Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Contribution to Psychology
Freud drew heavily upon the emphasis of philosophers such as Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, and Kant. Freuds theories
continue to influence much of modern psychology, and his ideas also resonate throughout philosophy, sociology,
and political science, with thinkers such as Jacques Lacan and Karl Marx drawing heavily upon Freudian theories.
Freud's emphasis upon early life and the drive to pleasure are perhaps his most significant contributions to
psychology. Even contemporary psychologists who disavow Freud's theories often take an interest in a client's early
life and the relationship between child and parent. Some of Freud's most significant theories include:

The development of the unconscious and conscious minds. Freud argued that the mind consists of
the conscious mind, which contains the thoughts and beliefs of which we are aware. The unconscious mind, by
contrast, is a repository for repressed memories and unexpressed desires, and problems with the unconscious
mind can lead to problems with behavior and emotional regulation.

The structural model of personality. Drawing upon his theory of the unconscious mind, Freud
developed the concepts of the id, ego, and superego. The ego is the everyday personality that we present to
the world, but represents only a fraction of a person's true self. The superego, by contrast, serves as a sort of
conscience and internalizes moral, social, and cultural norms. The id is a pleasure-seeking, primitive structure
that is present at birth. It forms the foundation of a person's personality, and unconscious id desires can
explain seemingly unexplainable behaviors.

Stages of psychosexual development. These stages, which include the oral, anal, genital, latent, and
phallic, represent different stages of child development during which a child has a major psychological task he
or she must complete. The primary task of the anal stage, for example, is toilet training. Failure to
competently complete a major developmental task can lead to later psychological problems related to that
stage. For example, children who have trouble during toilet training may grow into anally retentive adults. One
of the most popular and widely debated sub-theories within the stages of psychosexual development is
the Oedipal complex. During this developmental challenge, a son is incestuously attracted to his mother and
feels rivalry toward his father. He must resolve this challenge by identifying with his father.

The concept of defense mechanisms. Freud's defense mechanismswhich are still a part of
contemporary psychologyare tools of the unconscious mind that are designed to alter reality in order to
avoid pain and suffering. Repression, for example, is the tendency to forget troubling events,
while projection is the tendency to project one's own traits onto someone else. Freud's defense mechanisms
were further developed and codified by his daughter Anna Freud.

Dream interpretation. Freud believed that dreams could be interpreted to glean important information
about a person's psychology and personality, and he believed that dreams frequently served as wish-fulfillment
devices.

Freud has played a seminal role in popular culture. Images of a patient lying on a couch, for example, are allusions
to Freud. His remark, Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar is still sometimes used to indicate that not every action
has deep psychological meaning. In addition, Freudian slips occur when a person says what his or her unconscious

mind is thinking or desires. For example, a woman might say, I want my ex-boyfriend dead when she meant to
say, I want my ex-boyfriend back.

B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)

Contribution to Psychology
Over the course of his long career, Skinner developed many theories and inventions, and he remains one of the
best known and most controversial figures in psychology. His behaviorist theories remain hotly contested and have
influenced fields ranging from education to dog training. Skinner influenced behaviorism through his research on
reinforcement; he focused heavily on the exploration of negative and positive reinforcement and the effects they
had on behavior. He believed that his behaviorist theories could save humanity from itself and argued in favor of
positive reinforcement to shape political and social behavior. His theory of radical behaviorism argues that internal
perceptions are not based on a psychological level of consciousness, but rather on an individual's own physical
body.
Among Skinners many inventions was a highly controversial one, known as the Air-Crib that he developed while
teaching at Indiana University. Designed to support child rearing, the crib was a temperature-controlled, sterile,
soundproof box that was meant to encourage a childs independence, while minimizing discomfort. The most
famous of Skinners inventions is commonly known as the Skinner box, a device designed to employ operant
conditioningthe manipulation of behaviors through reinforcement. For example, an animal would receive a
reward for small acts representing a desired behavior and the rewards would increase as the animal came closer to
completing the desired behavior.

