology surgeries on rats exists only due to the time-bound sequence of Psychology. Clinically speaking, the history of psychology is the international library of therapeutic consciousness - the inventory of techniques, understandings and human beliefs. Hence, our mission as scientific psychologists is to add further chains to the history of psychology and to broaden alternatives, by finding new, different truths. Whereas our duty as clinicians is to surf the sea of psychological knowledge, pick fragments of as many truths as we can, and compose our own therapeutic truth, in a way that enables us to be good therapists and happy people. This dialogue with the past becomes dialectic when we are not only influenced by the past and influencing the future, but also - through the process of psychology study and practice - influencing our own course of development. The cycle of reciprocal, ever changing and never ending influences, is the core of the dialectic approach.
The dialectic paradigm has replaced old paradigms in many fields such as -
Quantum physics - The principle of uncertainty shows that the mere observation and measurement of a particle's location and momentum varies it. Therefore, a dialogue between observer and phenomena is constituted (Ne'eman, 1989).
Art - Many modern theories on art and literature stress the importance of the dialogue between the artist, his creation and the observer. The artistic value is determined through this dialogue, and the dialogue serves as a creative bind both to art and to artists
Philosophy - Putnam (1981) argued that the relationship 'world-representations' (including language) depended on the interaction between the world and the representatives, there was no intrinsic quality in the representative itself.
Cybernetics - Feedback loops approach is a dynamic way to describe processes. Negative feedback loops maintain the natural functioning of mind and body (Morgan, 1996). Homeostasis is a dialectic framework, since its feeding and being fed by the same mechanisms.
Language - our consciousness is shaped by language and shapes our perceived world. Language can be seen as reflecting the reality and the consciousness, as well as reflected by external realities.
Science takes place within a historical context. There is a constant conversation between the science (as a shared, conformed consciousness), the scientist and the environment. This dialogue is history; it is the process of scientific growth and development.
The 'ultimate truth' is an inferior alternative to an ever changing, comprehensive truth - a living dialogic truth. As therapists (or scientists), when we speak 'biology' we use the biopsychological model for human understanding; when we use a psychoanalytic jargon we apply the Psychodynamic tools to understand human conflicts; the language of development requires process-thinking. With each new vocabulary we enhance our spectrum of understanding and moreover, we enhance our therapeutic repertoire. When a patient approaches, we can tackle the problem with the appropriate set of tools for this specific problem, and bring about change from within our most efficient therapeutic place of competence.
Conclusion
Three elements consist of Rosenzweig's philosophy (1921) - man, world and god. Everything derives from the dialectic relationship between the three (Bergman, 1974), from the creative force that is constituted by the very relationship of these three elements.
Psychology is as comprehensive a subject as humanity. I have barely touched the main approaches to psychology. Naturally, it may take more than specie's lifetime to complete the study of its nature. The dialectic model is neither a Lamarckian (aggregative) approach nor a Darwinian (selective) one; it is the procedure of a constant dialogue, in which the human consciousness is constantly changing, by reflecting on itself. Each theory has double importance - its creation adds to the psychological consciousness and it is a part of the dialogue within it. Each theory is important as a static body of knowledge, as well as a part of the dynamic process of the psychological dialogue. This model, which observes all theories (past, present and future) with equal respect, has no concrete psychological content. It might be more precisely understood as eyes to look through with, a construct. It is crucial to understand, however, that when we look through these eyes, our eyes change with our observations, with our changing of the world.
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Asaf
Rolef Ben-Shahar
Integrative Massage therapy
Hypnotherapy & Psychotherapy
Potters Bar
http://www.IMT.co.il
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