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Aristotle suggested that the human heart is the mechanism for mental processes.
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Fran Mesmer detailed his cure of some mental disease that was originally called mesmerism, but now known as hypnosis.
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Franz Gall wrote about phrenology which is the idea that a person’s skull shape and placement of bumps on the head can reveal personality traits.
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Ernst Heinrich Weber published his perception theory of Just Noticeable Difference now known as Weber’s Law.
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G. Stanley Hall becomes the first American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology. Hall eventually founds the American Psychological Association.
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Sigmund Freud begins providing therapy to patients in Vienna, Austria
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James McKeen Cattell becomes the first professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
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James McKeen Cattell publishes Mental Tests and Measurements, marking the beginning of the practice of psychological assessment.
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Alfred Binet forms the first psychology lab devoted to psychodiagnosis
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The British Psychological Society is formed
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Mary Whiton Calkins is elected the first woman president of the American Psychological Association
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Calkins publishes A First Book in Psychology.
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Max Wertheimer publishes Experimental Studies of the Perception of Movement, leading to the development of Gestalt Psychology.
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Henry Murray publishes the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).
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The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published.
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Albert Bandura conducts his now famous Bobo doll experiment.
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Albert Bandura first describes the concept of observational learning to explain personality development.
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Noam Chomsky publishes On Nature, Use and Acquisition of Language
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Genetic researchers finish mapping human genes. Scientists hope to one day isolate the individual genes responsible for different diseases.
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Steven Pinker publishes The Blank Slate, arguing against the concept of tabula rasa.