Skinner conducted extensive research into reinforcement as a method of teaching. Continuous reinforcement
involves the constant delivery of reinforcement by reward for a desired behavior, but Skinner found the method
impractical and ineffective. Interval-based reinforcements, on the other hand, are reinforcements delivered
according to a specific schedule and tend to produce slow and steady change. Interval-based reinforcement might
follow a fixed interval or variable interval schedule, providing reinforcement after a fixed or variable amount of
time. Alternatively, interval-based reinforcement can follow a fixed-ratio schedule, in which reinforcement is given
after a certain number of responses, or a variable-ratio schedule, in which reinforcement is provided based on an
average number of responses. Skinner concluded that variable-ratio schedules tend to produce the most
compliance, particularly when rewards occur frequently. For example, a person training a dog might reward the
dog, on average, every five times it obeys, but vary the number of obedience tasks between each reward.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

Contribution to Psychology
Piagets studies into the cognitive development of children led to several different theories. Piaget examined and
evaluated the behaviors of his own children, observing their behaviors as infants, and watching and assessing the
physical movements and actions they employed to accommodate their needs as they grew. Piaget also determined
that younger children responded intuitively to a series of questions he created and that they developed more
socially acceptable responses as they aged.
Piaget believed that children progress through specific phases of development during which they acquire
predictable skills and behavior:
1.

Sensorimotor Stage: from age 02, a child interacts with his world through movement and explores his
surroundings through the five senses.

2.

Preoperational Stage: from age 27 years, the child enters the fantasy stage, or magical thinking stage. It
is during this time that children learn symbols in language, when egocentrism dominates, and motor skills are
acquired.

3.

Concrete Operational Stage: from age 711 years, children learn to use logical thinking and perform
concrete mental operations with the use of aids. Children begin to master abstract thinking, but will not be
fully capable of abstract thought until the final stage.

4.

Formal Operational Stage: in adolescence, around age 11 and beyond, a child is able to think abstractly,
use reason to solve theoretical problems, and consider hypothetical scenarios. During this period, the child
moves toward sociocentrisma focus on the larger social world rather than focusing solely on the self.

Piaget argued that children develop schemata, or ways of organizing knowledge, to help them understand the
world. These schemata serve as framework through which information is organized. He identified three types of
schemata:

Behavioral schemata are patterns of behavior that enable children to understand and respond to their
experiences.

Operational schemata are frameworks imposed upon thought.

Symbolic schemata are mental symbols, such as letters, images, or verbal shortcuts.

Piagets influences can be observed throughout the world in child psychology. The Jean Piaget Society supports his
theories and is a world-wide organization that holds well-attended conferences each year. Piagets theories continue
to impact education, psychology, evolution, philosophy, morality, and even artificial intelligence, as his theories
were used in the development of many of our modern societys computer operating systems and interfaces.

William James (1842-1910)

Contribution to Psychology
James's book, Principles of Psychology, has had far reaching impacts on the field of psychology. The massive 1200
page book was published in two separate volumes, and took more than a decade to complete. Two years after its
publication, an abridged version,Psychology: The Briefer Course, was released. In these books, James defined
beliefs as those ideals that serve a purpose to the believer. He developed a theory of truth that states that a truth
is legitimate if the statements are in line with theories or things, but the truth must also fit cohesively together in
order to be considered verifiable.
In collaboration with Carle Lange, James developed the James-Lange theory of emotion. This theory argues that
emotions are physiological reactions. When people experience an event, the event causes physiological changes,
and these changes act as cues for emotion. For example, the body of a person in danger initiates the fight or flight
reaction, which elevates heart rate and blood pressure. The person then feels afraid based upon these physiological
experiences.
James remains a widely read philosopher, and his theories on pragmatism have contributed both to the field of
psychology and philosophy. According to James's pragmatism, the value of an idea is dependent upon its
usefulness in the practical world rather than its absolute truth. Some of James's other contributions to philosophy
include:

The epistemological theory that a belief is true if it is useful. The truthfulness of an idea can be verified
based upon its correspondence with the real world. He argued that this theory could be used to investigate the
truthfulness of religious beliefs by assessing whether these beliefs worked well for everyone in the world.

