University Essay: Psychology's Evolution in Human Services (ASS066-1)

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution of the psychology profession within human services. It begins by defining the role and responsibilities of psychologists, including the different specializations like clinical, counseling, school, and industrial psychology. The essay traces the historical development of psychology, from its philosophical roots in ancient civilizations to its establishment as an independent discipline in Germany. It discusses key milestones, such as Wilhelm Wundt's establishment of the first psychology laboratory and the influence of evolutionary psychology. The essay also examines the impact of societal changes on the profession, including the emergence of urbanization and the treatment of mental illnesses. Furthermore, it analyzes the role of legislation, such as the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Data Protection Act 1998, and ethical principles in shaping the practice of psychology. The essay concludes by highlighting the importance of ongoing development in the field, including the need for increased educational standards and a focus on scientific research to improve clinical outcomes. It emphasizes the significant contribution of psychology to human well-being, from architectural projects to the treatment of serious mental disorders.

Running head: UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN SERVICES
ASS066-1 UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN SERVICE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Psychology is a study which demonstrates the understanding of human cognitive
mind, mental abnormalities, as well as understanding the emotional, comprehensive state of
mind. This can be done by observations, experimentations and recording the behaviour of the
individuals (Brennan and Houde 2017). Therefore, this study will consist of illustration
related to the main responsibilities of the psychologist, their duties, the evolvement of the
profession throughout the years, various rules and legislations that align the people with this
profession. Thereafter, there will be also analysis of the various change’s society had and the
profession psychologist emergence with the changes, depicting the success and downfall the
profession has faced throughout these changes in years. The study main thesis is to
understand the impact of the profession in human life as well as, and the way it has evolved
throughout history to serve human kind.
The main responsibility of the psychologist is to study the human mind, interpret a
human personality on the basis of their thinking and activity, according to a scientific
perspective. The profession of the psychologist has been differentiated into four types of
classification, they are clinical, counselling, school and industry oriented. In case of clinical
psychologists, they help in analysing human individuals according to mental stability,
emotional and behavioural patterns, after the analysis they are given preferable treatments
and suggestions to balance their emotional and mental wellbeing to work and lead their life.
The most preferable form of treatment that is adapted by psychologists are “Cognitive
behavioural Therapy (CBT)”( Barker Pistrang and Elliott 2015). On the other hand, school
psychologists analyse the mental status of students, that is co related with their studies, or any
issues they are facing to cope up with the situation. Corporate or Industrial psychologists are
the one that focuses on corporate people, their mental health analysing their issues to solve
their various workplace problems and barriers. Therefore, to summarize the main tasks and
responsibilities of psychologist are conducting scientific experimentations to understand the

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cognitive functioning of human brain, this can be done by rigorous observations, counselling
processes, conducting researches and surveys to get deeper insights of the human mind. The
research and survey processes, as well as counselling the person the psychologist is dealing
help in getting the acquired knowledge about the person through analysis of behavioural
patterns.
The main evolvement of the profession was from the ancient civilizations mostly in
places like Egypt, Persia, China and may more. Therefore, it was more prevalent among the
Ancient Greeks, and this subject was aligned to philosophy, until 1870, after that it was
declared as an independent subject in Germany (Coolican 2017). In Germany many studies
was proclaimed according to the subject of psychology, and in the year 1879, “Wilhelm
Wundt”, is the first person who referred himself as a psychologist and he was the one who
independently started researching about the subject by opening his own laboratory to research
about human psychology. According to Buss (2015), psychology lacked a strong explanation,
and in understanding the profession was much harder in the initial years. He has mentioned
that psychology is very much related to “Teleological explanations”, which means results
derived by making observations. This was also referred that this was done by “Aristotle”, as
he was mentioned as a biologist as well.
In an article by bbc.com (2020) , it has been depicted that through the evolvement of
psychological studies and psychologist profession, people have developed through this year
to the path of urbanisation. In a conference of “Conscience Cities”, hold in London said that
psychologist helping architects with building houses helps in analysing human being
preference for homes, leading to ideal urbanisation. Therefore, the evolvement of the
processes in psychology had evolved a lot throughout the years, and is considered a very
important profession as it has dealt with many diseases in the 21st century, which was

