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Jan 1, 1000
The Greek Philosiphers
Over 2000 years ago the Greek Philospher Socrates and his followers Plato and Aristotle started questioning human thoughts, feelings, behaviours and all kinds of human nature. These great philosphers debated things many psychologists still question today. -
The French Philosipher
In the 17th century, a controversial topic was challenged by a respected French philosipher Rene Descartes. In a theory he called 'dualism' which proposed that the mind and the body are two different things. He believed the mind is a non-physical, spiritual entity while the body is a physical structure. He also reasoned that the body and the mind can come into contact through the pineal gland located deep within the brain. -
Science vs Philosiphy
During the 19th century, scientists were making progress in answering questions about human behaviour and metal processes that philosphers could not due to scientific research. A lot of philosphers were very sceptical about their ideas and theories because they believed mental processes were a non-physical entity which could not be observed or measured. -
The Great Physiologist
Still in the 19th century, physiologist became studying the brain and other aspects of psychology including the nervous system and sensory organs. During this time, Hermann von Helmholtz developed a method for measuring the speed of nerve impulses in a frogs leg. Following successful results, Helmholtz adapted his tests to enable the study of humans. Through the use of harmless electric shocks, test results showed that humans reacted slower when their toe was shocked rather then their theigh. -
The Great Physiologist 2
This discovery astonished the 19th century as many scientists believed that mental processes almost instantaneous. Helmholtz proved to the world that experimental methods could be a useful way to study the brain and mental processes. -
The Birth of Psychology
The starting date of psychology as a science is considered to be 1879, the year in which Helmholtz' assistant Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology research laboratory. -
Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt was a german physiologist trained in medicine who was specifically interested in the scientific study of human consciousness. This was considered radical as the observation of consciousness could not be observed itself. Wundt would often try to understand and explain his theories. Eventually this led to the first psychology school called 'Structuralism'. -
Functionalism
William James influenced the world of psychology in America. James graduated as a medical doctor and became interested in the emerging science of psychology after reading some work of Wundt. William James ended up giving lectures at harvard and eventually gave exclusive psychology lectures. James' theory was that the conscious mind could adapt and function when needed which went against Wundt's theory. He called this functionalism -
Psychoanalysis
The arise of the 20th century brought new ideas to the table. Instead of focusing on the conscious mind like Wundt and James, a new perspective looked at the unconscious mind. This was called psychoanalysis developed by doctor Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis focuses on the unconscious conflicts and motivations in understanding mental processes and behaviour. His theories were bizzare as he believed that sexual urges towards our parents were suppressed deep within the unconscious mind. -
Behaviourism
The theories of John Watson are still evident in the study of psychology today. Watson had a huge impact on the development of psychology by studying behaviour. Watson rejected emphasis on the conscious and unconscious and focused on behaviour not because he denied the existance of it but rather he declared it was near impossible to observe
