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Wilhelm Wundt
In 1873 Wilhelm Wundt published the first book on psychology, Principles of Physiological Psychology, which established psychology as a unique branch of science. He was the first one in history to be called a 'psychologist'. As founder he took it as his right to define the first school of thought in psychology, structuralism.
This date is significant because it allowed Wundt to develop his school of thought of structuralism. -
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Structuralism
Structuralism can be defined as psychology as the study of the elements of consciousness;the idea is that conscious experience can be broken down into basic conscious elements. Structuralists believed that the whole is the sum of parts. -
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Functionalism
The study of mental processes and their relation to behavior. -
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Psychoanalysis/Psychodynamic
Studies how unconscious instincts, conflicts, motives, and defenses influence behavior. -
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Evolutionary
The study of how natural selection favored behaviors that contributed to survival and spread of our ancestors genes. -
Sigmund Freud
In 1900, his major work 'The Interpretation of Dreams' was published in which Freud analysed dreams in terms of unconscious desires and experiences. -
Ivan Pavlov's Dog Experiment
In 1904 Ivan Pavlov won the Nobel Prize for his work studying digestive processes. It was while studying digestion in dogs that Pavlov noted an interesting occurrence – his canine subjects would begin to salivate at the sound of a bell and other stimuli. This is known as classical conditioning.
-This date is significant because it marks the initiation of Pavlov's experiments. -
Thorndike
In 1905 Thorndike formalized the "Law of Effect". He placed a cat inside a wooden box. The cats used various methods trying to get out, however it does not work until it hits the lever. Afterwards, Thorndike tried placing the cat inside the wooden box again, this time, the cat is able to hit the lever quickly and succeeded to get out from the box.
This date is significant because it was the year Thorndike was able to summarize his findings of the cat experiment and formulate a concept. -
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Behaviorism
The study of obeservable behavior. It observes the relationship between stimuli and an animal. The formation of classical and operant conditioning. -
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Cognition
The study of how we receive, store, and process information; also focusees on how we think or reason and use language. -
Little Albert Experiment
The Little Albert experiment was a case study showing an example of generalization. It was conducted in 1920 by John B. Watson. In this experiment Watson exposed the child to a series of stimuli including a white rat, a rabbit, and other animals; initially Albert showed no fear. Later, the stimuli was presented with a loud sound, which scared the baby and made him afraid of things resembling a white rat.
This date marks the year of the Little Albert experiment. -
Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development
Jean Piaget Started to work in child psychology. After watching many children, he felt that all children went through a series of four stages in the same order.
This date is significant because in 1921, Piaget was invited by to become the director of research at the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute in Geneva. Here he was able to study child psychology. -
B.F. Skinner
In 1936 Skinner wrote"The behavior of Organisms" and introduced the concepts of operant conditioning and shaping. In 1938, Skinner emaphasized the concept of operant conditioning and devised the three types of responses that follow behavior.
This date is significant because it marks the beginning of concept of operant conditioning; it also gave way to other experiments conducted by Skinner. -
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Humanism
Studies the individual potential for growth and the role of unique perceptions in growth towards one's potential. -
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Biological/Neuroscience
Studies how physiological and biological chemical factors determine behavior and mental processes. -
Biological Psychology and the Nerve Impulse
1952 Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley explained the nerve impulse. They created the Hodgkin–Huxley model which is a mathematical model that describes how action potentials in neurons are initiated and propagated.
This date is significant because this is when Hodgkin and Huxley explained theri model of the action potential.. -
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow developed his Hierarchy of Needs
in 1954, which he then revised in 1970 to produce the
current hierarchy. The original hierachy contained five stages; biological, safety, belongingness, self-estemm, and self-actualization, he later added two other stages.,
This date marks the beginning of the hierarchy of needs model which was later interpreted by other psychologists. -
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Sociocultural
The study of how culture differences affect behavior. -
The Evolution of Desire
Dr. David Buss in his book the Evolution of Desire portrays humans as remarkably similar to their ancestors in that they express a set of hard-headed strategies designed to obtain the best mate possible.
This date is the publication date of David Buss's book The Evolution of Desire.
