“Best of the Century”

What has been the major breakthrough in psychotherapy this century?
Nowadays psychotherapy is everywhere; it is multicultural and it exists all around the world. People attend the group therapy, intensive weekends led by therapists, etc. And it is universally known that it helps you coping stress or any other kind of problems. Not that it only deals with problem; it also helps one with their education and jobs. In this field (psychotherapy), there are numerous methods: behavior therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, etc. Many researches have been taken place and there are many developments for the medications and others. Even the spiritual methods are being used in the modern psychotherapy.

Twenty breakthroughs are identified. Which 5 do you think are the most important? Justify your answer. Identify what perspective is being taken by the psychologist.
One of the most important breakthroughs is discovered by Jean Piaget. His theory states that “human intelligence develops in stages;” meaning we can gain more knowledge at any stages of your life. This breakthrough proves that even an old man can learn more about something, and you never stop accumulating new information! By knowing this, you know you can keep adapting to the changing world by learning new discoveries, etc. I think Jean Piaget is looking at psychology through the neuroscience perspective.

The next important breakthrough is Matina Homer’s discovery: how humans with different sexes have diverse levels of ambition and desire for achievements. According to her experiments, the females are more violent when it comes to achievements while the males tend to give up and find something else to do. I think it is very fascinating and important, because now we are able to understand why females react that way and why male humans react differently. I think Matina Homer is focusing on the behavioral perspective, because she is studying about different behaviors of the male and the female. And I think she is also focusing on the evolutionary perspective, because her discovery is related to how humans have different methods to survive, and if we trace back through evolution, we might be able to justify this aggressive behavior.

Elizabeth F. Loftus’s breakthrough is about how unreliable our memory is. She was performing experiments on the factors that influence our memory; we are not even aware of those factors and how we always manipulate the story. This discovery tells how we should find out about both sides of the story before judging what is right or wrong; it help us a lot with our lives. She is seeing through the neuroscience perspective; she is studying about how our brain enables memories.
B.F. Skinner is the person who discovered organism’s learning behavior called “Operant Condition”. This discovery is the “systematic use of positive [or negative] reinforcement to modify behavior.” This benefits us, because we can use this to train animals or even fellow humans (your children) to know what they should do and what not. I think Skinner looks at psychology through the behavioral perspective.
Another important breakthrough is Marian Diamond one; her discovery tells us that by more stimuli and activities for the brain (basically thinking more) would help develop a more complex brain. This finding informs us that our intelligences are not limited by our IQ that is inherited from our parents, but we can work hard enough in order to be successful. Diamond is looking at psychology through the neuroscience perspective.