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387 BCE
Brain is suggested for mental functions
Plato suggested that the brain is the mechanism of mental processes. -
335 BCE
Mental process is in the heart
Aristotle suggested that the heart is the mechanism of mental processes. -
Personality is an area of the brain
Phineas Gage suffered brain damage when an iron pole pierces his brain. His personality was changed but his intellect remained intact suggesting that an area of the brain plays a role in personality. -
Evolution
Charles Darwin published the On the Origin of Species, detailing his view of evolution and expanding on the theory of ‘Survival of the fittest.’ -
Frontal Lobe effect Language
Carl Wernicke published his work on the frontal lobe, detailing that damage to a specific area damages the ability to understand or produce language -
Psychology is a seperate science
Wilhelm Wundt founds the first experimental psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany. The event is considered the starting point of psychology as a separate science. -
First psychology professor in the U.S
James McKeen Cattell becomes the first professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. -
Better understanding of interrelationships
Sir Francis Galton developed the technique known as the correlation to better understand the interrelationships in his intelligence studies. -
Foundation for functionalism
William James published ‘Principles of Psychology,’ that later became the foundation for functionalism. -
Mental Tests
The term “Mental Tests” was coined by James Cattell, beginning the specialization in psychology now known as psychological assessment. -
American Psychological Association is Formed
G. Stanley Hall forms the American Psychological Association (APA), which initially has just 42 members. -
Birth of clinical psychology
The first psychological clinic was developed at the University of Pennsylvania marking the birth of clinical psychology. -
Law of Effect
Edward Thorndike developed the ‘Law of Effect,’ arguing that “a stimulus-response chain is strengthened if the outcome of that chain is positive.” -
Interpretation of Dreams is published
Sigmund Freud publishes Interpretation of Dreams. -
Intelligence Test published in France
Alfred Binet’s Intelligence Test was published in France. -
Behaviorism studies
John B. Watson publishes Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It. The work helped establish behaviorism, which viewed human behavior arising from conditioned responses. -
Analytical psychology formed
Carl Jung begins to depart from Freudian views and develops his own theories, which are eventually known as analytical psychology. -
Fear can be conditioned
John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner published the Little Albert experiments, demonstrating that fear could be classically conditioned. -
The nature of love
Harry Harlow publishes The Nature of Love, which describe his experiments with rhesus monkey's on the importance of attachment and love. -
Observational Learning
Albert Bandura first describes the concept of observational learning to explain personality development.
