Is Psychology a Science?

In order to answer this question it is important to understand the

definitions of both psychology and science. The word 'psychology' comes
from the Greek 'psyche' (or soul) and 'logos' (or study), which came to be
known as the 'study of the soul'. The American Heritage Dictionary defines
psychology as:

1. the science dealing with the mind and with mental and emotional
processes
2. the science of human and animal behavior.

In its pure definition the dictionary has provided us with a clue to the
answer, it describes science as:

1. systematized knowledge derived from observation, study, etc.

2. a branch of knowledge, esp. one that systematizes facts, principles, and
methods
3. skill or technique

In order to prove this claim we have to look at whether or not psychology

can fill this definition above.

Scientific study is a valid way of coming to an understanding of life, and

can be very useful in every area of life. Science develops theories based
on what is observed. It examines each theory with rigorous and scrupulous
tests to see if it describes reality. The scientific method works well in
observing and recording physical data and in reaching conclusions which
either confirm or nullify a theory.

During the mid-19th century, scholars (although at that time probably

termed philosophers) wanted to study human nature with the aim of applying
the scientific method to observe, record, and treat human behavior that was
deemed as unnatural. They believed that if people could be studied in a
scientific manner, there would be a greater accuracy in understanding
present behavior, in predicting future behavior, and, most controversially,
in altering behavior through scientific intervention.

There are many areas of psychology, each attempting to explain behavior

from slightly different perspectives;

Social psychology is concerned with the effects of social situations on

human behavior.
Personality theorists study individual behavior.
Comparative psychologists study animal behaviors across the range of
species
Physiological psychologists are concerned with the biological basis of
behavior.
Developmental psychologists study principles and processes responsible for
change throughout life.
Cognitive psychologists investigate memory, thought, problem solving, and
the psychological aspects of learning.
Analysis of behavior studies the conditions under which a behavior can be
learned and the situations that cause that behavior to occur.
Learning is an area of psychology exploring how new behaviors are learned
and maintained.
Clinical psychologists study ways to help individuals and groups of
individuals change their behavior.
Industrial and organizational psychologists are concerned with the physical
and social aspects of people's work environments as they affect work
output.
Community psychologists use scientific methods to study and solve social
problems.

As Western describes, the psychological paradigm is a collection of

assumptions used to make sense of a subject area or experience, this can be
applied to psychology itself. Psychology lacks one unified paradigm but
has four perspectives that search for its understanding;

The pyschodynamic perspective believes that behavior is a result of

unconscious processes, personal motivation and early childhood experiences.
It's most famous advocate was Sigmund Freud. Its method of data
collection rely heavily on interpreting discussion, dreams and fantasies,
actions, case studies and a limited amount of experimentation.

The behaviorist perspective believes that behavior is learned and selected

by environmental consequences. Its method of data collection relies
heavily on experimentation conducted in the scientific laboratory where the
factors studied can be controlled; or it may take place in a real life
setting where more natural behavior is studied and far more variables
exist.

The cognitive perspective believes that behavior is a result of information

processing, storage in the brain, transformation and the retrieval of
information. The methods of data collection used are again experimentation
but with much use of computer modeling.

The evolutionary perspective believes that psychological processes echo the

evolutionary processes of natural selection. Its method of data collection
includes the deduction of explanations for behavior, and comparisons
between species and cultures. It also involves a limited amount of
experimentation.

Of these four perspectives all lend common similarities to the traditional

sciences. All have elements of controlled experimentation, as does physics
or chemistry. Cognitive perspectives use computer modeling, as does
mathematics. There are similarities, but there are also differences to any
other sciences, such as the study of dreams and fantasies.

The methods of experimentation and research in psychology is completed on a

scientific basis. Psychological experimental research would involve the
manipulation of a situation to examine the way in which the subjects of an
experiment react, in order to observe cause and effect. The experimenter
manipulates independent variables and the subjects responses would prove
the dependant variables. By measuring the subjects responses, the
experimenter can tell if the manipulation has had an effect.

Psychological hypotheses are sought to operationalise - to turn an abstract

concept into a concrete argument. This process is scientific in its
element. The hypothesis is framed, variables are operationalised
separately, a standard procedure is developed that is maintained throughout
the experiment, subjects are scientifically selected, results are tested
and conclusions drawn.
Control groups are often used, similar in essence to control chemicals used
in chemistry. These control groups are not exposed to the manipulation but
instead to neutral conditions, providing a standards to compare results.
In some cases researchers carry out blind studies where subjects are kept
unaware of the aspects of the study. Double blind studies have been used
in the past where the researchers are kept blind too.

