Page 32 - Understanding Psychology

Figure 1.8 Gestalt Psychology
Artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo (c.1530–1593) played with perceptual images in his paint- ing Autumn.
An electric sign in which the bulbs go on and off in turn, with the appropriate timing, gives the impression of motion. How do these two images represent the ideas of Gestalt psychology?
of psychology. The most important approaches to the study of psychol- ogy today are the psychoanalytic, behavioral, humanistic, cognitive, bio- logical, and sociocultural approaches.
Psychoanalytic Psychology
While the first psychologists were interested in understanding the conscious mind, Sigmund Freud (1856–1939), a physician who practiced in Vienna until 1938, was more interested in the unconscious mind. He believed that our conscious experiences are only the tip of the iceberg, that beneath the surface are primitive biological urges that are in conflict with the requirements of society and morality. According to Freud, these unconscious motivations and conflicts are responsible for most human behavior. He thought that they were responsible for many medically unexplainable physical symptoms that troubled his patients.
Freud used a new method for indirectly studying unconscious processes. In this technique, known as free association, a patient said everything that came to mind—no matter how absurd or irrelevant it seemed—without attempting to produce logical or meaningful state- ments. The person was instructed not to edit or censor the thoughts.
18 Chapter 1 / Introducing Psychology