Psychology and Counseling

Psychology has been regarded by many as part and parcel of the modern American culture and this in fact has some truth in it . Psychology had become a strong player in American culture and in some ways has influenced a large part of how organizations , groups , schools , parents and even individuals manage their existence . A discipline that was regarded as merely philosophical exercise and was snubbed by the scientists of the 19th century as lacking in scientific rigor and validity has come full circle and has firmly established itself as a diverse

field of study that focuses on improving the quality of life (Schultz Schultz , 2004 . The course in the History and Systems of Psychology has opened me to the fluidity and resilience of psychology as a scientific discipline and that it has more than any other field of expertise adapted to and evolved alongside that of human and social progress . From the early schools of thought to the present perspectives that psychologists of different specializations has adhered to , it always offered man a means of discovering his /her personhood and it also respected the existence of external influences and biological determinants of behavior . This course had made me appreciate more the realness and genuiness of psychology in its efforts to understand human behavior and mental processes . The mentioned insights are very important to me and in my learning because it has given me a new perspective of what psychology is and what it would be in the future , knowing that man is continuously changing and our society is evolving and that as practitioners and scholars of psychology , I need to see myself and my role as an advocator for this field . I had always been fascinated by human behavior I used to spend my days sitting in the shade and enjoy observing people and how they behave . Naturally , I was drawn to psychology even if I did not have much background about it and the adults I tried to extract information from had shaken their heads and asked me why I want to know stuff like that . But my incessant curiosity and desire for learning drove me to explore and take charge of my learning and have become a student of psychology even before I went to college

I was fascinated with the history of psychology , how it was thought to be superstitious and nothing more than a short-lived trend in its beginnings . But time and time again , psychology has proven its critics wrong and that psychology had been grossly misunderstood in the past . It may have had its own share of blunders , inaccuracies and narrowness but despite that it has continued to seek to discover the truth of human behavior and the myriad aspects of human behavior in terms of his /her individuality and as an interacting and social person . Although I enjoyed and learned so much from this course , I would have wanted to know more about the different perspectives of psychology in major cultures and how...