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Jan 22, 1561
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon was born on January 22, 1561. He is often credited as being the founder of empiricism, which is the idea that knowledge comes from experiences. He was very interested in the shortcomings of the human mind. He wrote Novum Organuum and created the inductive method which is the thoery of using specifc facts to support general principles. -
Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes was born on March 31, 1595. He held similar believes to those of Socrates and Plato. He believed that the mind was "entirely distinct from the body" and that the mind has intrinsic ideas. He believed that the brain had "spirits" that controlled the body. Some of his works are Meditations on First Philosophy, Principles of Philosophy, and Passions of the Soul. -
John Locke
John Locke was born on August 29, 1632. One of his best known works is An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. He believes in tabula rasa ("blank slate") which means that men are born without prior thoughts or incliniations and their experiences shape their minds. He is another contributor to the formation of empiricism -
Dorthea Dix
Dorthea Dix was born on April 4, 1802. She was an advocate for the mentally unstable. She saw how poorly the insane people were treated and she started trying to reform the systems that cared for them. She led to new hospitals being formed and and her efforts led to the Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane. -
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin was born on February 12 1809. He is best known fof his theories concerning evolution. He was the creator of the theory of natural selection which states that certain characteristics of an organism will become more or less common in the species as a whole based on how well they help an organism survive. He also studied human evolution and sexual selection. One of his most famous works is On the Origin of Species. -
Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt was born on August 16, 1832. He created experiments that were supposed to measure how fast the human mind operates. This may have been the first experiment in the field of psychology. His discoveries led to the creation of new branches of psychology. He wrote many works, including Principles of Physiological Psychology. -
William James
William James was born on January 11, 1842. He studied the evolved thoughts and feelings of humans. He also studied why certain things were adapted, He was a functionalistm, which means he learned about how mental and behavioral processes work. He was a psychology teacher and he taught Mary Calkins. -
G. Stanley Hall
G. Stanley Hall was born on February 1, 1844. Was interested in childhood development and helped to develop educational psychology. He also tried to find out if adolescence has an effect on education. He published many works. -
E.B. Titchener
E.B. Titchener was born on January 11, 1867. He was the creator of structuralism which used introspection to explore the human mind. Unfortunately, introspection was not a valid way for people to learn about themselves. People never see themselves clearly so the results would be incorrect. -
Margaret Floy Washburn
Margaret Floy Washburn was born on July 25, 1871. She was the first female to earn a psychology Ph.D. after Msry Calkins was denied hers. She worked in animal theory and motor theory development. One of her works is The Animal Mind. She studied under E. B. Titchener at Cornell. -
Rosalie Rayner
Is unknown when Rosalie Rayner was born. She worked with John B. Watson on the Little Albert experiment. They would put a baby next to a mouse and make a loud noise to scare the baby. They repeated this until the baby was scared of the mouse. She helped to cement psychology's place as the science of behavior. -
Mary Whiton Calkins
Mary Whiton Calkins was born February 26, 1930. She was the first woman to become president of the APA. She was interested in both psychology and philosophy. She also helped to develop the concept of self-physchology.