As soon as it began, the 20th century already experienced such a young science as psychology for strength. The main areas of psychology that existed at that time were not able to answer the questions that arose in the context of the historical and cultural conditions of the modern era. It was during this period that science survived the first crisis in its history, which was primarily due to the inadequacy of its theoretical principles, developed by the introspective school, to explain the real state of affairs in society.
This led to the fact that the main directions of psychology of the 20th century differ even in their subject of study, and different schools are engaged in studying different aspects of practical reality. In particular, Wundt, a representative of structuralism, sets a goal, which is to study the direct experience and its structures, and the functionalists do not pay attention to it, focusing on the analysis of the work of these structures. Thus, the above-mentioned main directions of Western psychology differ in their approach to the definition of human experience: structuralists define it as a "chain of elements," and functionalists as a "stream of consciousness," which can only be studied in its entirety. Over time, the approach of representatives of functionalism justified itself in practice.
Also, the main areas of psychology of the 20th century include reflexology, which was developed mainly by Russian scientists, for example, Pavlov and Bekhterev. Their subject of study were the senses, as well as the sensations experienced by man. Pavlov, in particular, introduced the term "conditioned reflex", and explained its appearance. The other main directions of psychology, perhaps, were not so closely connected with biology and did not have such great importance for it.
Behaviorists, led by Watson, considered it their main task to understand all the riddles of the behavior of living beings. And if other basic directions of psychology suffered some subjectivism, the adherents of this concept sought to explain all the riddles in the behavior of living beings by objective factors that are related to adaptation to the environment. Mostly they used white rats for their experiments, because consciousness and psyche for behaviorists are one thing, therefore the difference between these animals and man is insignificant. The main achievement of this school was the explanation of the acquisition of skills through trial and error.
And, finally, one of the concepts of psychology that was born at this time is Freudianism. Freud focused his attention on actions, the motives of which people can not explain. So he came to the idea of the "unconscious" and devoted his entire life to his study. He believed that the cause of unconscious actions can be revealed through the study of dreams, accidental reservations and involuntary movements. Freud believed that the whole development of personality can be reduced to two basic instincts: sexual attraction and fear of death. Living in society, we suppress these forces, so they are forced into the sphere of the unconscious, but sometimes they still make themselves felt.