His assertion that the will is free. James asserted that the will is free and proved this fact by stating that
he chose to believe that the will is free. He argued that existence of something can, in some ways, be brought
to life by fervently believing it. The debate over free will continues to rage in philosophical communities.

A philosophy of history that compared extraordinary individuals to mutations in the gene pool. Drawing
upon the theory of evolution, he argued that these geniuses drive the evolution of societies just as mutation
drives the evolution of species.

James held firmly to his belief in functionalism in psychology, and his work in this area has made him one of the
most influential and eminent psychologists of his time. He was open to alternative medicine and was a founding
member of the American Society for Psychical Research, an organization dedicated to parapsychology.

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

Contribution to Psychology
Pavlov began examining the reflex system while studying the gastric systems of dogs. He studied the digestive
system in earnest, and looked to determine the effects of nerves on digestive organs. He later studied the reflex
system in relation to pain and stress. He realized that subjects often responded in the same way to different
stimuli, regardless of their temperament. Carl Jung and William Sargant continued Pavlovs theories by researching
human temperament types.
Pavlov is best known for his classical conditioning study, also known as Pavlovian conditioning, as published
in Conditioned Reflexesin 1926. He developed this theory with Ivan Filippovitch Tolochinov, his assistant, in 1901.
They found that when a bell was closely associated with the delivery of food, a dog would begin to salivate when
the bell was rung. The bell served as a conditioned stimulus, which elicits a conditioned reflex. Salivating in
response to food alone, by contrast, is an unconditioned reflex to an unconditioned stimulus. The experiments that
Pavlov conducted on the salivating dogs have become recognized throughout common culture with the term
Pavlovs Dogs.
Pavlov's research into classical conditioning began to lay the foundation for the field of behaviorism and
comparative psychology, and conditioning techniques are still used in behavior modification. For example, one

highly popular form of dog training, called clicker training, conditions a dog to respond to a clicker as if it is a food
reward.
Although he was best known for his work in conditioning, Pavlov also developed the theory of transmarginal
inhibition. Transmarginal inhibition provides a gauge of a person or non-human animal's response to overwhelming,
and often painful, stimuli. Pain tolerance varies between species and among individuals, and Pavlov found that all
organisms ultimately reached a shut-down point. He believed an organism's shut-down point could provide
important information about its nervous system, and argued that there are three stages to TMI:
1.

Equivalency phase, during which an organism's response is proportional to the stimuli. For example,
someone who stubs his or her toe might yelp and quickly recover.

2.

Paradoxical phase, during which insignificant stimuli elicit exaggerated responses, while significant
stimuli result in muted responses. For example, a child might scream in pain in response to a paper cut but
seem unaware of a broken bone.

3.

Ultra-paradoxical response, which occurs when negative stimuli elicit a positive reaction.

He also found that a certain percentage of the population qualified as highly sensitive persons, whose reaction to
stimuli seemed disproportionate.

Abraham Maslow (1908 - 1970)

Contribution to Psychology
Maslows humanistic psychology is based on the belief that people are born with the desire to achieve their
maximum potential or reach a point Maslow termed self-actualization. Maslow chose to focus his research on the
experiences of emotionally healthy people, and he identified their peak experiences, moments when they were in
complete harmony and unison with the world around them. Rather than focusing on deficiencies, humanistic
psychologists argue in favor of finding people's strengths.
Maslow argued that his philosophy was a complement to Freudian psychology. He pointed out that, while Sigmund
Freud focused on treating sick people, his approach focused on helping people discover positive outcomes and
choices.

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is the framework around which humanistic psychology is built. Like other theories of
development, it is a stage-based theory. A person must complete one level of the hierarchy to move on to the next,
but not all people move through all stages. The original five-stage hierarchy was expanded to a seven-stage model
in the 1970s with the addition of cognitive and aesthetic needs:

Basic physiological needs such as food, shelter, and sleep.

Safety needs such as security, stability, and order.

Social needs such as love, belonging, and friendship.

Esteem needs include acceptance by others, a sense of achievement, and independence.

Cognitive needs such as intellectual fulfillment and knowledge.

Aesthetic needs include harmony, balance, and beauty.