A scientific subject knows its own limitations. Psychology attempts to

study complex phenomena in laboratory and field situations where validity
is called into question. Results contrast with differing personal
understandings of researchers which will always differ to some extent. In
a physical science a variance of error may be intolerable above 2%, in
psychology 50% may be an acceptable level.

Every psychological experiment and theory is evaluated with the same level
of criticality as that of the traditional sciences. Questions are asked
over the theoretical framework, the results validity and its relationship
with the hypothesis, the quality and range of sample and if it is
representative, the conclusions that can be drawn form the data and broader
conclusions that may be apparent. Finally the studies are questioned on
their meanings and ethics to operationalise the original hypothesis.

Psychology has adopted the scientific mode. However, from a strictly

scientific point of view, it has not been able to meet the requirements of
true science.

In attempting to evaluate the status of psychology as a scientific study,

the American Psychological Association appointed Sigmund Koch to conduct a
study, employing over eighty noted scholars in assessing the facts,
hypotheses, and methods of psychology. In 1983, the results were published
in a series entitled 'Psychology: A Study of Science'. Koch describes what
he believes to be the delusion in thinking of psychology as a science:

The truth is that psychological statements which describe human behavior or

which report results from tested research can be scientific. However, when
there is a move from describing human behavior to explaining it there is
also a move from science to opinion.

Here it is important to make the distinction between psychology and

psychiatry. Academic psychology is a scientific project, initiated by
Wilhelm Wundt at the University of Leipzig at around 1885. His work was the
study of the average adult human mind, and the scientific method used was
introspection. His approaches have long since been abandoned, as have many
of his ideals, but not the basic idea of understanding and describing human
functioning within a scientific context.

Psychotherapy, on the other hand, is no more a science than that of civil

engineering. Ideally, scientifically investigated therapeutic techniques
and methods are used together with ethical and philosophical principles in
order to achieve a desired outcome. Psychotherapy, then, is a mixture of a
craft and an art and may not be called a science.

Psychology breeds many conflicting explanations of man and his behavior.

Psychologist Roger Mills, in his 1980 article, "Psychology Goes Insane,
Botches Role as Science," says:
"The field of psychiatry today is literally a mess. There are as many
techniques, methods and theories around as there are researchers and
therapists. I have personally seen therapists convince their clients that
all of their problems come from their mothers, the stars, their biochemical
make-up, their diet, their lifestyle and even the "karma" from their past
lives."

These opinions are describing psychotherapy and not psychology in its core.
Remembering that psychology is the scientific study of the behavior of
humans and animals, we should look at their methods of study. As we have
seen, psychologists use scientific methods in an attempt to understand and
predict behavior, to develop procedures for changing behavior, and to
evaluate treatment strategies.

Mitchell and Jolley discuss the question of whether psychology is a science

in the first chapter of their text 'Research Design Explained' (3rd
Edition). Their conclusions support the claim that psychology is a
science. They discuss the facts that psychology produces objective
evidence that can be replicated (replicated with the same success as
physics and chemistry experiments). That it unearths observable, objective
evidence that either supports or refutes existing beliefs and creates new
knowledge. And that psychology is open-minded about claims, even those
that go against common sense and sceptical about ideas that, even though
they make sense, have not been supported by any research evidence.

If we can define a science using subjective methods then Psychology is

definitely a science. Psychology represents an empirical science, its
methods demanding empirical testing of hypotheses.

Many empirical results of psychology are subject to personal interpretation

and intense dispute. This can be seen as a function of the phenomena that
is psychology. But the key to resolving these disputes is to turn back to
the empirical methods and pit alternative interpretations against each
other.

Question: "What is the difference between the soul and spirit of man?"

Answer: The soul and the spirit are the two primary immaterial aspects that Scripture ascribes to humanity. It can be
confusing to attempt to discern the precise differences between the two. The word “spirit” refers only to the
immaterial facet of humanity. Human beings have a spirit, but are we not spirits. However, in Scripture, only
believers are said to be spiritually alive (1 Corinthians 2:11; Hebrews 4:12; James 2:26), while unbelievers are
spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1-5; Colossians 2:13). In Paul's writing, the spiritual was pivotal to the life of the
believer (1 Corinthians 2:14; 3:1; Ephesians 1:3; 5:19; Colossians 1:9; 3:16). The spirit is the element in humanity
which gives us the ability to have an intimate relationship with God. Whenever the word “spirit” is used, it refers to
the immaterial part of humanity that “connects” with God, who Himself is spirit (John 4:24).

