The systematic, scientific
study of behaviors and
mental processes
With Ed Wohlmuth
True Education
The function of education is
to teach one to think
intensively and to think
critically... Intelligence plus
character - that is the goal of
true education
-Martin Luther King Jr.
(January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)
Small Group Reflection
 What is psychology?
 What areas of psychology do you know about or have
heard of?
 How will knowing about psychology help you in…
 your life?
 your chosen field?
Greek
Philosophy
Temple of
Apollo at
Delphi
(gnothi seauton)
“Know thyself”
History of Psychology
 Greek philosophy- Why begin here? Why not Orient,
Sumerian, Egyptian etc.?
First civilization that spawned a
self critical perspective on one’s
own beliefs, conviction and
cultural values.
Pythagoras- (572-490BC) first
person to refer himself as a
philosopher.
History of Psychology
Socrates*(470-399BC)- quest to
understand human nature (move
from Cosmology)
 Philosophy- love of “wisdom”- things that do
no change, immutable, immaterial,
transcendent knowledge (relative vs. absolute
knowledge)
 Socratic Questioning- thinking deliberately
about their lives: Why do we believe
something? Why do we do what we do? Why
are things the way they are?
 Finding truth was the quest- challenging lazy
assumptions (holding shallow, untested,
unquestioned beliefs)
* Dialogues of
Socrates by Plato
History of Psychology
 Socrates taught that our thinking needed
to be “water tight”. He used the analogy of
pottery.
 Everyone had the responsibility to think
for themselves.
 “The unexamined life is not worth living”
-Socrates, in Plato’s Dialogues, Apology.
 He taught the need to examine closely
what we believe.
History of Psychology
 Socrates' five step system of proving something
true:
 Offer a statement/idea
 Exceptions?
 If exceptions, we modify for more
preciseness or prove false
 Nuance (a subtle distinction or variation)
statement
 Truth- difficult to disprove
 Virtues he studied- serenity, humility, sincerity,
veracity (devotion/conformity with truth),
equanimity (calm under stress), adaptability,
tenacity, integrity, respect, magnanimous
(courageous spirit), charity, and more.
The Death of Socrates by
Jacques-Louis David (1787)
History of Psychology
 Plato (423-347 BC)- Socrates student- laid the foundation for
Philosophy, logic, metaphysics, mathematics and other areas of study.
 Aristotle- student of Plato- taught Alexander the Great, naturalistic,
observational, senses (delight in), perception and study of the animal
kingdom(much like modern psychology).
 Hippocrates, the father of medicine, lived by the Hippocratic oath
(probably written by Pythagoras) parts of which apply to us as helpers…
“…I will prescribe regimens for the
good of my patients according to my
ability and my judgment and never
do harm to anyone…”
Hippocrates claimed that mental
disease had a physiological and
natural basis.
Canadian and World Events in...
PSYCHOLOGY
Wilheim Wundt
First Psychology
Lab
1838- First course In
Psychology taught at
Dalhousie University
1879 ?
1889 James
Baldwin- First
Canadian
Lab at U of T
1970’s Aaron
Antonovsky
1931 Enters 1950
B.F. Skinner Enters
A. Maslow/
C. Rogers
1990’s
Martin
Seligman
Physiology
1912 ?
1890 ?
Philosophy
500 BC Ancient
Greece
Protagoras,
Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle
1850- 1860
Psychology taught at
McGill and University
of Toronto
1913 ?
Wertheimer WatsonGestalt
Behaviorism
1895 Freud
begins
publishing
William James- First
textbook-Principles
of Psychology
1846-1960 Importance
of Psychology in
Canada grows due to
presenting issues in
returning vets from
WWII
p.12-13