Self-actualization is the goal of human development and occurs when a person meets his or her full
potential. Self-actualized people are joyful, empathetic, giving, and fulfilled.

Maslow argued that self-actualized people are driven by metamotivation: rather than seeking fulfillment of basic
needs, they are driven to fulfill their full potential.
Maslow identified two types of cognitition. Deficiency cognition, sometimes called D-cognition, is a way of thinking
that focuses on what one doesn't have and how to get it. Being-cognition, by contrast, is a form of thinking for
people who are self-actualizing. They focus on acceptance, justice, harmony, simplicity, and similar goals and
values.
Maslow's concept of self-actualization continues to be a part of contemporary psychology. Although only a small
portion of therapists identify as humanists, therapists often encourage their clients to embrace humanistic values
by pursuing goals and dreams. Self-actualization is also a part of the colloquial lexicon, with many people using the
term when they're fulfilling a long-term goal or pursuing activities that lead to greater happiness and fulfillment.
Maslow himself called his work positive psychology, rather than humanist psychology, and positive psychology has
recently gained in popularity.

Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

Contribution to Psychology
Erikson impacted psychological theories by expanding upon Sigmund Freuds original five stages of development.
Pioneering the study of the life cycle, Erikson believed that each person progressed through eight stages of

development. Erikson emphasized that the environment played a major role in self-awareness, adjustment, human
development, and identity.
Each of Erikson's stages of psychosocial development focus on a central conflict. In Erikson's theory of
development, children don't automatically complete each stage on a predetermined schedule. Instead, people face
generalized challenges throughout life, and the ways in which they answer these challenges determine whether
they develop further or stagnate at a particular stage of development. Eriksons eight stages and associated
challenges include:
1.

Infancy: basic trust vs. basic mistrust. A baby will either develop basic trust in his or her caregiver or will
grow to view the world as a dangerous place, depending upon whether the baby gets sensitive, nurturing
care.

2.

Early childhood: autonomy vs. shame and doubt. Children can either develop a sense of competence and
independence or deep shame. This development is intimately related to toilet training.

3.

Preschool years: initiative vs. guilt. Children develop a sense of initiative if they are able to explore their
environments and discover they are able to do things on their own. If a child is made to feel guilty about
making his or her own choices, the child will develop a sense of guilt rather than initiative.

4.

School age: industry vs. inferiority. A child compares self to others during this phase and either develops a
sense of industry and work ethic or feelings of inadequacy.

5.

Adolescence: identity vs. role confusion. During this period, teens may have an identity crisis, questioning
their roles in the world and future goals. If parents allow youth to explore the world, they'll develop their own
identities, but those who are punished for autonomy may develop role confusion.

6.

Early adulthood: intimacy vs. isolation. The development of strong friendships and healthy
intimate relationships help people develop intimacy, but people who fail at this task may become isolated.

7.

Middle age: generativity vs. stagnation. People who develop a sense of purposefrom parenting, hobbies,
or a careerexcel during this period, but those who find no purpose or value in their activities may stagnate.

8.

Old age: ego integrity vs. despair. People may look back on their lives fondly or feel an overpowering
sense of regret and despair.

Erikson's wife added a ninth stage based on the couple's experiences in very late old age. She argued that as the
body breaks down, autonomy may no longer be possible. The challenge during this stage is to begin to see oneself
as connected to others and to see death as a natural part of the process of life.
Erikson further developed the field of ego psychology by emphasizing that the ego is not merely an avenue for
the id to fulfill its desires as Freud claimed, but an important psychological structure in its own right. Erikson
expanded on Freudian psychoanalysis in the widely acclaimed book, Childhood and Society, published in 1950.
Erikson's book Gandhis Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence won Erikson a Pulitzer Prize and a National
Book Award. He also wrote Young Man Luther: A Study in Psychoanalysis and History, based on Martin Luther. He
was selected to give the Jefferson Lectures in the Humanities in 1973.