The word “soul” can refer to both the immaterial and material aspects of humanity. Unlike human beings having a
spirit, human beings are souls. In its most basic sense, the word “soul” means “life.” However, beyond this essential
meaning, the Bible speaks of the soul in many contexts. One of these is humanity’s eagerness to sin (Luke 12:26).
Humanity is naturally evil, and our souls are tainted as a result. The life principle of the soul is removed at the time
of physical death (Genesis 35:18; Jeremiah 15:2). The soul, as with the spirit, is the center of many spiritual and
emotional experiences (Job 30:25; Psalm 43:5; Jeremiah 13:17). Whenever the word “soul” is used, it can refer to
the whole person, whether alive or in the afterlife.
The soul and the spirit are connected, but separable (Hebrews 4:12). The soul is the essence of humanity’s being; it
is who we are. The spirit is the aspect of humanity that connects with God.

A school of thought is a collection or group of people who share common characteristics of opinion or outlook of a
philosophy, discipline, belief, social movement, cultural movement, or art movement. There have been several
schools of economic thought throughout history.
Schools are often characterized by their currency, and thus classified into "new" and "old" schools. This dichotomy
is often a component of paradigm shift. However, it is rarely the case that there are only two schools in any given
field.
Schools are often named after their founders such as the "Rinzai school" of Zen named after Linji and the Asharite
school of early Muslim philosophy named after Abu l'Hasan al-Ashari. They are often also named after their places
of origin, such as the Ionian school of philosophy that originated in Ionia and the Chicago school of architecture that
originated in Chicago, Illinois and the Prague School of linguistics, named after a linguistic circle found in Prague.

List of psychological schools

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The psychological schools are the great classical theories of psychology. Each has been highly influential, however
most psychologists hold eclectic viewpoints that combine aspects of each school.
The most influential ones are behaviorism, the psychoanalytic school of Freud, functionalism, humanistic/Gestalt,
and cognitivism. Here are some other schools of thought in psychology:
• Activity-oriented approach
• Analytical psychology
• Associationism
• Behaviorism (see also Radical behaviorism)
• Behavioural genetics
• Biological psychology
• Cognitivism
• Cultural-historical psychology
• Depth psychology
• Descriptive psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Ecopsychology
• Ego psychology
• Environmental psychology
• Evolutionary psychology
• Existential psychology
• Experimental analysis of behavior - the school descended from B.F. Skinner's work.
• Functionalism
• Gestalt psychology
• Gestalt therapy
• Humanistic psychology
• Individual psychology
• Organismic Psychology
• Phenomenological psychology
• Phrenology
 • Psychoanalysis
• Radical behaviorism - technically a school of philosophy, not psychology.
• Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
• Self (psychology)
• Social psychology (also known as "Sociocultural psychology")
• Structuralism
• Transactional analysis
• Transpersonal psychology
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Major school of thoughts

Psychoanalysis:
Sigmund Freud was the found of psychodynamic approach. This school of thought emphasizes the influence of the
unconscious mind on behavior. Freud believed that the human mind was composed of three elements: the id, the
ego, and the superego. Other major psychodynamic thinkers include Anna Freud, Carl Jung, and Erik Erikson.

Humanistic Psychology:
Humanistic psychology developed as a response to psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Humanistic psychology instead
focused on individual free will, personal growth, and self-actualization. Major humanist thinkers included Abraham
Maslow and Carl Rogers.
Gestalt Psychology:
Gestalt psychology is based upon the idea that we experience things as unified wholes. This approach to psychology
began in Germany and Austria during the late 19th century in response to the molecular approach of structuralism.
Rather that breaking down thoughts and behavior to their smallest element, the gestalt psychologists believed that
you must look at the whole of experience. According to the gestalt thinkers, the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts.

Cognitive Psychology:
Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental processes including how people think,
perceive, remember, and learn. As part of the larger field of cognitive science, this branch of psychology is related to
other disciplines including neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics.

Activity theory is a psychological meta-theory, paradigm, or framework, with its roots in the Soviet psychologist
Vygotsky's cultural-historical psychology. Its founders were Alexei N. Leont'ev (1903-1979), and Sergei
Rubinshtein (1889-1960) who sought to understand human activities as complex, socially situated phenomena and
go beyond paradigms of psychoanalysis and behaviorism. It became one of the major psychological approaches in
the former USSR, being widely used in both theoretical and applied psychology, in areas such as education, training,
ergonomics, and work psychology [1]. Activity theory theorizes that when individuals engage and interact with their
environment, production of tools results. These tools are "exteriorized" forms of mental processes, and as these
mental processes are manifested in tools, they become more readily accessible and communicable to other people,
thereafter becoming useful for social interaction.[2]

