Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Psych: Then and Now

The world of psychology has come a long way since it first began to be recognized as an actual field. During the early years of psychology, many differences can be found when compared to psychology today. First and foremost, psychology was not even taken as a serious field of study. many people looked down upon it because they believed it was just nonsense and unnecessary. Today, psychology is one of the fastest growing fields and continues to be one of the most popular majors amongst college students.

Secondly, patients who were considered to have psychological problems were not considered as "mentally ill" or sick, but rather a victim of the devil. For most of our history, religion practically prevailed in almost every aspect of society, making any "abnormal" action related to the devil himself. Today, medical breakthroughs have shown that such disorders can be either biological, or environmental, or perhaps both.

Next, the medical field did not have the tools to examine a patient's brain such as MRI scans and PET scans. Instead, doctors had to cut open a patient's head and examine the brain itself, most of the time when the patient has already passed away. For an extensive period of time, doctors used to compare the brains of men and women, mostly for the purpose of explaining why the male species dominated the women (which of course, we know is not true today). Hospitals now have an extensive collection of equipment used to examine not only the brain, but the body as well (which I will discuss in future blogs).

Also in the world of psychology, its hard to answer the question:
What was the first invention dedicated towards the psychological field?

This question is so difficult to answer because psychology encompasses such a broad range of topics that it is almost impossible to know the first invention, or perhaps, even when they started.

Psychology includes categories such as:
--Clinical Psychology
--Developmental Psychology
--Forensic Psychology
--Cognitive Psychology
--Educational Psychology
--Abnormal Psychology
--Industrial Organizational Psychology
--and the list goes on!

The focus of topics can include anything from children, to health, to genetics, to crimes, to school, to anything you can possibly imagine. So how does technology play a part in all of these?

A lot of the research done in psychology are through experiments and correlational studies. Therefore, naturally, there will be a need for certain equipment and methods to complete such studies. How else will we be able to obtain data and evidence?

In addition, when there is a problem, there needs to be a solution! So what better way to solve problems such as treatment for disorders than to use technology?

History has definitely helped pave the way for the advancement of technology in the psychological field. In future blogs you will not only learn about the different types of technological devices and methods used, but also recognize the immense changes made over the years. Stay tuned for more!



1 comment:

  1. I"m really enjoying your info. For some reason, the font on this post is light and difficult to read. Can it be fixed?

    ReplyDelete