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mishandled in the older time. Diseases like schizophrenia, anxiety, food disorders, suicidal
tendencies, bipolar disorder all are solved through psychological treatment.
In order to have a better hold of the issues that are begin faced by the psychologists,
the government of UK has considered to make some legal changes to the situation and they
introduced Mental Health Act 1983 (Ryle and Kerr 2020). The act has all kinds of rules and
regulations to be followed, and violating which major consequences have to be faced as well.
The psychologists follow the guidelines as well and they make logical changes in their
approach strategies for better treatment process. From the context of ethical principles, it is
evident that the psychologists have to make some modification in the service management
policies. The four ethical principles are respect, competence, responsibility and integrity
(Bps.org.uk 2020). Considering these will help in meeting the standards in a proper manner
for better assessment of the patients. Following the four aspects will help in meeting the
standards of treatment in a proficient manner for better understanding.
The emergence of Mental Health Act 1983, made the entire treatment process clear
and it also provided information related to the duties of the patient parties as well during the
treatment process (Legislation.gov.uk 2020). This is the most necessary thing to be managed
in order to make proficient contribution to the treatment process as well. On the other hand,
the Data Protection Act 1998 is one of the major options to be considered in order to make
justified changes to the activities of psychologists (Bps.org.uk 2020). According to the act, it
will be a sole responsibility of the psychologists to make sure that they are being abided by
the regulations and not leaking any data associated with patients. The psychologists have to
ensure that they are approaching in a systematic manner in order to comply with the
requirements in a proficient manner.
From previous decade it has been observed that people with different types of job
roles have the proficiency to make a good impact on the business management process. it is

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seen that the issues associated with the jobs are related with the process of making
considerable impact on the thought process. changes in the society alters the effectiveness
and contribution process of a service provided and for a psychologist, the change is
maximum. With the emergence of different ideologies, the changes in psychological
approach has been observed and it is related to the management of the situation (Kagan et al.,
2019). The procedures that are related to the assessment of the issues are directly proportional
to the thought process of an individual. With changes like technical innovation, psychology
make a leap towards future by absorbing the positive sides of things change. The
psychologists use more technology friendly approach to come up with the newest ideas for
better assessment of the situation and comply with the patients’ requirements.
It is also seen that there have been many issues where different types of policy related
changes have affected the entire development process in a significant manner. For an
understanding, the example of Sigmund Freud’s theory and the other theories that are
associated with it can be considered that got developed in the recent times. This is the best
thing to be managed in order to make some modification in the psychological assessment
process. Demand of the society provided new thoughts as well and it is seen such thoughts
are related with the psychological condition of a person (Steinemann et al., 2017). In this
process psychologists and their job role has been affected due to different types of invoking
factors of the society.
In various research processes, it has been shown that psychological changes and
evolvement of the psychology profession, have given efficient, cost effective and scientific
possibility of treating mental illness (McDowell, 2015). Psychologists even have rendered
medications that can solve psychological discomforts, which have increased drastically.
On the other hand, clinical psychologists could not make quite an impact in clinical
processes, as they have lack of science related training, and they are only dependent on

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research materials, acquired from observations. Therefore, according to the American
Medical Association, there has been many institutions related to psychology, which does not
have enough training programs, as well educational standards are too low(Schmidt, F.L.,
2016.). The cost of mental health care has also increased drastically, which are not directly
paid to psychologists, but goes to trust fund and governmental agencies.
Therefore, the educational standards in case of psychology training must be increased,
so that they can help in clinical aspects as well. The psychologist must focus on more
experimental studies, and scientific learning than to focus or deriving results from
observations, will make the profession and the understanding of the diseases more easily.
The above discussion has deduced that psychology profession contributes a lot in
human life, as it has evolved in such a sphere that it is used in architectural projects, as well
as treating serious mental disorders. The study has mentioned about the evolvement of
psychology and psychologist profession and also depicted various issues they have been
facing due to lack of training and facilities. The resulting outcome of the study is that,
psychology is an important profession which needs more development and it can provide
much developing in increasing human health standards.

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References
Barker, C., Pistrang, N. and Elliott, R., 2015. Research methods in clinical psychology: An
introduction for students and practitioners. John Wiley & Sons.
bbc.com, 2020. The Hidden Ways That Architecture Affects How You Feel. [online] Bbc.com.
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%20Protection%20Act%201998%20-%20Guidelines%20for%20Psychologists
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Brennan, J.F. and Houde, K.A., 2017. History and systems of psychology. Cambridge
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