The History of Modern Psychology
Introduction
It
is well known that psychology is the scientific study of human behavior and
mental processes. However, the psychology we know today is much different from
what it was centuries ago. It can be said that psychology has its roots in
philosophy, and the interest in the mind and soul of men, followed by conscious
experience and observable behavior.
Back
in 1950, a German philosopher named Rudolf Goekel was credited for inventing
the term “psychology”, which is a combination of the words “psyche”, from the Greek
“soul”, and “logos”, which means, amongst other similar concepts, “knowledge”.
Psychology, then, literally means the science, or the study of the souls. Other
than that, psychology was also known as the “science of mind”, or even the
“science of consciousness”. However, after some time, the “mind” was considered
a very subjective aspect of the human being, and psychology changed its focus
to more observable behaviors. The concept of consciousness, on the other hand,
was also discarded and replaced by the idea of mental processes.
The Beginning
The
history of modern psychology had an important starting point in 1979, when
Wilhelm Wundt founded the first experimental psychology lab in Leipzig,
Germany. This event is considered by many as being the starting point of
psychology as a science. The year before that, G. Stanley Hall became the first
American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology, and he became, later on, the founder of
the American Psychological Association.
Hermann
Ebbinghaus, a German psychologist who pioneered the experimental study of
memory, declared in 1908 that “Psychology has a log past, but a short history”.
That sums up precisely the idea that psychology has been present in human’s
lives for many centuries, but has only been considered a science for about one
hundred and twenty years.
One
of the thinkers that influenced modern psychology the most was Rene Descartes.
Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician and scientist. A lot of the
western philosophy is a reaction to his writings, which have been closely
studied from his time down to the present day. Descartes was one of the key
thinkers of the Scientific Revolution in the Western World. Descartes, who is
called the founder of modern philosophy, saw the human body as a machine, and
he believed that the body and the soul were separate entities that influenced
each other. His most important work was his attempt to resolve the mind-body
issue.
John Locke and the Empiricism
Another
man who influenced psychology greatly was John Locke. His major contribution to
the science was an essay about human understanding, and it was later considered
the start of the British Empiricism. At first, Locke denied the existence of
any innate ideas, saying that at birth, humans do not have any knowledge. He
created the concept of the “tabula rasa”, or a blank slate, which meant that
humans are born with empty minds, which are later imprinted on with ideas,
memories and experiences. He also explained that although some ideas may feel
as innate to men, that is only because they were presented to them since
childhood, and men cannot remember being unaware of them.
Structuralism
After
Wilhelm Wundt established the foundations of psychology by founding the first
psychological laboratory in Germany, many psychologists trained there. After
that, those psychologists, and others, began to be associated with different
approaches for studying and understanding human behavior. Structuralism was the
first school of psychology and focused on breaking down mental processes into
the most basic components. Wilhelm Wundt himself is considered the founder of
structuralism, but his student, Edward B. Titchener was who first coined the
term to describe this school of thought.
Functionalism
Functionalism,
on the other hand, was born as a reaction to the structuralism and was heavily
influenced by the work of William James and the evolutionary theory of Charles
Darwin. Functionalists attempted to explain the mental processes in a more
systematic way, and instead focusing on the elements of consciousness, they
focused on the purpose of
consciousness and behavior.
Gestalt Psychology
Another
important school of thought is the Gestalt psychology, which originated from
the work of Max Wertheimer and understood the human mind and behavior as a
whole. Many other thinkers were influenced by this school of thought, such as
Immanuel Kant. According to Max Wertheimer, "There are wholes, the
behaviour of which is not determined by that of their individual elements, but
where the part-processes are themselves determined by the intrinsic nature of
the whole. It is the hope of Gestalt theory to determine the nature of such
wholes" (Wertheimer and King, 2004).
Sigmund Freud
It
would be impossible to discuss the early beginnings of modern psychology
without mentioning Sigmund Freud. The psychologist believed that early
childhood experiences had a huge impact on adults’ personality and behavior.
The psychoanalytic theory proposed by him influenced the mental health field
tremendously, and although his ideas are not completely accepted anymore, one
cannot deny his influence on psychology.
Behaviorism
During
the early 20th century, another school of thought contributed to the
drastic change in the psychology field. The behaviorists intended to make
psychology a strictly scientific discipline by focusing solely on observable
behavior, and the Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning
experiments with dogs proved that behaviors could be learned through
conditioned associations. Other than Pavlov, John B. Watson was another strong
advocate of Behaviorism, and his ideas, amongst those had by other behaviorists
are still used in psychology today.
Humanistic Psychology
Although
psychoanalysis and behaviorism were the dominant schools of thought in the
first half of the 20th century, humanistic psychology emerged during
the second half to change the scenario. The American psychologist Carl Rogers
can be considered one of the founders of this school of thought, and he
believed in the power of free-will and self-determination.
Conclusion
While
studying the history of psychology, it is possible to see that this discipline
has changed drastically over the years. Nowadays, modern psychologist do not
necessarily identify themselves with a single specific school of thought, but
the lessons and ideas learned from the schools from the past remain present in
today’s psychology.
REFERENCES
Cherry,
K. (2012). The Origins of Psychology. Retrieved
from http://psychology.about.com/od/historyofpsychology/a/psychistory.htm
Goodwin,
C. J. (2008). A History of
Modern Psychology (3rd ed.). Retrieved from www.phoenix.edu.
Historical
Roots of Modern Psychology. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.zeepedia.com/read.php?historical_roots_of_modern_psychology_hippocrates_plato_introduction_to_psychology&b=91&c=2
Wertheimer, M., & King, D. B.
(2004). Max Wertheimer and
Gestalt Theory . Transaction Publishers.
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