Here is a timeline for the history of psychology. Take a look at the timeline and ask yourself, "If I could travel back in time to personally witness histroy taking place, what year would it be and why?
Here is the link: http://www.allpsych.com/timeline.html
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Personally, I'd like to go back and ask Egas Moniz what he was thinking when he decided cutting the connections to the prefrontal cortex was an effective way to treat mental health disorders. (I'd actually like to slap this person, but I suppose a stern talking to would have to do). I wouldn't be able to handle witnessing a frontal lobe lobotomy however because I am, in fact, incredibly squeamish.
I would like to go back to when Freud was first studying things like the personality theory and just be able to talk with him about his insights and where he came up with his ideas. I've learned about him in my psychology classes and I just think he'd be a really interesting guy to talk to, because his thinking was so (and is somewhat still) bizzare in a way.
I would like to go back to the days of Aristotle and Plato when Psychology wasn't even a field of study and was closely attached to Philosophy. It was be interesting to hear their counter beliefs on what mental processes are controlled by, the head or the heart. Back then Psychology had morality close at hand and a sense of right and wrong. Today it seems as though psychology has no backbone, it is all about science and empirical data, and whatever is right for you and whatever is right for me is right for me. Back in the early days they were trying to figure out what made people tick, early days, filled with adventure, lots of trial and error, and most of it based purely in thought and reason, not science.
I would like to go back to the days of Aristotle and Plato when Psychology wasn't even a field of study and was closely attached to Philosophy. It was be interesting to hear their counter beliefs on what mental processes are controlled by, the head or the heart. Back then Psychology had morality close at hand and a sense of right and wrong. Today it seems as though psychology has no backbone, it is all about science and empirical data, and whatever is right for you and whatever is right for me is right for me. Back in the early days they were trying to figure out what made people tick, early days, filled with adventure, lots of trial and error, and most of it based purely in thought and reason, not science.
I would go back to 1945 and witness the feminist movement when Karen Horney published her views of psychoanalytic theory. I think it was a very tense and important part of history for women. There were many struggles for women during this time and it would be interesting to go back and observe the controversy.
I would have to choose to either go back all the way to the beginnign or to the present. I would want to go to the beginning because everythign you find would be new. Plus this is the time where people are starting to go against authority and be allowed for personal study without being hung for doing it. And i would want to be in the present to look at all that has been found out in the past and be able to use the technology we have now to continue research.
If I could go back in time and ask anyone questions I would have to ask Plato and Aristotle. And ask them why they think what they think and ask them for their reasonings. It is just so interesting to see what the actual development of Psychology began and their reasonings for it. They knew something and they wanted to know more. To see how far we have come from 337 BC to 2002 blows my mind in all the advances that have been made, but I want to know Plato and Aristotles thought process. `
I tried really hard to narrow it down to one point in time...but alas I failed. But I did narrow it down to two so hopefully that is okay.
The first place I would like to go back and visit would be the time of Plato and Aristotle. I think it is really interesting that two people who shared so many viewpoints differed so greatly in their ideas of where the mental processes were centered. Obviously Plato had it right with his assumption that mental processes were centered in the brain (Aristotle believed it to be the heart). I would just like to sit down and talk to these two individuals and hear from them how they arrived at these theories. Of course going back to that time I would still like to have all my modern knowledge...so hopefully the method of transportation is a time machine, and not something that causes me to lose modern knowledge.
The second place in time I would love to go is when Freud was producing all of his work on psychoanalytic theory...specifically his work on gender differences/gender roles. I am currently in Psychology of Gender Differences and we just talked about Freud's Oedipus/Electra complex, as well as his concept of penis envy. As a female I find most of his work borderline offensive...but at the same time his work was so forward-thinking that I think it would be amazing to have a conversation with him and get inside his mind. Also his concepts of the id, ego, and superego are incredibly intersting and I would love to pick his mind about how he arrived at that theory of the unconscious makeup.