History of Psychology

Pages 12 - 17

Ancient Greece

• 2,000 + years ago Plato student of Socrates, recorded his teacher’s advice

• “Know Thyself”

• Motto of psychological study ever since

• Socrates suggested that we learn as much about ourselves as possible, by examining our own thoughts and feelings

• Introspection = “looking within”

Ancient Greece

• Plato’s student Aristotle raised many questions regarding human behavior that are still discussed today

• Aristotle outlined laws of associationism which is still at the heart of learning theory today

• Associationism is the idea that mental processes operate by the association of one state with its successor states

The Middle Ages

• Many psychological problems during this time were associated with being possessed by demons and were killed

Birth of Modern Science

Wilhelm Wundt

Wilhelm Wundt

• Founded a field of Experimental Psychology

• Structuralism = Concerned with finding the basic elements of consciousness

• 2 Categories– Objective Sensation– Subjective Feelings

* Human mind functions by combining

these 2 categories

William James

William James

• Opposite of Wundt

• Functionalism = Mental process help organisms adapt to their environment

• Behavioral observation and laboratory experiments

• Functionalism Adaptive Behavior Patterns are learned and maintained because they are successful

Psychology Today

• Sigmund Freud = Psychoanalysis

• John B. Watson = Behaviorism

• B.F. Skinner = Reinforcement

• Ivan Pavlov = Conditioning

• Jean Piaget = Child Development

• Lawrence Kohlberg = Moral Development

• Etc…….