-
The Ebers Papyrus was written in hieratic egyptian writing. Disorders such as depression and dementia are mentioned.
-
Plato suggested that the brain was in fact the location of mental processes.
-
Aristotle believed that the heart was the location of the mental processes. He also addressed the relationships between impulses and urges within the human mind.
-
Descartes was a philosopher that suggested his thesis that the mind and body are really distinct. This is now referred to as 'mind-body dualism'.
-
Locke was a political philosopher. He suggested that at birth the human mind is a "blank slate" without rules for processing data, and that data is added and rules for processing are formed solely by one's sensory experiences. This theory is called tabula rasa.
-
Franz Mesmer detailed his cure for certain mental illnesses. He named the cure mesmerism which is now known as hypnosis.
-
Darwin published the ' On the origin of species', detailing his view of evolution and expanding on the theory of 'survival of the fittest'.
-
Wundt founded the first formal laboratory of psychology at the university of Leipzig, marking the formal beginning of the study of human emotions, behaviours and cognitions.
-
Phineas Gage suffered brain damage when an iron pole pierced his brain. As a result his personality changed but his intellect remained in tact suggesting that an area of the brain plays a role in personality.
-
Watson proposed the idea of an objective study of behaviour called 'behaviourism'. He saw psychology as the study of peoples actions with the ability to predict and control those actions.
-
Freud emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind and believed that particularly painful experiences was locked away in the unconscious mind. He called this the process of repression.
-
Maslow publishes 'Motivation and Personality', describing his theory of a hierarchy of needs. He also helps found humanistic psychology.
-
Rogers viewed the child as having two basic needs: positive regard from other people and self-worth. He also published 'On becoming a person', marking a powerful change in how treatment for mental health issues is conducted.
-
Aaron Beck published a psychological model of depression suggesting that thoughts play a significant role in the development and maintenance of depression.
-
Howard Gardner (professor at Harvard University) introduced his theory of multiple intelligence is something to be used to improve lives, not to measure and quantify human beings.
-
Simon Baron-Cohen coined the term mental blindness to reflect the inability of children with autism to properly represent the mental states of others.
-
Steven Pinker published 'The blank slate' and 'The Modern Denial Of Human Nature', arguing against tabula rasa models of the social sciences.