History of Psychology

Psychology

is the study of behavior and the mind

Behavior

refers to the observable actions of a person or an animal

Mind

refers to the sensations, memories, motives, emotions, thoughts, and other subjective phenomena particular to an individual or animal that are not really observed

Dualism

divides the world and all things in it into two parts: body and spirit; still in debate about the difference between the brain and the mind

Rene Descartes

(philosopher) continued the dualist view of the human being; he believed that the physical world and all of the creatures in it are like machines but humans were the exception (not subject to natural laws); the mind and body interact, and the mind controls the body while the body provides the mind with sensory input for it to decipher.

John Locke

(philosopher) extended Descartes’s application of natural laws to all things → the mind is under the control of such laws

Empiricism

the acquisition of truth through observations and experiences; Locke proposed that humans are born knowing nothing; almost all knowledge we have must be learned; almost nothing is innate → emphasized nurture over nature as the greater influence on development

Thomas Hobbes

believed that the idea of a soul or spirit, or the mind is meaningless; his philosophy is materialism → what we experience as consciousness is simply a by-product of the machinery of the brain; greatly influenced behaviorism

materalism

is the belief that the only things that exist are matter and energy → what we experience as consciousness is simply a by-product of the machinery of the brain

Charles Darwin

proposed a theory of natural selection

Theory of natural selection

All creatures have evolved into their present state over long periods of time; Occurs because there exists naturally occurring variation among individuals in a species, and the individuals that are best adapted to the environment are more likely to survive and then reproduce → over time, this process “selects” physical and behavioral characteristics that promote survival in a particular environment

Evolutionary theory

affected psychology by providing a way to explain differences between species and justifying the use of animals as a means to study the roots of human behavior

Wilhelm Wundt

the founder of the science of psychology; 1879 (germany): Wundt opened a laboratory to study consciousness; was trained in physiology and hoped to apply the methods that he used to study the body to the study of the mind

Edward Titchener

was a student in Wundt’s lab + 1st one to bring te science of psychology to the US; sought to identify the smallest possible elements of the mind, theorizing that understanding all of the parts would lead to the understanding of the greater structure of the mind

structuralism

understanding all of the parts would lead to the understanding of the greater structure of the mind → entails looking for patterns in thought, which are illuminated through interviews with a subject describing his or her conscious experience

introspection

process of interviews with a subject describing his or her conscious experience → work to identify commonalities among various participants’ conclusion description

William James

(american psychologist) opposed the structuralist approach; he argued that what is important is the function of the mind; heavily influenced by Darwin → believed that important thing to understand is how the mind fulfills its purpose

Dorothea Dix

was crucial in advocating for the rights of mentally ill poor people, and she was instrumental in founding the 1st public mental hospital in the US

Mary Whiton Calkins

was the 1st female grad student in psychology

Margaret Floy Washburn

female PhD in psychology, 2nd female president of the American Psychological Association (APA)