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Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt founds the first experimental psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany, marking the moment psychology becomes its own field of study. -
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, begins treating patients in Vienna, Austria. -
Freud
Freud publishes The Interpretation of Dreams. -
The British Psychological Society
The British Psychological Society is formed. -
Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Pavlov trains a dog to salivate on hearing the sound of a bell. Pavlov's dog becomes the first example of classical conditioning. -
Carl Jung
Carl Jung publishes The Psychology of Dementia Praecox. Jung begins to break away from Freud's ideas to develop his own theories of analytical psychology. -
Max Wertheimer
Max Wertheimer publishes his research on the phi phenomenon, which contributed to the development of the Gestalt school of psychology. -
John Watson
John Watson becomes a founder of the school of behaviourism, believing that all thoughts, feelings and actions are developed through conditioning. -
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget publishes The Moral Judgment of the Child. -
Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy is used for the first time on a person. It becomes a popular method of treatment throughout the 40s and 50s (and remains in use today). -
Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers publishes Counselling and Psychotherapy, encouraging therapists to adopt a client-centred approach. This method becomes widely practised. -
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow, one of the founders of humanistic psychology, publishes his theory of the hierarchy of needs. -
Albert Ellis
Albert Ellis publishes Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy, leading to the development of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT). -
Aaron Beck
Aaron Beck publishes a model of depression that suggests thoughts play a significant role. He is seen as the founder of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). -
Carol Gilligan
Carol Gilligan publishes the feminist tract In a Different Voice. -
Stephen Pinker
Stephen Pinker's The Language Instinct is published. -
Martin Seligman
Martin Seligman chooses positive psychology as the theme for his speech to the American Psychological Association, as its incoming president. -
Simon Baron-Cohen
Simon Baron-Cohen's 'The Essential Difference: Men, Women and the Extreme Male Brain' proposes that autism may be an "extreme form of maleness".
