<P> In China, psychological understanding grew from the philosophical works of Laozi and Confucius, and later from the doctrines of Buddhism . This body of knowledge involves insights drawn from introspection and observation, as well as techniques for focused thinking and acting . It frames the universe as a division of, and interaction between, physical reality and mental reality, with an emphasis on purifying the mind in order to increase virtue and power . An ancient text known as The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine identifies the brain as the nexus of wisdom and sensation, includes theories of personality based on yin--yang balance, and analyzes mental disorder in terms of physiological and social disequilibria . Chinese scholarship focused on the brain advanced in the Qing Dynasty with the work of Western - educated Fang Yizhi (1611--1671), Liu Zhi (1660--1730), and Wang Qingren (1768--1831). Wang Qingren emphasized the importance of the brain as the center of the nervous system, linked mental disorder with brain diseases, investigated the causes of dreams and insomnia, and advanced a theory of hemispheric lateralization in brain function . </P> <P> Distinctions in types of awareness appear in the ancient thought of India, influenced by Hinduism . A central idea of the Upanishads is the distinction between a person's transient mundane self and their eternal unchanging soul . Divergent Hindu doctrines, and Buddhism, have challenged this hierarchy of selves, but have all emphasized the importance of reaching higher awareness . Yoga is a range of techniques used in pursuit of this goal . Much of the Sanskrit corpus was suppressed under the British East India Company followed by the British Raj in the 1800s . However, Indian doctrines influenced Western thinking via the Theosophical Society, a New Age group which became popular among Euro - American intellectuals . </P> <P> Psychology was a popular topic in Enlightenment Europe . In Germany, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646--1716) applied his principles of calculus to the mind, arguing that mental activity took place on an indivisible continuum--most notably, that among an infinity of human perceptions and desires, the difference between conscious and unconscious awareness is only a matter of degree . Christian Wolff identified psychology as its own science, writing Psychologia empirica in 1732 and Psychologia rationalis in 1734 . This notion advanced further under Immanuel Kant, who established the idea of anthropology, with psychology as an important subdivision . However, Kant explicitly and notoriously rejected the idea of experimental psychology, writing that "the empirical doctrine of the soul can also never approach chemistry even as a systematic art of analysis or experimental doctrine, for in it the manifold of inner observation can be separated only by mere division in thought, and cannot then be held separate and recombined at will (but still less does another thinking subject suffer himself to be experimented upon to suit our purpose), and even observation by itself already changes and displaces the state of the observed object ." Having consulted philosophers Hegel and Herbart, in 1825 the Prussian state established psychology as a mandatory discipline in its rapidly expanding and highly influential educational system . However, this discipline did not yet embrace experimentation . In England, early psychology involved phrenology and the response to social problems including alcoholism, violence, and the country's well - populated mental asylums . </P> <P> Gustav Fechner began conducting psychophysics research in Leipzig in the 1830s, articulating the principle that human perception of a stimulus varies logarithmically according to its intensity . Fechner's 1860 Elements of Psychophysics challenged Kant's stricture against quantitative study of the mind . In Heidelberg, Hermann von Helmholtz conducted parallel research on sensory perception, and trained physiologist Wilhelm Wundt . Wundt, in turn, came to Leipzig University, establishing the psychological laboratory which brought experimental psychology to the world . Wundt focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components, motivated in part by an analogy to recent advances in chemistry, and its successful investigation of the elements and structure of material . Paul Flechsig and Emil Kraepelin soon created another influential psychology laboratory at Leipzig, this one focused on more on experimental psychiatry . </P>

Which school of thought in psychology would be most concerned with behavior changes