Alfred Adler (1870-1937)

Contribution to Psychology
Adlerian psychology, as it is known today, continues to pursue the study of overcompensation due to inferiority. A
central premise of Adlerian psychology is that the unconscious works to convert feelings of inferiority into feelings
of superiority. Adlers model suggests that behaviors, thoughts, and processing mechanisms are well entrenched in
a person by the age of five and that the relationships the child forms in early life, along with social and
environmental forces, are directly responsible for the development of those traits. He also conducted research into
the role that birth order plays in the development of the psyche.
Adler was one of the first psychiatrists to introduce mental health into the realm of education. He advocated for
prevention strategies designed to ward off the risks of mental illness and inappropriate coping skills, and in this
regard, contributed greatly to the field of social work.
Working within the schools, Adler assisted professionals in the practice of treating and counseling students. During
that time, Adler conducted an intimate therapy session in front of a small group of people that was designed to
treat parents, children, and teachers. This impromptu session is one of the earliest records of family or community
therapy. Adler went on to change the face of psychology by innovating the use of therapy in the treatment of many
sectors of the population that had been significantly underserved. His methods became an integral part of criminal
therapy, social work, child development, and education.
Adler combined theories of psychodynamics and teleology in his work. Teleology is the study of final causes and the
ways in which things are designed toward these causes. As part of this belief, he emphasized that psychological
processes are guided by an unknown, goal-oriented force.
Adler developed a theory of personality, but did not believe in personality types and argued that his theory was
tentative. His personality types included:

Getting or leaning types, who willingly and happily take from others without giving anything in return. This
personality type is correlated with a low activity level.

Avoiding types, who despise failure and defeat, and who are often hesitant to take risks. They tend to
have few social relationships.

Ruling or dominant types who are on a perpetual quest for power and willing to manipulate people in order
to get it. This type tends to engage in antisocial behavior.

The socially useful types who tend to be outgoing, social, and active. These types strive to improve the
world around them.

The first three types tend to have more mental health problems, and it could be argued that a central goal of
Adlerian psychology is to convert the first three types into the socially useful type. Adler strongly influenced later
psychologists such as Abraham Maslow,Carl Rogers, Erich Fromm, and Albert Ellis.

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)

Contribution to Psychology
Wundt's primary contribution to psychology was his push to see the field recognized as a separate discipline. Prior
to Wundt's work,psychology was a discipline that was typically incorporated into medicine or the life sciences.
Wundt founded the first psychology research laboratory while at the University of Leipzig, marking the transition of
psychology as a separate discipline. He placed a strong emphasis on ensuring psychology remained scientific, often
setting up detailed, unique experiments to test psychological theories.
Wundt argued that a primary goal of psychology should be to understand and analyze consciousness. His
experimental psychology laboratory was created to research spiritual theories, examine
varying abnormal behaviors, and identify and isolate specific mental disorders. Paving the way for the acceptance
of psychology as a distinct science, Wundts laboratory became a model for other psychology laboratories around
the world. More than one hundred similar laboratories were in operation by 1900.
Wundt was also interested in linguistics and the inner workings of the human brain. He identified an optical illusion
now known as the Wundt Illusion. In the illusion, two straight lines positioned in front of a series of angled lines
appear to bend.
Wundt mentored more than 100 graduate students in psychology, including several who became well-known
psychologists, including Ottmar Dittrich, James McKeen Catell, G. Stanley Hall, Walter Dill Scott, and Charles
Spearman. Upon his death, many of Wundt's students began referring to his approach to the field as holistic
psychology because of Wundt's emphasis on developing novel experiments and trying several different approaches
to get to the bottom of any single psychological puzzle. In recognition of the contributions made to the emerging
field of psychology by Wundt and William James, the founder of American psychology, the American Psychological
Association created the Wilhelm Wundt-William James Award for Exceptional Contributions to Trans-Atlantic
Psychology.

Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)

Contribution to Psychology
Thorndike is known for his development of the law of effect, a theory regarding the effects of reward and
punishment on learning. Thorndike originally believed that reward and punishment were equal in terms of effect,
but he eventually determined that reward was far more effective and that punishment may actually lead to the
repetition of an undesired behavior.
Similarly, Thorndike's connectionism states that behavior is a product of the connection of numerous neural and
psychological processes. Behavior that cannot be explained by a simpler phenomenon, such as conditioning, follows
connectionist principles. For Thorndike, learning is generally a gradual process built upon insight and increasing
connections.
To study the learning process, Thorndike conducted a series of experiments involving animals and problem boxes
and mazes. His subjects were rewarded when they were able to push a lever and escape, which they were able to
do with increasing rapidity upon repetition. Thus, Thorndike concluded that the learning process was enhanced by
the learners response to stimulus. B.F. Skinner built upon Thorndikes law of effect in his behaviorist work with
operant conditioning.
Thorndike identified three specific factors that benefit learning and result in maximum outcomes:
1.

The law of effect is determined by consequence.

2.

The law of recency requires that recurrence is determined by the most recent response.

3.

The law of exercise states that when a stimulus is administered upon response, each subsequent response
is strengthened.

Thorndike also developed military tests during World War I, when he was a member of the Committee on
Classification of Personnel. His Alpha and Beta tests were used to measure the intelligence of soldiers. Thorndikes
tests were adapted for use among schoolchildren in the following years, and they directly impacted the
development of standardized testing. Thorndike was a proponent of eugenics, because he believed that intelligence
was a hereditary trait.

John B Watson (1878-1958)

Contribution to Psychology
Watson published his groundbreaking article on behaviorism in 1913, Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It,
often referred to as The Behaviorist Manifesto. Because there was little evidence of a specific behavior mechanism
in his theory, many of Watsons colleagues did not accept his beliefs as scientifically valid. His 1919
text, Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist, was more readily accepted, though Watsons behaviorist
theories were not fully adopted into academia and mainstream psychology for another decade.
Watsons behaviorist theory focused not on the internal emotional and psychological conditions of people, but
rather on their external and outward behaviors. He believed that a persons physical responses provided the only
insight into internal actions. He spent much of his career applying his theories to the study of child development
and early learning.
Watson conducted several experiments exploring emotional learning in children. One of his most famous
experiments was the Little Albert experiment, which explored classical conditioning using a nine month-old baby
boy. In the experiment, Watson demonstrated that Little Albert could be conditioned to fear something, like a white
rat, when no such fear existed initially. Watson combined a loud noise with the appearance of the rat, in order to
create fear in the baby. The experiment was highly controversial and would likely be considered unethical by
today's research standards.
In 1928, Watson published Psychological Care of Infant and Child, in which he cautioned against providing children
with too much affection, and instead endorsed the practice of treating children like miniature adults. He believed
that excessive early attachments could contribute to a dependent, needy personality in adulthood, emphasizing
that people do not receive excessive comfort in adulthood and therefore should not receive it in childhood. He
specifically argued against thumb-sucking, coddling, and excessive sentimentality, and he emphasized that parents
should be open and honest with children about sexuality. While the book sold well in its first year, some found
Watsons unsentimental advice chilling. Two years after the books publication, Watson's wife published an article
entitled "I am a Mother of Behaviorist Sons" in Parents magazine that encouraged the displays of affection that her
husband admonished.
Watson's behaviorism has had a long-lasting impact on the nature-versus-nurture debate, and his work illuminated
the strong role early experiences play in shaping personality. Watson paved thw way for subsequent behaviorists,
such as B.F. Skinner, and behaviorism remains a popular approach for animal training. Some mental health
professionals use behaviorist principles to condition away phobias and fears. In addition, advertisers frequently use
behaviorist conditioning to encourage consumers to purchase products.

Erich Fromm (1900-1980)

Contribution to Psychology
Fromm was a fierce social critic who wrote extensively about political philosophy. He is also known for his criticisms
of the work ofSigmund Freud. Fromm noted that some of Freud's early work conflicted with his later work, and he
lambasted Freud for his misogyny.
Two of Fromm's most important works, Escape from Freedom and Man for Himself, combine elements of philosophy
and psychology, laying the foundation for political psychology. The Art of Loving was his most commercially
successful book.
Fromm's Jewish roots are clearly present in each of his books, and he often wrote secular interpretations of
scripture. His humanistic philosophy is based primarily upon his understanding of the Biblical story of Adam and
Eve. Fromm argued that Adam and Eve had done the right thing by eating the apple of the Tree of Knowledge,
emphasizing that moral authority should come from carefully investigated ideals rather than authoritarian
mandates from God or other figures.
This anti-authoritarian bent is a significant part of Fromm's philosophy, and many of his writings extolled the
virtues of socialist democracy. He believed that embracing freedom is a sign of psychological health and that some
psychological problems stem from attempts to escape from freedom and conform to society's demands. He
embraced the concept of biophilia, the love of humanity and nature, and argued that biophilia was a sign of good
psychological health.

