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Period: 500 to Sep 8, 600
The Greeks
During the 5th and 6th century, the Greeks began to study human behavior and decided that people's lives were dominated not by gods, but rather their own minds. -
Sep 8, 1500
Mid 1500's
Nicolaus Copernicus published the idea that Earth was not the center of the universe, but revolved around the sun.
Galileo Galilei later confirmed the predictions of Copernicus. Other individuals of the Renaissance were beginning to refine the modern concept of experimentation through observation. -
Mid 1600's
The idea of dualism became popular, which stated that the mind and body are separate and distinct.
Rene Descartes disagreed and believed the mind controlled the body's movements, sensations, and perceptions. -
1800's
Biologists had discovered the cells as the building blocks of life. Physicists then made great progress in furher understanding of atomic forces. The science of psychology was formed in this environment. -
Inheritable Traits
Sir Francis Galton wanted to understand how heredity influences a person's abilities, character, and behavior. He traced the ancestry of various eminent people and concluded genius is a hereditary trait. Galton later wrote a book raising issuses of whether behavior is determined by heredity or environment. -
Structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt started to persue the study of human behavior in a systematic and scientific manner.
He developed a method of self-observation called introspection to collect information about the mind.
Structuralists are interested in the basic elements of human experience. -
Functionalism
William James taught the first class of psychology at Harvard in 1875 and is often called the "father of psychology". He thought that thinking, feeling, learning, and remembering, which are all activities of the mind, serve as one major function: to help us survive as a species.
Functionalists study how mental processes help animals and people adapt to their environment. -
Psychoanalytic Psyhology
Sigmund Freud was unlike most psychologists because he was more interested in the unconscious mind. He believed unconscious motivations and conflicts are responsible for most human behavior. Psychoanalysts simply listened and interpreted the associations. -
Gestalt Psychology
A group of German psychologists disagreed with the principles of structuralism and behaviorism. They argued that perception is more than the sum of its parts, but involves a "whole pattern" or, Gestalt in German. They also studied how sensations are assembled into perceptual experiences. -
Behavioral Psychology
John B. Watson formulated an idea that psychology should concern itself only with the observable facts of behavior. -
Cognitive Psychology
Cognitivists focus on how we process, store, and use information and how the information influences our thinking, language, problem solving, and creativity. They think behavior is influenced by a variety of mental processes, including perceptions, memories, and expectations. -
Humanistic Psychology
This type of psychology developed as a reaction to behavioral psychology. Humanists, A. Maslow, C. Rogers, and R. May described human nature as evolving and self-directed. They also believed humans are not controlled by events in the environment or unconscious forces. Each person, they felt, is unique and has a self-concept and potential to develop fully. -
Biological Psychology
Psychobiologists study the brain, the nervous system, and hormones and genetics influence our behavior. They have found that genetic factors influence a wide range of human behaviors. Psychobiologists discovered a link between chemicals in the brain and human behavior. -
Sociocultural Psychology
This branch of psychology studies the influence of cultural and ethnic similarities and differences on behavior and social functioning. Sociocultural psychologists study the impact and integration of the millions of immigrants who come to the United States each year.