Psychology schools, Important figures, Origin of psychology

  • Ancient Times: Philosophers like Plato & Aristotle explored human thought and behavior.

  • Phrenology (1800s): Belief that skull shape determined personality traits (now discredited).

  • Wilhelm Wundt (1879): Father of Modern Psychology, trained many students who went on to be leading psychologists, Established the first psychology lab; used introspection to study mental processes.

  • Structuralism (Titchener): The Structuralists used the method of “introspection” (Titchener saw this as the breaking down of the conscious experience into individual components: Wundt focused more on the conscious experience as a whole.) 

    • This school or perspective was soon abandoned, in part because it relied on introspection and the difficulty with getting consistent responses.

  • Functionalism (William James): 

    • It was inspired in part by the evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin. 

    • It emphasized the purpose or function of behavior and consciousness. 

    • Studied how mental processes and behaviors help an organism adapt

  • Behaviorism (John Watson):

    • Rejected the study of the mind 

    • Concentrated on the objective study of what people and animals do. 

  • Gestalt School(Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, Wolfgang Kohler):

    • Interested in perception and how the mind perceives patterns and shapes

  • Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930)

    • • In 1906, Calkins was the first woman elected President of the American Psychological Association (APA)

  • Margaret Floy Washburn (1871-1939)

    •  The first person, male or female, to receive a Ph.D. from Edward B. Titchener in 1884, the leading structuralist in American experimental psychology at that time 

    • Became a leading comparative psychologist

  • Christine Ladd-Franklin (1847-1930)

    • Mathematician who developed an interest in visual perception and made great contributions to theories of color vision

    • She did not receive her Ph.D. although she had completed all of the required work. Johns Hopkins University finally granted her the degree shortly before her death 

  • Leta Stetter Hollingworth (1886-1939)

    • Her research showed no evidence that the distribution of intelligence test scores differed between men and women 

    • Challenged the popular belief that women’s intellectual abilities were affected by their menstrual cycles, again finding no statistical evidence to support such claims

    • Hollingworth’s contributions are often seen as the seedlings for the formal study of the psychology of women. 

  • Mamie Phipps Clark(1917-1983)

    • Well-known for her studies of racial differences in racial identity and self-concept

    • Clark’s work was considered and noted in the Supreme Court’s 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case, which ruled that public school segregation was unconstitutional.