Albert Sidney Beckham: Respected Psychologist of His Time

Albert Sidney Beckham
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Introduction
Often times, nature usually produces an individual of tremendous and remarkable ability to come into the society and help solve problems. These are individuals with certain abilities and talents which puts them above the rest of the population, and makes them household names in particular fields. The past three centuries have had great men and women who have contributed in one way or another towards sociocultural and scientific development in the world. Documenting their achievements is one of the best ways of honoring them and ensuring that their legacy lives forever. One such person is Albert Sidney Beckham, an important individual in the field of psychology.
Albert Sidney Beckham
Albert Sidney Beckham was one of the most respected psychologist of his time. Albert was born in 1858; later, he graduated from Michigan, Harvard, and Berlin universities. He was instrumental in creating the first psychology laboratories in the country and became the first psychologist appointed a full professor in the US. He is credited with introducing the concept of using laboratory experiments to study psychological phenomena (Graves, 2022). He was a behaviorist pioneer. The Psychology of Individual Differences and Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative Psychology is two of his most well-known works. He was one of the first to make psychology a distinct study area (Graves, 2022).He lived at a time when racism and slavery were still contentious issues in the American society. There was still quite a lot of restrictions placed upon blacks in the earlier years, and the veil was just getting lifted. Despite this, he became the first black to be given the title of school psychologist. This in itself is quite an achievement and speaks of fighting against all odds.
Psychological viewpoint
The psychologist Albert Sidney Beckham was a proponent of the value of knowing one's innermost thoughts and the strength of independent review. He believed we could better understand ourselves, others, and the world by understanding our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. He also believed that we could better manage our lives, succeed, and feel more fulfilled by understanding our inner workings and motivations (Duplantis, 2022). This is indeed true, given the fact that the first step towards mental recovery is by understanding oneself, or self-awareness. Understanding the different levels of consciousness and dipping into the inner thoughts and emotions plays a key role in personal understanding. All these build up to self-control, in terms of emotional intelligence and even anger management as one is able to know the limits to go in certain situations.
He suggested that research into human behavior and the psychological processes and forces that shape it could aid in our understanding of who we are and how we relate to others. Once an individual fully understands himself, he appreciates both his strengths as well as weaknesses. This makes it easier for them to not only know how to run their own lives, but also how to relate with others in the society. He further argued that discovering meaning and purpose in life requires understanding the psychosocial fac...