Associationism in philosophy refers to the idea that mental processes operate by the association of one state with its
successor states. The idea is first recorded in Plato and Aristotle, especially with regard to the succession of
memories. Members of the principally British "Associationist School", including John Locke, David Hume, James
Mill, and John Stuart Mill, asserted that the principle applied to all or most mental processes. Later members of the
school developed very specific principles specifying how associations worked and even a physiological mechanism
bearing no resemblance to modern neurophysiology. For a much fuller explanation of the intellectual history of
associationism and the "Associationist School", see Association of Ideas, an edited version of the 1911 Encyclopedia
Britannica article of the same name.
Some of the ideas of the Associationist School anticipated behaviorist psychology, especially the idea of
conditioning.[citation needed]

Humanistic psychology is a school of psychology that emerged in the 1950s in reaction to both behaviorism and
psychoanalysis. It is explicitly concerned with the human dimension of psychology and the human context for the
development of psychological theory.

\Social psychology is the study of how people and groups interact. Scholars in this interdisciplinary area are
typically either psychologists or sociologists, though all social psychologists employ both the individual and the
group as their units of analysis.[1]
Despite their similarity, psychological and sociological researchers tend to differ in their goals, approaches, methods,
and terminology. They also favor separate academic journals and professional societies. The greatest period of
collaboration between sociologists and psychologists was during the years immediately following World War II.[2]
Although there has been increasing isolation and specialization in recent years, some degree of overlap and
influence remains between the two disciplines.[3]

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (August 16, 1832 - August 31, 1920) was a German medical doctor, psychologist,
physiologist, and professor, known today as one of the founding figures of modern psychology. He is widely
regarded as the "father of experimental psychology".[3][4][5] In 1879, Wundt founded one of the first formal
laboratories for psychological research at the University of Leipzig. By creating this laboratory he was able to
explore the nature of religious beliefs, identify mental disorders and abnormal behavior, and map damaged areas of
the human brain. By doing this he was able to establish psychology as a separate science from other topics. He also
formed the first journal for psychological research in 1881.

History of Psychology
Major Periods in World History Relative to the Evolution of
the Field of Psychology

Developed by psychology students--A. Jacobsen, R. Zartman, & H. Ashfaq

 Psychology evolved from philosophy, science, medicine and theology.
Psychology evolved out of a coalescence of natural science and the branch of philosophy
known as epistemology or the theory of knowledge.

In the beginning, psychology was a 3-way synthesis of physics,

physiology and mental philosophy.

The roots of psychology go back to Egypt and the Egyptian mystery

system.

Early psychology focused on measuring and understanding the mind.

 Later psychology focused on measuring and understanding behavior.

Observation and interpretation of data were the business of the

philosopher.

Beginning with the Ancient Greeks, philosophers learned a great deal

about the world around them, and attempted to arrange their learning in an orderly way,
and speculated on its meaning.

As philosophers increased their knowledge, they developed

specialties within the field of philosophy.
 Psychology was housed under philosophy as "Mental Philosophy"
which was concerned with psychological principles. The other specialties under philosophy
were "Natural Philosophy" which dealt with the areas of physics, chemistry and the
natural sciences; and "Moral Philosophy" which dealt with the social sciences and ethical
considerations.

Once you become familiar with the history of psychology, you will see
that psychology and knowledge in general has evolved as man has evolved -- both in
consciousness and intellect or knowledge.

Psychology did not become an independent discipline separate from

philosophy until the late 19th century.

The search for knowledge was the quest of the early philosopher
scientists -- the desire to know. Psychology was interwoven in early science and philosophy.

I. ANCIENT EGYPT (664BC-554BC)

 Egypt was known for its Egyptian Mystery System or set of secret
doctrines, since knowledge was power in those days. Only the privileged few had access to
knowledge and they kept this knowledge secret and passed most of it on in secret societies.

The Egyptians are also reported to have been prolific writers, but few
knew how to translate their writing system of hieroglyphics and Coptic. It has only been in
recent decades that Egyptologists are able to understand the early writings.

A great philosophical text developed by an Egyptian scholar is The

Kybalion - written by Hermes Trismegistus. It is considered the Hermetic philosophy of
ancient Egypt and Greece. Trismegistus was known as the "scribe of the gods." He was
also known as the father of the occult wisdom, the founder of astrology and the discoverer
of alchemy. The Egyptians deified Hermes, and made him one of their gods, under the name
of Thoth. Years later, the people of Ancient Greece also made him one of their many gods,
calling him "Hermes, the god of Wisdom."

