From the beginning of recorded history, humans have been interested
in trying to understand how and why we think, feel, and act the way we do.
How do we perceive the world around us?
Why do we dream?
How do we learn and remember?
What motivates a person to behave one way instead of another?
Psychology, the science of behavior and mental processes, is a young science with ancient roots.
As an academic discipline, it is less than two hundred years old.
But psychology did not just emerge in the 1800s fully formed as the product of one or two great minds.
Instead, the questions that psychology asks and the methods it uses
have evolved over many centuries and draw on many academic disciplines.
In this activity you will construct a simplified timeline of the history of psychology
matching some of the key individuals with their contributions and the approximate dates of those contributions
Try not to feel overwhelmed by the specific names and dates.
The more important thing is to get a sense of the flow of ideas that led to modern psychology.