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384 BCE
Aristotle
He was born in 384 BC. He is considered one of the greatest thinkers of philosophy, psychology and ethics. In psych he distinguishes the difference between sense perception and reason. He wrote the first psychology book in history called, Para Psyche. -
Period: 384 BCE to
Prescientific Psychology
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Jan 22, 1561
Sir Francis Bacon
Born on January 22, 1561. He served as Lord Chancellor of England. He developed the Baconian method, better known as the scientific theory. He also contributed to psychology, and is considered the father of empiricism, which is the theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience. -
Rene Descartes
Born in March of 1596, Descartes was one of the founders of modern psychology. Many of his philosophies have been found similar to that of Aristotle’s. Many of his points took a stance opposite to many other philosophers at the time. One of his most famous statements is “I think, therefore I am.” He laid the setting for 17th century rationalism. -
John Locke
Locke was born in August of 1632, and was commonly known as the “Father of Liberalism.” He followed the tradition of Sir Francis Bacon. His theory of mind is thought to be the beginning of the concept of identity and self. He was one of the first to define self through consciousness. -
Humanism
Humanism is the ethical stance that accentuates the value of human beings. It generally prefers critical thinking and support with evidence, rather than dogma, or superstitions. The term was coined in the early nineteenth century by a German school commissioner when he was terming his new curriculum. It was accepted by the english language by the mid 1800’s in this definition. -
Cognitive Neuroscience
The scientific field that involves the studies of biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition. It has a specific focus on neural connections in the brain that are associated with mental processes. -
Wilhelm Wundt
Born on the 16th of August 1832, Wundt was known as one of the founders of modern psychology. He was the first person to call themselves a psychologist, and developed the first lab for psychology research. He derived psychology as a science between biology and philosophy. -
William James
Born on the eleventh of January, 1842, James was thought to be the founder of American psychology. He established the philosophical school known as pragmatism, and also founded functional psychology. -
Granville Stanley Hall
Born February 1st, 1846, Hall was the first president of the American Psychological Association. His main focus was on childhood development and evolutionary theory. He published 489 works on psychology and his findings. He is also well known to be the first American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology. -
Mary Whiton Calkins
Mary Calkins was born March 30th, 1863. She was an American psychologist as well as a philosopher. She was the first woman to become president of the American Psychological Association. She developed the field of self psychology, which is the study of one's cognitive, conative or affective representation of one's identity. When she was in college she did a two month study on dreams. She used her own and her colleagues and in total examined over 350 dreams. -
Functionalism
Considered to be founded by William James in the nineteenth century, functionalism was seen as a F.O.I.L. to structuralism. It kicked off a fight between functionalists and structuralists. Functionalism is a school of thought which is focused on the utility and purpose of behaviour of someone’s actions. -
Max Wertheimer
Born April 15th, 1880, Max Wertheimer was one of the three main founders of Gestalt Psychology. He came up with the phi phenomenon, and he is best known for that. He learned under Christian von Ehrenfels, and he would eventually build upon what von Ehrenfels created. He is also well known for his book called Productive Thinking. -
Behaviourism
John Watson was the founder of American behaviorism. Systematic approach to understanding the behavior of humans and other animals. It says all actions are either reflexes which are produced by certain stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of the individual's history, current motivational state, and controlling stimuli. -
Gestalt Psychology
Created in 1890 by Christian von Ehrenfels, Gestalt focuses on seeing something as a whole sum rather than just its components. In 1912 Max Wetheimer discovered the phi phenomenon which was where two objects would be flashing on and off very quickly, they would be perceived as motion. This made Gestalt a much more well known branch of psychology. -
American Psychological Association
Founded in 1892 at Clark University by about 30 men. It’s first president was American Psychologist G. Stanley Hall. The first female president was Mary Whiton Calkins who was president in 1905. It grew to have over 300 members by 1916, and currently has over 118,000. The main goal of them is to deliver policy statements on social topics. -
Carl Rogers
Born on the eighth of January 1902, Carl Rogers is best known for founding the humanistic approach to psychology. He was elected president of the APA in 1947, and in 1972 he was awarded the Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Psychology by the APA. He was one of the people who countered McCarthyism during the 1950’s. He spent most of his latter years applying his theories to social conflicts, and political areas. -
Structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt & Edward Titchener developed this theory, which is about consciousness, and describes the structure of the mind in terms of accumulated mental experiences. It analyzes human cognition, behavior and culture.
