The History of Psychology
A Brief Overview
Carolyn R. Fallahi, Ph. D.
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The earliest known writings in
psychology


The earliest known
origins of psychology
are in the writings of
the ancient Greek
scholars, particularly
Aristotle.
Aristotle was born in
384 BC in an area of
Northern Greece.
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The term “psyche”



Aristotle used the term “psyche” to refer to the
essence of life.
Aristotle’s “breath of life.”
Modern psychologists no longer believe in
Aristotle’s “breath of life”, but they are still
interested in the same actions, thoughts, and feelings
of human beings.
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The definition of psychology



The term “psychology” comes from Aristotle’s word
“psyche” plus the Greek word “logos” signifying
‘the study of’.
Aristotle defined psychology as the “study of life”.
But…this definition is not complete.
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Defining Psychology


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


Psychologists study people by using scientific
method.
The goals of this scientific method include:

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Describe: ex – What is the alcohol/drug problem on
campus?
Predict: ex – what is the likelihood that any 1 incoming
freshman will have a D/A problem?
Understand: ex – what are the factors in the development
of a D/A problem on campus?
Influence: How might we help freshman at risk to not
develop a D/A problem?
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Plato


Aristotle received much of
his own training in
philosophical methods
from the famous
philosopher, Plato.
He disagreed with Plato’s
belief that one could
achieve a full
understanding of anything
simply by thinking about it.
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Aristotle versus Plato


Aristotle believed that one must also observe
the thing being studied – look at it, listen to it,
touch it.
He studied life by observing it = hence
observation is the basis for the methods used
in contemporary science.
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Psychology as a formal discipline


There was no formal discipline of psychology
during the time of Aristotle and for 2,200
years after he lived. Like the other sciences,
psychology was part of philosophy.
The formal launching of the separate field of
psychology is credited to Wilhelm Wundt.
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Wilhelm Wundt

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


Wundt’s background was in biology – he was
fascinated by human consciousness and
culture.
He was familiar with the methods used by
other sciences and applied them to the
phenomena of human consciousness.
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Wundt and Tichener

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.
They were interested in the elements of the
mind and how those elements are organized =
structuralism.
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The first psychology course & text

In 1875, a young professor of biology and
philosophy at Harvard University named
William James taught the first course on
psychology and in 1890, published the first
psychology text.
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William James


William James borrowed concepts and
scientific methods from biology to use in his
study of consciousness, but James had a view
that was different from Wundt & Titchener.
He was influenced by the work of biologist
Charles Darwin.
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James’ Interests

James was particularly interested in topics he
considered to be evolutionarily important. He
thought that conscious awareness, decision
making, the learning of unconscious habits,
and the emotions of rage, fear, anxiety, and
depression were all evolutionarily important.
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Functionalism

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


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!
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Max Wertheimer: Gestalt Psychology

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

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.
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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

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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Mary Whiton Calkins

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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Mary Whiton Calkins

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She went on to become a prominent teacher
and researcher and contributed to the field by
developing a method to study memory.
In 1905, she was the first woman elected
president of the APA.
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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.
She taught at Vassar
College.
Published 90 scientific
articles and books on
learning and perception in
animals.
1920 elected president
APA.
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Minorities in Psychology

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

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

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 – interested in the ways the
nervous system and other organs provide the basis
for behavior.
Sensation and perception – how the sense organs
operate and how we interpret incoming sensory
information in the process of perception.
Learning and memory – the ways in which we learn
and remember new information, new skills, new
habits, and new ways of relating to others.
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Basic Areas of Modern Psychology
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Developmental Psychology – concerned with
changes that take place in people during their
life span, as they grow from conception
through death.
Motivation and Emotion – studies the needs
and states that activate and guide behavior,
such as hunger, thirst, sex, need for
achievement, and the need to have
relationships with others.
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Basic Areas of Modern Psychology
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Personality – studies the consistent ways of
behavior that characterize our personalities.
Social psychology – studies the influence of
other people on our behavior.
Sociocultural psychology – focuses on ethnic
and cultural factors, gender identity, sexual
orientation, and related issues.
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Applied Areas of Modern Psychology
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Clinical – try to understand and treat personal
problems and correct abnormal behavior.
Counseling – personal or school problems.
Industrial – organizational – focuses on ways
to match employees to jobs, to train and
motivate workers, and to promote job
satisfaction and good relationships among
workers.
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Applied Areas of Modern Psychology

Educational and school psychology –
concerned with the way students learn in the
classroom as well as with the construction of
psychological and educational tests. They
help children who are experiencing learning /
behavioral problems and test children to see if
they could benefit from special ed programs.
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Applied Areas of Modern Psychology

Health Psychology – focuses on the ways in
which pressures, conflicts, hardships, and
other factors may contribute to poor health.
Talk about preventing health problems by
teaching people to relax, control their diets,
and stop high-risk behaviors, such as
smoking.
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