The History of Psychology
A Brief Overview
Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.
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The earliest known writings in
psychology
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Aristotle was born in
384 BC in an area of
Northern Greece.
He was the first known
writer in the field of
psychology.
Pursuit of knowledge.
Life.
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The term “psyche”
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Aristotle used the term “psyche” to refer to
the essence of life.
This term is translated to mean “soul” or
“mind”, but it is closely linked in meaning to
the word “breath”
Psychology – comes from the word psyche +
logos – the Greek word meaning “the study
of”.
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The modern definition of psychology
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Today’s modern definition of psychology
incorporates:
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behavior and mental processes.
controlled observation.
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Defining Psychology
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The term “behavior” refers to all of a person’s
overt actions that others can directly observe.
The term “mental processes” refers to the
private thoughts, emotions, feelings, and
motives that others cannot directly observe.
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Goals of Psychology
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Psychologists study people by using scientific
method.
The goals of this scientific method include:
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Describe
Predict
Understand
Influence
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Aristotle versus Plato
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Aristotle believed that
one must also observe
the thing being studied
– look at it, listen to it,
touch it.
Plato: discovery can
occur by just thinking
about it.
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Wilhelm Wundt
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Wilhelm Wundt
established the first
Laboratory of
psychology in
Germany in 1879.
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What about William James?

Others argue that
William James
deserves the honor for
a less publicized
laboratory at Harvard
University which
opened in 1875.
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Wundt and Tichener
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Edward Titchener was
a student of Wundt. He
taught at Cornell
University. Titchener
sought to identify the
basic elements of
conscious experience.
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Wundt and Titchener: The Structure of
the Mind
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He and Wundt studied consciousness using a
method of looking inward at one’s own
experiences = called introspection.
Structuralism
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The first psychology course & text
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William James taught the first course on
psychology and in 1890, published the first
psychology text.
William James was influenced by Charles
Darwin.
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Functionalism
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Functionalism is a part of contemporary
psychology today, even though it is no longer
viewed as a separate school of thought. It has
influenced the way psychologists emphasize
the role played by thinking and perception in
human behavior.
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Ivan Pavlov
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In the 1890s, Russian
physiologist Ivan
Pavlov studied
digestion in dogs.
Classical conditioning
and the field of
Behaviorism was born.
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John B. Watson
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1920s John B. Watson
trained in
Functionalism. But he
rejected these ideas
based on Pavlov’s
work.
Little Albert Studies.
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Herman Ebbinhaus & Memory
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1885 Germany’s Hermann
Ebbinhaus published a
book entitled, “On
Memory”.
He described in his book a
series of experiments that
he conducted over 6 years
where he was both the
scientist and the only
subject!
Development of the
nonsense syllable.
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Max Wertheimer: Gestalt Psychology
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Max Wertheimer, a
professor of
psychology at the U. of
Frankfurt, began
developing their own
ideas on perception
about 25 years after the
pioneering work of
Wundt.
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Gestalt Psychologies
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The key concept: that human consciousness
could not be meaningfully broken down into
raw elements as the structuralists proposed to
do.
Instead, the mind must be studied in terms of
large, meaningful units.
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Alfred Binet & Intelligence
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1890s – the Paris
Ministry of Education
asked Binet to help
provide education for
all “intelligent”
children and more
practical, less academic
school for less
intelligent children.
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Sigmund Freud
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Freud was an Austrian
physician who
practiced neurology.
Unlike other founders
of psychology, he was
not a professor doing
research.
He was working with
physical problems.
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Psychoanalysis
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The unconscious mind.
Psychoanalysis.
21
Women in Psychology
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Many of the founders in psychology were
white males.
This had a lot to do with sexual
discrimination. For example, in 1900
Christine Ladd-Franklin completed the
doctoral program at John Hopkins, but was
never give a degree b/c John Hopkins was an
all-male institution at the time.
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Christine Ladd-Franklin
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Christine LaddFranklin went on to
combine a field of
mathematics and
psychology to come up
with a theory of color
blindness.
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Women in Psychology
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In the early days most institutions refused
qualified female applicants. Even if they did
receive their degree, they were rarely offered
teaching positions. Further, if they married,
that was the end of their career.
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Mary Whiton Calkins
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Mary Whiton Calkins
was a student of
William James at
Harvard. She
completed the
requirements of her
Ph.D., but was not ever
allowed to graduate.
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Margaret Floy Washburn
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Margaret Floy
Washburn was the first
woman to actually
receive her Ph. D. in
psychology – from
Cornell University.
1920 elected president
APA.
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Minorities in Psychology
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Similar prejudices affected the entry of
African Americans, Latinos, and other ethnic
minorities in psychology.
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Famous African American
Psychologists
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Gilbert Haven Jones: first African American
to receive his Ph. D. in 1901.
J. Henry Alston – first research published in a
journal. His study provided the basis for
understanding how skin receptors of warmth
and cold work together to create the sensation
of intense heat.
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Famous African American
Psychologists
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Inez Prosser – first African American woman
to receive her Ph. D. in psychology in the US
– University of Cincinnati. Tragically, she
was killed in an auto accident shortly after
receiving her degree.
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Famous Hispanic Psychologists
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Santiago Ramon y Cajal – a Spanish scientist
working around the turn of the century played
a significant role in the development of
psychology by identifying the neuron – cells
that make up the brain and nervous system.
He was also a scholar in the areas of hypnosis
and culturally biased tests for minority school
children.
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Basic Areas of Modern Psychology
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Biological psychology
Sensation and perception
Learning and memory
Developmental Psychology
Motivation and Emotion
Personality
Social psychology
Sociocultural psychology
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Applied Areas of Modern Psychology
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Clinical
Counseling
Industrial – organizational
Educational and school psychology
Health Psychology
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