History of Psychology

Basically, psychology used to be a part of biology and philosophy. While psychology did not emerge as a separate discipline until the late 1800s, its earliest history can be traced back to the time of the early Greeks. During the 17th-century, the French philosopher Rene Descartes introduced the idea of dualism, which asserted that the mind and body were two separate entities that interact to form the human experience. So what makes psychology different from others.

So what makes psychology different from philosophy? While early philosophers relied on methods such as observation and logic, today’s psychologists utilize scientific methodologies to study and draw conclusions about human thought and behavior.

Wilhelm Wundt

During the mid-1800s, a German physiologist named Wilhelm Wundt was using scientific research methods to investigate reaction times. His book published in 1874, Principles of Physiological Psychology, outlined many of the major connections between the science of physiology and the study of human thought and behavior.

His endeavor paid off when he was able to utilize a school of thought called structuralism.

Wilhelm Wundt  established the first psychology laboratory and he advocated structuralism. An estimated 17,000 students attended Wundt’s psychology lectures, and hundreds more pursued degrees in psychology and studied in his psychology lab. While his influence dwindled in the years to come, his impact on psychology is unquestionable.

First  Psychology Experiment

Psychology as we know it started on a December day in 1879, in a small room on the third floor of a shabby building at Germany’s University of Leipzig. There, two young men were helping a long-faced, austere, middle-aged professor, Wilhelm Wundt, create an experimental apparatus.

Their machine measured the time lag between people’s hearing a ball hit a platform and their pressing a telegraph key. Later, the researchers compared this lag to the time required for slightly more complex tasks. Curiously, people responded in about one-tenth of a second when asked to press the key as soon as the sound occurred—and in about two-tenths of a second when asked to press the key as soon as they were aware of perceiving the sound. Wundt was seeking to measure “atoms of the mind”—the fastest and simplest mental processes.

Thus began what many consider psychology’s first experiment, launching the first psychology laboratory, staffed by Wundt and psychology’s first graduate students

Academic appointments:
1857-1863 University of Heidelberg (lecturer in the Dept. of Physiology)
1863-1871 Resignation and Hiatus
1871-1874 Return to University of Heidelberg
1874-1875 University of Zurich (Chair of Inductive Philosophy)
1875-1917 University of Leipzig
1889 Served as university rector

Major publications: 
1873 & 1874 Grundzuge der Physiologischen Psychologie (Principles of Physiological Psychology).
1896 Grundriss der Psychcologie (Foundations of Psychology)
1900 to 1920 Volkerpsychologie (Cultural or Ethic Psychology). 10 volumes
1911 Einfuhrung in die Psychologie (An Introduction to Psychology)
1920 Erlebtes und Erkanntes (What I Have Experienced and Discovered)

Other achievements:
1881 Established the journal: Philosophische Studien (Philosophical Studies)
1881-1902 Editor of Philosophische Studien.


Structuralism Becomes Psychology’s First School of Thought

Edward B. Titchener, one of Wundt’s most famous students, would go on to found psychology’s first major school of thought. According to the structuralists, human consciousness could be broken down into much smaller parts. Using a process known as introspection, trained subjects would attempt to break down their responses and reactions to the most basic sensation and perceptions.

While structuralism is notable for its emphasis on scientific research, its methods were unreliable, limiting, and subjective. When Titchener died in 1927, structuralism essentially died with him.

Academic appointments:
1892 Oxford University (lecturer in biology)
1892-1927 Cornell University

Major publications: 
Titchener, E. B. (1901-1905). Experimental Psychology. New York: Macmillan.
Titchener, E. B. (1910). A Text Book of Psychology. New York: Macmillan.

The Functionalism of William James

Psychology flourished in American during the mid- to late-1800s. William James emerged as one of the major American psychologists during this period and the publication of his classic textbook, The Principles of Psychology, established him as the father of American psychology. His book soon became the standard text in psychology and his ideas eventually served as the basis for a new school of thought known as functionalism.

The focus of functionalism was on how behavior actually works to help people live in their environment. Functionalists utilized methods such as direct observation. While both of these early schools of thought emphasized human consciousness, their conceptions of it were significantly different. While the structuralists sought to break down mental processes into their smallest parts, the functionalists believed that consciousness existed as a more continuous and changing process. While functionalism is no longer a separate school of thought, it would go on to influence later psychologists and theories of human thought and behavior.

Psychoanalysis - The Psychology of Sigmund Freud



Up to this point, early psychology stressed conscious human experience. An Austrian physician named Sigmund Freud changed the face of psychology in a dramatic way, proposing a theory of personality that emphasized the importance of the unconscious mind. Freud’s clinical work with patients suffering from hysteria and other ailments led him to believe that early childhood experiences and unconscious impulses contributed to the development of adult personality and behavior.

In his book The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Freud detailed how these unconscious thoughts and impulses are expressed, often through slips of the tongue (known as "Freudian slips") and dreams. According to Freud, psychological disorders are the result of these unconscious conflicts becoming extreme or unbalanced. The psychoanalytic theory proposed by Sigmund Freud had a tremendous impact on 20th-century thought, influencing the mental health field as well as other areas including art, literature and popular culture. While many of his ideas are viewed with skepticism today, his influence on psychology is undeniable.