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Gustav Theodor Fechner
German physicist and philosopher who was a key figure in the founding of psychophysics, the science concerned with quantitative relations between sensations and the stimuli producing them. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/203301/Gustav-Theodor-Fechner -
Hermann von Helmholtz
"German scientist and philosopher who made fundamental contributions to physiology, optics, electrodynamics, mathematics, and meteorology. He is best known for his statement of the law of the conservation of energy." http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/260507/Hermann-von-Helmholtz -
The First Psychology Laboratory
First psychology laboratory
Wilhelm Wundt opens first experimental laboratory in psychology at the University of Leipzig, Germany. Credited with establishing psychology as an academic discipline, Wundt's students include Emil Kraepelin, James McKeen Cattell, and G. Stanley Hall. http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.html -
First doctorate in psychology
The first doctorate in psychology is given to Joseph Jastrow, a student of G. Stanley Hall at Johns Hopkins University. Jastrow later becomes professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin and serves as president of the American Psychological Association in 1900. http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.html -
Max Wertheimer
Czech-born psychologist, one of the founders, with Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler, of Gestalt psychology, which attempts to examine psychological phenomena as structural wholes, rather than breaking them down into components. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/639896/Max-Wertheimer -
7 Psycological Perspectives
1.Psychodynamic Perspective: the assumption that human motivation is propelled by an unaware mind
2.Behavioral Perspective: A science of behavior was built on only observable behavior
3. Biopsychological Perspective:biological perspective relies on scientific methods, its scope of investigation is limited to variables that can be controlled
4.Cognitive Perspective: human behavior is at times thoughtful and can be controlled by thought processes. -
Mary Cover Jones
Mary Cover Jones reported the extinction of phobias in children by gradual desensitization. Modern behaviour therapy began with the description by the South African psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe of his technique of systematically desensitizing patients with phobias. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/305951/Mary-Cover-Jones -
Anna Freud
Austrian-born British founder of child psychoanalysis and one of its foremost practitioners. She also made fundamental contributions to understanding how the ego, or consciousness, functions in averting painful ideas, impulses, and feelings. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/219843/Anna-Freud -
Psychogenic Psychoses by August Wimmer
"August Wimmer was a Danish psychiatrist who pioneered the field of study involving dissociative identity disorder back as early as the 1900s. The disorder is more commonly (and inaccurately) referred to as multiple personality disorder." http://prettysinister.blogspot.com/2013/05/things-i-learned-while-reading.html -
National Mental Health Act Passed
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. This act leads to the creation in 1949 of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.html -
First Anti-Depressant Drug
Studies are published reporting that the drug imipramine may be able to lessen depression. Eight years later, the FDA approves its use in the United States under the name Tofranil. http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.html http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.html -
Ethical Standards of Psychologists
The American Psychological Association publishes the first edition of Ethical Standards of Psychologists. The document undergoes continuous review and is now known as APA's Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.html -
Syntactic Structures
Noam Chomsky publishes Syntactic Structures, marking a major advancement in the study of linguistics. The book helps spawn the field of psycholinguistics, the psychology of language. http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.html -
Community Mental Health Centers Act,
Community Mental Health Centers Act passed
U.S. President John F. Kennedy calls for and later signs mandates the construction of community facilities instead of large, regional mental hospitals. Congress ends support for the program in 1981, reducing overall funds and folding them into a mental health block-grant program. http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.html -
The Selfish Gene
Richard Dawkins publishes The Selfish Gene, a work which shifts focus from the individual animal as the unit of evolution to individual genes themselves. The text popularizes the field of evolutionary psychology, in which knowledge and principles from evolutionary biology are applied in research on human brain structure. http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.html -
Insanity Defense Reform Act passed
U.S. Congress revises federal law on the insanity defense, partly in response to the acquittal of John Hinckley, Jr. of charges of attempted assassination after he had shot President Ronald Reagan. The act places burden of proof for the insanity defense on the defendant. http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/history/history_nonflash.html
