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History of Psychology

1. Psychology Defined

Psychology: the scientific study of human behavior, the brain, and its functions.

Two major areas:

  • Applied psychology – using principles of behavior to help people.

  • Research psychology – seeking knowledge for its own sake.

2. Goals of Psychology

  • Description – identify and classify behaviors.

  • Explanation – understand causes of behavior.

  • Prediction – forecast future behavior.

  • Control – influence or modify behavior.

3. Scientific Shifts in Psychology

Thomas Kuhn

  • Science changes with the times.

  • Greatest contributions often come from young/new thinkers.

  • Author: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

4. Philosophical and Physiological Roots

Philosophers

René Descartes (1596–1650)

  • Father of modern philosophy.

  • Mind-body dualism.

John Locke (1636–1704)

  • British empiricist (influenced by Francis Bacon).

  • Knowledge through experience (empiricism).

  • Also important to social contract theory.

Auguste Comte (1798–1857)

  • French philosopher.

  • Advocated objective observation.

  • Founder of sociology and positivism (science should rely on observable facts).

Physiologists

Marshall Hall (1790–1857)

  • Discovered reflex arc (spinal cord mediation).

  • Studied resuscitation of drowning victims.

  • Watched people get their heads cut off and taking notes.

Pierre Flourens

  • Disproved phrenology.

  • Founder of experimental brain science.

  • Pioneer in anesthesia.

Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894)

  • Measured speed of neural impulse.

  • Researched color vision.

Ernst Heinrich Weber (1795–1878)

  • Studied perception.

  • Weber’s Law: What one notices depends on current experience.

Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920)

  • Founder of psychology as a discipline.

  • Built first psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany.

  • Developed introspection method.

  • Studied pure perception, thresholds, and just noticeable differences.

  • Did not study social behavior or children.

5. Key Early Figures

Gustav Fechner (1801–1887)

  • Founder of psychophysics (systematic study of sensory capacities).

Emil Kraepelin

  • German psychiatrist.

  • Student of Wundt.

Edward B. Titchener

  • Translated Wundt’s work into English.

  • Brought structuralism to America.

6. Structuralism vs. Functionalism

Structuralism (Wundt, Titchener)

  • Focus on breaking down consciousness into elemental parts.

  • Goal: make psychology like chemistry.

  • Method: introspection.

Functionalism (Darwin-influenced, American psychology)

  • Emphasis on adaptation of individuals to their environment.

  • Criticized structuralism as too narrow.

Both schools used introspection but with different goals.

7. Charles Darwin (1809–1882)

  • Origin of Species → hierarchy of life forms.

  • Emphasized adaptation and natural selection.

  • Implications:

    • Darwinism influenced eugenics and racial theories.

    • Provided pseudo-scientific justification later misused by Nazis.

8. Eugenics and Racism in Psychology

Francis Galton

  • Introduced statistics to psychology.

  • Studied individual differences.

  • Founder of the eugenics movement.

  • Believed in racial hierarchies (deeply racist views).

Herbert Spencer

  • Social Darwinism (“survival of the fittest”).

William McDougall

  • Linked traits like intellect and willpower to Nordic “races.”

G. O. Ferguson (1916)

  • Believed intelligence of people of color correlated with white ancestry.

  • Claimed non-white groups had defective morals.

G. Stanley Hall

  • 1st president of the APA.

  • Saw non-European groups as “adolescent races.”

Lewis Terman

  • Translated IQ test into English.

  • Advocated for segregation and sterilization of Black people.

  • Surprised that Northern Black populations scored higher than Southern whites.

Edward Thorndike

  • Developed Army intelligence tests.

  • Believed Blacks had “bad genes” and slavery was natural.

  • Results showed Northern Blacks scored higher than Southern whites.

Arthur Jensen

  • Advocated sterilization for people with IQ < 75.

Charles Murray

  • Author of The Bell Curve (revived eugenics-based arguments).

9. Behaviorism

John Watson (1913)

  • Rejected introspection.

  • Founder of Behaviorism.

  • Focused on observable behavior, often through animal studies.

  • Applied psychology to advertising → became wealthy.

10. Legacy

  • Psychology evolved from philosophy and physiology into a scientific discipline.

  • Early work shaped by:

    • Structuralism vs. functionalism debates.

    • Darwinian theories of evolution and adaptation.

    • Eugenics and racist misuse of science.

  • Shift toward objective, experimental, and behavioral approaches.