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428 BC- Plato a student of Socrates in ancient Greece, recorded his teacher's advice: "Know thyself". This phrase has remained the motto of pyschological study ever since. Socrates suggested that we can learn much about ourselves by carefully examining our thoughts and feelings. Psychologists call this method of learning interspection, which means "looking within"
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384 BC- One of Plato's student's Aristotle raised many questions about human behavior that are still discussed. Aristotle outlined the laws of associationism, which are still at the heart of learning theory more than 2,000 years later. He showed how experiences often remind us of experiences in the past, how the face of a loved one makes us feel secure, how thought leads to ideas as we dream and as we daydream.
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460 BC- Suggested that such problems are caused by abnormalities in the brain. But this idea that biological factors can affect our thoughts, feelings, and behavior influenced thinking about psychology for more than 2,000 years.
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Most Europeans believed that problems suh as agitation and confusion were signs of possession by demons. One of the certain "tests" was the whether you floated or drowned in deep water. If you floated you were seemed to be possessed. If you drowned, you were considered pure. Many people died innocent.
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1500s- Challenged the view that the sun revolved around the Earth, suggesting instead that Earth revolves around the sun.
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1600s- Formulated the laws of gravity and motion
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1700s- Founded the science of chemistry and explained how animals and plants use oxygen in respiration. Lavoiser used to study chemistry.
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1832- Wilhelm and his students founded a field of experimental psychology that came to be known as structuralism. Strucuralists were concerned with discovering the basic elements of consciousness.
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1842- James maintained tha experience is a continuous "stream of consciousness" Created the school of functionalism. Functionalists were concerned with how mental processes help organisms adapt to their enviroment.
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1878- John B. Watson asserted that is pyschology was to be a natural science , like physics or chemistry, it must be limited to be observable, measurable events-- that is, behavior.
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1904- B. F. Skinner added to the behaviorist tradition by introducing the concept of reinforcement. Skinner showed that even an animal is reinforced, or rewarded, for performing an action, it is more likely to perform that action again in the future.
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1920s- German psychologists Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler were fascinated by the ways in which context influences people's interpreatation of information. They founded the school of Gestalt Psychology.
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1856-1939: Sigmund Freud founded the school of psychoanaylsis. Freud's theory, more than the others, has become a part of popular culture.
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The Biological Perspective emphasizes the influence of biology on our behavior. this perspective has roots in associationism.
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The Evolutionary Perspective- focuses on the evolution of behavior and mental processes.
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The Cognitive Perspective- emphasizes the role that thoughts play in determining behavior. Cognitive pyschologists study mental processes to understand human nature.
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The Human Persepective- stresses the human capacity for self-fulifullment and the importance of conciousness, self-awareness, and the capacity to make choices.
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The Psychoanalytic Perspective stresses the influene of unconscious forces on human behavior.
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The Learning Perspective emphasizes the effects of experience on behavior.
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The Sociocultural Perspective studies the influences of ethnicity, gender, culture, and socio-economic status on behavior and mental processes.