Karen Horney (1885-1952)

Contribution to Psychology
Horney is widely regarded as the founder of feminine psychiatry, which focuses on the psychiatric treatment of
women, and feminist psychology, which studies the ways in which gender power imbalances affect both mental
health and the development of psychological theories. She strongly advocated that differences between men and
women are manifest from differences in culture and socialization rather than biology.
Horney is perhaps best known for her critique of Sigmund Freud. She and Alfred Adler are considered the founders
of Neo-Freudianism, a departure from Freudian orthodoxy. Horney was highly critical of Freud's theories of
psychosexual development and was particularly troubled by the concept of penis envy. She argued that penis envy
was not an innate psychological complex, but instead a product of gender power imbalances. Under this
conception, women don't envy men's penises; they envy their power and privilege. Horney further argued that men
might be envious of women because there is less pressure upon women to gain power. In addition, Horney
disagreed with Freud's focus on aggression, power, and sex. She argued that the Oedipal complex had little to do
with these drives, and was instead a product of insecurity in the relationship between parent and child.
Horney is also known for her theory on neurosis. She believed that neurosis was not a condition, but rather a
process which occurred throughout ones life. Although she disagreed with her contemporaries about neurosis, she
did agree with them with regard to childhood influences. She theorized that a persons neurosis is a result of their
childhood perceptions of their own parents. Horney categorized ten basic needs that she believed were essential for
someone to succeed. She grouped them into three types of needs:

1.

Compliance Needs

2.

Aggression Needs

3.

Attachment Needs

A strong advocate for the role of environmental influences on individual psychology, Horney viewed narcissism not
as a personality trait or disorder, but as the outcome of early environment. She did not believe that narcissism was
inherent to the human condition or human personality. She emphasized that narcissists often suffer from low selfesteem and that narcissism may be the product of over-indulgence.

Carl Jung (1875-1961)

Contribution to Psychology
Carl Jung is recognized as one of the most influential psychiatrists of all time. He founded analytical psychology and
was among the first experts in his field to explore the religious nature behind human psychology. He argued that
empirical evidence was not the only way to arrive at psychological or scientific truths and that the soul plays a key
role in the psyche. Key contributions of Jung include:

The collective unconscious: A universal cultural repository of archetypes and human experiences.

Dream analysis and the interpretation of symbols from the collective unconscious that show up in
dreams.

Extroversion and introversion: Jung was the first to identify these two personality traits, and some of his
work continues to be used in the theory of personality and in personality testing.

Psychological complexes: A cluster of behaviors, memories, and emotions grouped around a common
theme. For example, a child who was deprived of food might grow into an adult smoker, nail biter,
and compulsive eater, focusing on the theme of oral satiation.

An emphasis on spirituality: Jung argued that spirituality and a sense of the connectedness of life could
play a profound role in emotional health.

Individuation: The integration and balancing of dual aspects of personality to achieve psychic wholeness,
such as thinking and feeling, introversion and extroversion, or the personal unconscious and the collective
unconscious. Jung argued that people who have individuated are happier, more ethical, and more responsible.

The persona and the shadow: The persona is the public version of the self that serves as a mask for
the ego, and the shadow is a set of infantile, suppressed behaviors and attitudes.

Synchronicity: A phenomenon that occurs when two seemingly unrelated events occur close to one
another, and the person experiencing the events interprets this correlation as meaningful.

In addition, some of Jung's patients helped to found Alcoholics Anonymous, inspired by Jung's belief in an evangelic
cure for alcoholism.