History of Psychology

First American psychology laboratory

1883

G. Stanley Hall, a student of Wilhelm Wundt, establishes first U.S. experimental psychology laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.

First professor of psychology

1888

The academic title "professor of psychology" is given to James McKeen Cattell in 1888, the first use of this designation in the United States. A student of Wilhelm Wundt's, Cattell serves as professor of psychology at University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.

IQ tests developed

1905

Using standardized tests, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon develop a scale of general intelligence on the basis of mental age. Later researchers refine this work into the concept of intelligence quotient; IQ, mental age over physical age. From their beginning, such tests' accuracy and fairness are challenged.

Behaviorism

1913

John B. Watson publishes "Psychology as Behavior," launching behaviorism. In contrast to psychoanalysis, behaviorism focuses on observable and measurable behavior.

Menninger Clinic founded

1925

Charles Frederick Menninger and his sons Karl Augustus and William Clair found The Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas.

First lobotomy in the United States

1936

Walter Freeman performs first frontal lobotomy in the United States at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

National Mental Health Act Passed

1946

U.S. President Harry Truman signs the National Mental Health Act, providing generous funding for psychiatric education and research for the first time in U.S. history.

First drug to treat depression

1951

FDA approves its use in the United States under the name Tofranil.

Thorazine tested

1952

The anti-psychotic drug chlorpromazine (known as Thorazine) is tested on a patient in a Paris military hospital.

Cognitive psychology

1956

Inspired by work in mathematics and other disciplines, psychologists begin to focus on cognitive states and processes.

Community Mental Health Centers Act passed

1963

U.S. President John F. Kennedy calls for and later signs the Community Mental Health Centers Act

First National Medal of Science

1964

Neal E. Miller is the first psychologist to be awarded this honor.

PET scanner tested

1974

A new brain scanning technique, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), is tested.

AIDS and HIV first diagnosed

1981

The epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection presents mental health professionals with challenges ranging from at-risk patients' anxiety and depression to AIDS-related dementia.

DSM on PDA

2000

The latest revision of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is published in a version for personal digital assistants (PDAs). The manual, first published in 1954, outlines prevalence, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders. Only 132 pages on first printing, in 2000 it was 980 pages.