Psychologist whose work was prevalent prior to the 20th century
Choose a psychologist whose work was prevalent prior to the 20th century that is of interest to you. Create a PowerPoint that presents the impact the Psychologist had on the field during their lifetime and in the current field. Please follow the rubric located on Blackboard for this assignment. This assignment is worth 25 points. Be sure to include:
• Biography information.
• What they are credited for.
• Society’s response to their contributions at the time.
• Include any supporters and/or critics.
• How did they contribute to the field of psychology.
Sample Solution
Sigmund Freud is arguably one of the most influential and controversial psychologists of all time. He was born in 1856 to a Jewish family in Moravia and studied medicine at the University of Vienna (Freud, 1958). His work focused on understanding the unconscious mind through psychoanalysis, which looks at how an individual’s past experiences influence their present thoughts and behavior.
Freud is credited for introducing many pioneering concepts such as the Oedipus complex, defense mechanisms, dream analysis, psychosexual stages of development and transference (McLeod 2016). Despite being met with mixed reactions from scholars during his lifetime – some denounced his ideas for being too radical while others praised them for providing insight into human psychology – society today has largely accepted his theories as foundational knowledge in psychology.
In addition to advancing psychological science, he also had profound impact in other fields such as literature, art and philosophy where many artists found inspiration in his works. For instance, Freudian themes can be seen throughout James Joyce’s novel Ulysses as well as works by Franz Kafka (Moore & Siegelman 2000).
Even though Freud remains highly revered today by professional psychologists who utilize aspects of his theories in their practice – critics still argue that some of his claims lack empirical evidence or are overly reductionist (Hagerty et al., 2010). Nevertheless, there is no denying that Freud played a revolutionary role in advancing psychology beyond its infancy stage.
