History and Scope of Psychology

Defining Psychology as a Science
- Psychology is explicitly defined as a science.
- Recognizing what is unknown fosters intellectual humility and generosity.
- This humility supports a healthy attitude and a passion for exploration and understanding, preventing one from misleading or being misled.
- Critical Thinking: Essential for a scientific attitude.
  - It does not passively accept arguments and conclusions.
  - Instead, it actively examines assumptions, appraises sources, discerns hidden biases, evaluates evidence, and assesses conclusions.
Early Philosophical Roots (Pre- ext{300 BCE})
- Aristotle: Theorized about fundamental psychological concepts such as learning and memory, motivation and emotion, perception, and personality.
  - His inquiries, even without modern tools like fMRI machines, are credited for asking foundational questions that paved the way for psychological science.
19^{\text{th}} Century Schools of Thought
- Structuralism:
  - Pioneered by Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener.
  - Focused on using introspection to reveal the structure of the human mind, seeking to identify the