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1600 BCE
Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus
It was written by Egyptian doctor Imhotep. It was the first written reference to the brain. It was the first document that showed the importance of the brain. -
387 BCE
Plato
Plato first suggested that the brain is the mechanism of mental processes. It is important because he realized that the brain was an important part of our body and has a purpose -
370 BCE
Hippocrates
He was the first "doctor". He is important because he was one of the first to figure out there was a mind-body connection. -
1025
Avicenna
He published The Canon of Medicine. Which was the used as the standard medical textbook throughout the Islamic world and Europe until the 18th Century. He also used evidence based medicine, which is important because he used medicine based on actually evidence. -
Jan Swammerdam
Swammerdam received his medical PhD in 1667. He was important in the history of psychology because he was one of the first to demonstrate a relationship between nerves and movement through his experiments on frogs. -
Robert Whytt
He was the first to describe diseases like anorexia, bulimia, multiple sclerosis. He also discovered specific spinal damage can cause specific functional issues. -
Franz Mesmer
Mesmer claimed to use magnets to heal. With his work with groups to "heal" their problems later came the ideas of social contagion and social facilitation, even when he wasn't trying to discover those. He thought he was healing with magnets. He was the 1st person to demonstrate the placebo effect and what later became hypnosis. He was popular in France during the french revolution. -
Philippe Pinel
He worked at the Salpetriere hosptial in Paris. He was the first to actually treat mentally ill people. He used logically consequences which mean that you can reason with mentally ill people. He emphaisised the importance of environment, grouped similar patients, and "moral theapy". He improved the way mentally ill people were treated. In 1794 Pinel made public his essay 'Memoir on Madness', recently called a fundamental text of modern psychiatry. -
Jacques Quetelet
Quetelet applied statistics to human behavior to identify patterns and regularity. Quletelet changed in thinking from studying individuals to studying groups and averages. Quetelet was an influential figure in criminology. -
James Braid
He coined the term Hypnotism. He documented the physiology of the memeserism trance. He discovered that it lowered heart rate, lowered blood pressure, and lowered sensory response. In 1841 he first use hypnotism in surgery. -
Charles Darwin
Darwin documented evidence of evolution and the explanation for how adaptation takes place. Darwin influenced comparative psychology and developmental psychology. -
Gustav Fritsch
Fritsch did the first electrical studies of cortex. He discovered the primary motor cortex. -
Wilhelm Wundt
In 1879 he opened the first psychology research lab at the University of Leipzig. He is known as the formal founder of psychology. -
Emil Kraeplin
He classified mental illness like the DMS now. He described mental diseases like manic depressive psychosis (now Bipolar Disorder), dementia praecox (now schizophrenia) and Alzheimer's disease. -
Sigmund Freud
He developed Psychoanalysis and started treating people in 1886. He used dreams to look into peoples unconscious mind. He also thought that childhood experiences had an impact on development. -
Edward Titchener
He brought the experimental psychology to the United States. He opened the first psychology lab in the United States. -
Ivan Pavlov
He discovered classical conditioning with his research with dogs. Even though he never wanted to be considered a pyschologist he ended up being important in the history of psychology. -
John E. Waston
Founded Behaviorism based off of Pavlov's research. -
Abraham Maslow
He formally founded Humanistic psychology -
david shakow and the boulder conference
Developed the rules and what is needed to practice clinical psychology. -
Gordon Allport
Formally founded social psychology. -
DSM first published
Outlined a uniform way to diagnose mental illnesses. A new one is published about every 10 years -
B.F Skinner
He discovered operant conditioning. He had more of a cognitive shift in the study of learning. He was important in cognitive psychology. -
APA Ethical Standards
The American Psychological Association publishes the first edition of Ethical Standards of Psychologists. The document undergoes continuous review and is now known as APA's Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. -
Albert Bandura
Bobo doll experiment in which child behavior is described as a construct of observation, imitation, and modeling. -
Stanley Milgram
He published "Obedience to Authority" which describes the findings of his famous obedience experiments. Which is important in social psychology. -
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins publishes The Selfish Gene, which begins to popularize the idea of evolutionary psychology -
DSM V
The lastest addition of the DSM was published. In it, the APA removes "gender identity disorder" from the list of mental illnesses and replaces it "gender dysphoria" to describe a person's discomfort with his or her gender.
