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Rene Descartes Introduces Dualism
In the 1700’s a French philosopher called Rene Descartes put forward the idea of dualism, this idea declared that the mind and body were separate entities. It is when these separate entites interact with one another that the human experience is formed. he is most known for his saying 'i think, therefore i am.' -
Scientific roots of psychology
By the 1800’s scientists were making progress in answering questions about behavioural and mental processes that philosophers could not. Philosophers could only develop their understanding of human behaviour and mental processes to certain point. They were all restricted and limited by the own observations, opinions, reflections, assumptions and reasoning. Philosophers did not believe the mind could be studied because it wasn’t a physical thing, but more philosophers began to turn to science. -
Hermann von Helmholtz
In the 1800’s Hermann von Helmholtz was one of the physiologist’s who started to study the brain and other physiologically relevant structures such as the nervous system and the sensory system. Helmholtz successfully developed a method for testing the speed of the nerve reactions in a frog’s leg. Helmholtz then adapted his method to study the reactions of humans; His tests were successful and this helped prove that experiments were helpful for the study of the brain and mental processes. -
Structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) was a German physiologist trained in medicine who was specifically interested in the scientific study of human consciousness. His theory structuralism focused on the structure of consciousness; how the building blocks of consciousness are interrelated with one another. He discovered that you could study mental processes such as senses, perceptions and feelings through experiments. -
Functionalism
William James (1842-1910) was influential in establishing psychology in America. Like Wundt, James defined psychology as the study of consciousness. But he disagreed with Wundt’s theory of structuralism and stated you’re your consciousness should be studied as a whole, not studied separately. James’s theory was called functionalism, it studies of the functions and purpose that mental processes serve in adapting to different environments. -
Pyschoanalysis
Early psychologists focused a lot on the conscious mind, in the 1900’s a psychologist named Sigmund Freud began to develop a different perspective: psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis focuses on the roles unconscious conflicts and motivations to try and understand and explain behaviour and mental processes. Freud believed that our unconscious mind was full of sexual urges and impulses; this created conflict in our mind because if we acted on impulses our behaviour would be considered unacceptable. -
Wilhelm Wundt
In the mid-1800s, a German physiologist named Wilhelm Wundt used scientific research methods. He wrote a book called Principles of Physiological Psychology, the book was published in 1874 and stated many of the important connections between the science of physiology and the study of human thought and behaviour. 1879 was the year that the first pschology reasearch lab was established by Wundt. -
Behaviourism
A Psychologist who rejected Wundt and James’s theories on the conscious mind and Freud’s theory of the unconscious mind was a man called John B. Watson (1878-1958). Watson’s approach to studying psychology is called Behaviourism, which involves understanding how behaviour is learned and changed by experience. Behaviourists believe that our everyday life is influenced by rewards and punishments; they also believe that we tend to repeat behaviours that result in rewards. -
Humanism
Humanism came about in the 1950‘s as an alternative to psychoanalysis and behaviourism. Humanism also referred to as humanistic psychology is an approach that focuses on the uniqueness of each individual person and that individuals positive qualities and the potential of all human beings to fulfil their lives. This theory is based on the assumption that all human beings are born with good and during their life each individual strives to fulfil their potential, whatever that potential might be. -
Philisophical roots of psychology
More than 2000 years ago a Greek philosopher called Socrates (470-399 BC) and his two followers Plato (428-337 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC) wrote a lot about all types of human thoughts, feelings and behaviour, and human nature in general. These famous philosophers debated about many of the questions that modern day psychologists are still debating about, of these one of the most well-known Nature vs. Nurture.
