Research Objectives Research Significance

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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW

A. Psychological Approach

Psychology is a field of study which is close to human’s everyday life. It is derived from Greek words “psyche” which means ‘life’, and “logos” which means ‘explanation’. The definition of psychology itself is the scientific study of mind and behavior Stangor, 2010: 10. It was firstly founded by Wilhelm Wundt 1832 – 1920 as science field apart from biology and philosophy in 1879. According to McLeod www.simplypsychology.org: 2008, par. 2, Wundt differs psychology from physiology because it analyzes the workings of the mind in a more structured way. His contribution in this field makes him the father of psychology. Actually, since the era of Plato, psychology had been studied even though it was not introduced as psychology yet. It was developed greatly by then. After that, there were more people who were interested in studying psychology. In 1892, American Psychological Association was founded by G. Stanley Hall. Years after that, there were more studies in psychology established such as functionalism, psychodynamic, behaviorism and many more. There are many names that contribute greatly in the field of psychology after its introduction by Wundt, such as Ivan Pavlov, Hermann Ebbinghaus, Sigmund Freud, and many more. Even though each of the psychologists has his own theory that becomes branches in psychology, the matter being discussed remains constant Stangor, 2010: 26. 13 There are many fields which can be analyzed through psychology point of view such as the anxiety of new students, how dolphins communicate, the factors that lead a person to be a criminal, and many more. Since psychology can be applied to almost every field of human life, it is possible to apply psychological approach in literary works. Literary work is a mirror of human life. It reflects human life and experiences which are adapted to a fictional or non-fictional literary work. According to Hake 2001: 2, literature is “a special kind of mirror in which we can see ourselves even more clearly, more vividly than in an ordinary mirror”. It means through literature it is possible for people to learn and explore wider knowledge. Since literary work imitates real life, applying psychological approach to analyze its content is possible. Using psychological approach in literature has been done since a long time ago. Aristotle in Guerin, et al, 2004: 153 uses this approach in his Poetics when he tries to define tragedy as a combination of pity and terror to produce catharsis. The use of psychological approach comes to its peak when Sigmund Freund 1856 – 1939 introduces his psychoanalytic theory as the part of psychological approach in the twentieth century. During 19 th century, there were many authors that changed the perspective of their writings from finding the culprit to the reason why the culprit does his actions. Psychological approach becomes more popular since there are many things in literature which can be studied through psychological point of view. Moghaddam 2009: 507 states that literature can be used as source of psychological data. There