The Humanistic School of Thought

Humanistic psychology is a response to psychoanalysis and behaviourism and focuses on individual free will, personal growth, and self-actualisation.
This school of thought is focused on helping people achieve and fulfil their potential. It had a huge influence on positive psychology that centres on helping people live happier and more fulfilling lives.
Major humanist thinkers include Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.

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Cognitive School of Psychology

Cognitive psychology studies mental processes, including how people think, perceive, remember, and learn. It is related to other disciplines such as neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics.
This branch of psychology emerged during the 1950s as a response to behav...

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Gestalt Psychology

This school of psychology is based on the idea that we experience things as unified wholes.
The approach started in the late 19th century in response to the molecular approach of structuralism.
Instead of breaking down thoughts and behaviour to their smal...

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The Behaviourist School of Thought

Behaviourism suggests that all behaviours can be explained by environmental causes. It includes classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
This school of thought became dominant in the 1950s and had a significant influence on the course of psychology.

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Psychology: Early Schools of Thought

Structuralism was the first school of thought and focused on breaking down mental processes into their most basic elements using techniques such as introspection. Major thinkers are Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener.
Functionalism...

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When Psychology Became A Separate Scientific Discipline

When psychology developed as a science that was separate from biology and philosophy, they did not know how to describe the human mind and behaviour.

Different schools of psychology emerged that represent major theories within psychology. At first, psychologists identified...

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The Psychoanalytic School of Thought

Psychoanalysis emphasises the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour.
Sigmund Freud found this school of thought. He believed that the mind was composed of three elements that interacted to create complex human behaviours: