“A History of Psychology”
“The Birth of a Modern Science”
“Roots from ancient Greece”
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Psychology was born as a modern science, when
psychologists opened psychological laboratories.
More than 2000 years ago, Plato a student of Socrates in
ancient Greece, recorded his teachers advice “Know
Thyself”.
•
In these laboratories, psychologists studied behavior
and mental processes, most historians point out to
the year 1879 as the beginning of psychology as a
modern laboratory science.
This phrase has remained as a principle for psychological
study.
Socrates suggested that we can learn much about
ourselves by carefully examining our thoughts and
feelings. Psychologists called this method of learning
introspection.
Another Greek philosopher Aristotle raised many
questions about behavior. One of Aristotle´s work was the
“Peri Psyches”, which means about the mind.
It is said that this book was written more than 2000 years
ago, it describes how people are motivated to seek
pleasure and to avoid pain, Peri Psyches also explores
topics such as sensation, perception, thought, intelligence,
needs, motives, feelings, emotions and memory.
The ancient Greeks also theorized about psychological
problems such as confusion and strange behavior, they
attributed these disorders to supernatural forces, they
believed that the gods punished people for their
wrongdoing by causing them confusion and madness.
However a Greek physician Hippocrates (c.460-c. 377B.C.),
suggested that such problems were caused by
abnormalities in the brain, this idea that biological factors
can affect our thoughts, feelings and behavior influenced
thinking about psychology ever since.
The Middle Ages
•
During the middle ages, most Europeans
believed that problems such as agitation and
confusion were signs of demonic possession.
•
Several tests were use to determine whether a
person was possessed or not.
•
For example: The water-float test, people were
thrown into deep water, if they manage to stay
above the water, they were executed and
treated as possessed, if not, they drowned, and
were treated as pure souls.
One of these psychologists was Wilhelm Wundt (18321920), Wilhelm Wundt created the first psychology lab,
and establish psychology as a science.
Wilhem Wundt
Wilhem Wundt and his students founded a field of
psychology that came to be known as
“Structuralism”, they were concerned with studying
the basic elements of consciousness. Wundt broke
down the content of consciousness into two
categories:
Objective sensations and Subjective feelings.
Objective sensations such as sight and taste were
assumed to reflect the outside world. Subjective
feelings were thought to include emotional
responses and mental images.
William James
A decade after Wundt established his laboratory,
William
James
(1842-1910),
thought
that
consciousness experience cannot be broken down as
structuralists believed, he said that experience is a
continuous stream of consciousness.
William James was one of the founders of the school
of Functionalism, they were concerned with how
mental processes help organisms adapt to their
environment. They believed behaviors were adaptive
because they were successful; less adaptive behaviors
were dropped or discontinued. If a behavior was
successful, after lots of practice it can become a habit
(automatic behavior).
John B. Watson
Behaviorism: John B. Watson (1878-1958)
He believed that it was unscientific to study
consciousness as a private event , he asserted that if
psychology was to be a natural science, it must be
observable and measured. As a founder of the school
of behaviorism, Watson defined psychology as the
scientific study of observable behavior.
Freud attempted to help people gain insight into their
unconscious conflicts and find socially acceptable ways of
expressing their wishes and meeting their needs.
B. F. Skinner
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) he added to the
behaviorist tradition reinforcement. Skinner showed
that when an animal is reinforced, or rewarded, for
performing an action, it is more likely to perform the
action in the future.
According to Skinner people learn the same way
animals do. Like animals people behave in certain
ways because they have been reinforced for doing so.
The Gestalt School
The psychology of Gestalt which means shape or
form in German is based on the idea that perceptions
are more than the sums of their parts, rather they are
wholes that give shape or meaning.
Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalysis
and
the
School
of
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), was one of the most
famous of the early psychologists. The school of
thought that he founded was called “Psychoanalysis”,
it emphasizes the importance of unconscious motives
and internal conflicts and how they can influence
behavior.
Freud´s theory, more than others has become a
part of popular culture, for example when you are
trying to interpret a slip of the tongue, or when you
try to figure out a dream.
•
Structuralists, functionalists, behaviorists and
Gestalt psychologists all conducted their
research in a laboratory. However Freud gained
his understanding of human behavior through
consultations with patients.
•
Freud´s theory which is sometimes called
“Psychodynamic Thinking”, assumed that most
of what exists in a person´s mind is unconscious
and makes us deal with conflicting impulses,
urges and wishes.
According to Freud, we are constantly trying to satisfy
these desires, even though some of them might seem
inappropriate or unacceptable in our society.
Section Review
1. What are the roots of psychology?
2. What does “Know Thyself” means?
3. What is “Peri Psyches” about?
4. Which Greek physician said that psychological
problems were caused by abnormalities of the
brain?
5. According to the middle ages, what was the cause
of psychological problems?
6. When was psychology a modern science?
7. What is structuralism about?
8. What is functionalism about?
9. What do behaviorists believed?
10. What is the Gestalt School about?
11. What is the school of Psychodynamic about?