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Jan 1, 1500
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus published the idea that Earth was not the center of the universe but, instead, it revolved around the sun. -
Jan 1, 1500
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei used a telescope to confirm predictions about star position and movement based on Copernicus's work. -
Phrenology
Phrenology is the study of examining bumps on a person's skull to determine that person's intellect and character traits. Although it seems impractical, it inspired scientists to consider the brain, instead of the heart, as responsible for human behavior. -
William James
James taught the first class in psychology at Harvard University. He is often referred to as the "father or psychology." -
Wilhelm Wundt
Wundt started his Laboratory of Psychology as a structuralist, meaning he was interested in the basic elements of human experience. He also developed a self-observation method called introspection to collect information about the mind. -
Inquiries into Human Faculty
Inquiries into Human Faculty was published by Sir Francis Galton regarding the first study of individual differences. Galton studied inheritable traits, finding out which traits in a human were inherited by their parents or learned from their environment. -
Behavioral Psychology
Ivan Pavlov did a behavioral experiment regarding food, a tuning fork, and a dog. The dog began to salivate at the sound of the tuning fork after hearing it multiple times as the food was shown. After the experiment, scientists believed behavior was the product of prior experiences. -
The Principles of Psychology
12 years after William James taught the first psychology class, he wrote his book, The Principles of Psychology. It centered around functionalism, the study of how animals and people adapt to their environments. -
Gestalt Psychology
Gestalt psychology was studied by a group of German psychologists who disagreed with the principles of structuralism and behaviorism, Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt Koffka. They argued that perception was as a whole and not each individual item that made something up. -
John B. Watson
Watson, a behaviorist, formulated that psychology should concern itself only with the observable fact of behavior. -
Psychoanalytic Psychology
Sigmund Freud was interested in the unconscious mind. He used dream analysis to study the dreams of his patients and delve into their unconscious thoughts. -
Walden Two
Walden Two was a book written by B.F. Skinner portraying his idea of a Utopia- a small town in which conditioning, through rewarding those who display behavior that is considered desirable, rules every conceivable facet of life. -
Cognitive Psychology
Cognitivists focus on how we process, store, and use information and how this information influences our thinking, language, problem solving, and creativity. Cognitive psychology benefited from contributions from Jean Piaget, Noam Chomsky, and Leon Festinger. -
Humanistic Psychology
Humanists such as Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and Rollo May described human nature as evolving and self-directed as a response to behavioral psychology. The humanistic approach emphasizes ow each person is unique and has a self-concept and potential to develop fully. -
Sociocultural Psychology
Sociocultural psychology studies the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and differences on behavior and social functioning. It focuses on how the culture effects our knowledge and ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. -
Biological Psychology
Psychobiologists study how the brain, the nervous system, hormones, and genetics influence our behavior. PET scans and CAT scans are used by psychobiologists to study the brain.
