Chapter 1. The History of Psychology

Short Description

This video provides an overview of the history of psychology and introduces the key figures that have influenced the discipline to become what it is today.

Long Description

This video provides an overview of the history of psychology and introduces the key figures that have influenced the discipline to become what it is today. The story of psychology, the study of mind and behavior, begins in the 4th century B.C. with the philosophers Plato and Aristotle. These early thinkers provided powerful insights into the theoretical structure of the human mind and sparked questions about nature versus nurture.

Seventeenth century French philosopher Rene Descartes' dualist position marked the beginning of modern psychology by considering the brain to be a discrete entity. He concluded that the mind and body were fundamentally different but interacted through the pineal gland. Descartes' theories were challenged by his contemporaries Thomas Hobbes and Franz Joseph Gall, who argued that not only were the mind and body linked, but so too were mind and brain.

The work of Pierre Flourens and Paul Broca set the foundation for future examination of mental processes. During their time, interest had shifted to understanding what the brain was made of and whether mental material was stored in its mass.

Major contributions from Hermann von Helmholtz and William Wundt helped psychology emerge as a distinct field, and by the mid-1800's the first university psychology department was founded. The first schools of psychology, structuralism and functionalism, sought to explain mental processes in terms of the elements and purpose of consciousness. These schools eventually lost their dominance but paved the way for behaviorism, humanism, and psychoanalysis.

Psychoanalysis, developed by Sigmund Freud, emerged in the late 1800's as a form of therapy aimed at exploring the intricacies of the unconscious mind. Although Freud's work was influential, it was difficult to test. Behaviorism, however, did provide a method of testability through empirical research on animal and human behavior. Nonetheless, its scope was limited and ignored earlier evolutionary theories.

Cognitive psychology surfaced in the 1960's to focus on internal mental processes, which can't be observed. Pioneers of this field explored language acquisition, learning and memory, and the brain's role in these processes.

The field of psychology is one that continues to grow and today includes many subfields, infuses various disciplines, and encompasses a vast range of topics.

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