Twentieth Century Psychology

By Izzy_belii

  • Washburn 1905

    • Great accomplishment: She did much research on the animal mind and how it works. Also known for being the first woman PhD and the 2nd female president of the APA.
    • Significance: Contributed psychological information of animals.
    • Real Life: Helps in studies now how animals and humans interact with each other.
  • Period: to

    Twentieth Century Psychology

  • Pavlov 1910

    • Great accomplishment: theory of classical conditioning. In his experiment he used dogs; he stated how dogs naturally salivate when given food, but if there was a certain stimulus present when the dog is given food, then the stimulus would eventually become associated with food and cause salivation on its own.
    • Significance: Shows the minds capacity of relations to other stimuli.
    • Real Life: Helps train animals.

  • Watson 1915

    • Great accomplishment: Thought out to be the founder of behaviorism. Best known for his experiment of “Little Albert,” where he invoked the fear of a rodent into an infant.
    • Significance: Began the study of behaviorism, to expand in the years to come.
    • Real Life: Shows how you can invoke fear into a person, or do the opposite through therapy.

  • Thorndike 1920

    • Great accomplishment: Studied animal intelligence. He is best known for his cat experiment, where he exhibited the process of “trial and error.”
    • Significance: It set the path in motion for the study of behaviorism that Skinner will later approach, with much of the similar beliefs.
    • Real Life: It’s used every day in the way we learn. If we don’t get it right the first time, we’ll continue trying until we succeed.

  • Maslow 1940

    • Maslow’s greatest accomplishment was the Hierarchy of Needs. He explains the main five human needs: psychological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization; and how this needs need to be met in order to reach self-actualization.
    • Significance: Helps human beings reach their full potential.

    • Real Life: It can be used in therapy for patients who have problems with low self-esteem.

  • Piaget 1950

    • Great accomplishment: Studied children’s intellect. He discovered how our minds expanded as we grow and the different stages our mind goes through as it develops our knowledge.
    • Significance: Showed how children develop into individual with the ability to reason and think through hypotheses.
    • Real Life: Can aid in teaching students certain topics they may not understand, by understanding how their knowledge develops.

  • Rogers 1955

    • Great accomplishment: Studied humanistic psychology, and created his theory, which adds on to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, that in order to achieve self-actualization, an environment of genuine acceptance and empathy must be put in place.
    • Significance: Further analyzes how one can grow and reach self-actualization
    • Real Life: It helps people in pursuing their goals by informing what needs should be met to reach full potential.

  • SKinner 1960

    • Great accomplishment: Came up with operant conditioning, which focuses of behavior in regards to punishment and reward. If a behavior is punished, it’s less likely to reoccur; where as if it is rewarded, it is more probably to reoccur.
    • Significance: Signifies how reactions to certain behaviors impact our future decisions.
    • Real Life: Helps outline how a parent should teach their kids right from wrong (what they should and should not do.)

  • Chomsky 1970

    • Chomsky is well known for his theory of generative grammar, which analyzes a native speaker’s grammatical knowledge, and the Chomsky Hierarchy, which sections of grammars into classes, or groups, by how complex it is.
    • Significance: it gives language a better understanding.
    • Real life: grammar is used every day, and by being well educated in grammar, you are better able to communicate your beliefs to society.