The earliest scientific knowledge came from the Egyptians-although

there exists almost no written records of their scientific contributions, until recently with the
work and study of Egyptologists and their success at understanding hieroglyphics, the
ancient writing system of the Egyptians, along with Coptic writing. In most philosophy and
history of psychology textbooks, you will see credit being given solely to the Greeks.

Three such works that document through careful research and study
the contributions of Egyptians to science and philosophy are:
1. Stolen Legacy by George G.M. James (1954). San Francisco: Julian Richardson
Associates.
2. From Ancient Africa to Ancient Greece: An Introduction to the History of
Philosophy by Dr. Henry Olela (1981).
Atlanta, GA: The Select Publishing Corporation.
3. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization (The Fabrication of
Ancient Greece-1785-1985,
Volume 1), by Martin Bernal (1987). New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.

According to the first two scholars, there is evidence that Egyptians

laid the foundation for scientific knowledge. Further, they indicate that much of Greek
knowledge was borrowed from Egypt; especially after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander
the Great, and the seizure and looting of the Royal Library at Alexandria.

According to Bernal (1987), Greece had a distinctive and mixed

culture, with much learned and practiced from the Egyptians; and many lived in Greece with
Egyptian ancestry. The Greek religion also is reported to have a largely Egyptian base.
 Further, it is known, that many of the early Greek philosophers
studied in Egypt and brought back interpretations of their knowledge to Greece. Namely,
Thales, (a physicist) who was the first to go into Egypt and bring back scientific knowledge
into Greece. Also, Pythagoras, a pupil of Thales studied in Egypt and Babylon. Pythagoras
was a musician and mathematician. He studied for 34 years. Pythagoras like Euclid
developed what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem -- first formulated by Thales.

Therefore, the history of psychology begins with ancient Egypt.

II. ANCIENT GREEK PERIOD (500BC-300BC)
 In Greek mythology there were four Ages of Man: The Golden, Silver,
Bronze, and Iron (or Heroic) ages.
 The Gods and Goddesses were: Poseidon (Sea); Apollo (Sun); Hera &
Zeus (Heaven); Athene (Wisdom); Hermes (Messenger); Artemis (Hunting); and, Aphrodite
(Love).

The early Greeks had a tremendous confidence in their superior ability

for reasoning.They also used naturalistic observations to derive at theories and hypotheses.

Their reasoning was called rationalism - the search for the essence of
things. (Now known as the deductive method). They saw the world as a macrocosm and
man as a microcosm.

Among scientists contributing to psychology were:

-Heraclitus - sought to discover the nature of knowledge, the essence of things;
-Thales - nature of matter;
-Pythagoras was a pupil of Thales. He developed the label "philosopher" and was the first
to call himself a philosoper--lover of knowledge. He was a mathematician and philsopher and
born on the Island of Samos. He died in southern Italy, then called Magna Graecia.
Pythagoras was the son of a jeweller named Mnesarchus and his beautiful wife Pythais. He is
said to have been the first to call himself a philosopher, i.e., lover of knowledge. It
happended one day, when Leon, tyrant of Phlious, asked Pythagoras who he was and what
he did for a living. He answered: "I am a philosopher," thereby coining the word.
-Democritus - atomism;Being is as existent as non-being. Being is indivisible matter, the
atom which cannot be split. Many atoms exist which are interconnected in various ways,
obeying purely mechanical laws and forming miscellaneious beings that are known to us.
Even though his theory about the individibility of the atom as today been disporoved.
Democritus's notion of the universe laid the foundation for progress in scientific research. He
said: "similarity creates friendship."
-Alcmaeon - 2 aspect theory of the soul;
-Hippocrates - ancient medicine; developed the Hippocratic oath to care for his patients
which is still sworn by doctors today.
-Socrates -Induction; One of the greatest thinkers and philosophers of antiquity. He devoted
his life and work to moral philosophy and to the search for moral good, virtue and justice.
The main method he used was dialectics (the method of seeking knowledge by question and
answer) by which he tried to teach men how ignorant they were and to help them know
themselves. His contribution to philosophy was highly significant, especially because in
Socrates, it is not the heavenly bodies, earth, clouds, etc., that were of value but the
universe of the human soul. He was found guilty, and sentenced to death, by a jury of his
Athenian peers for corrupting the young and not acknowledging the gods of the city.
-Plato - Wrote the Republic. Duality of the Psyche; Was author of some 31 philosophical
dialogues, and founder, in 387, of the Academy, in Athens. He was considered one of the
most significant thinkers of antiquity. Plato, despite his aristocratic origin and his parents'
plans for his political or petic career, devoted his life to philosophy, first as a devoted pupil
of Socrates, and later by founding his own school of philosophy, the Academy. Plato held far-
reaching views on the creation of the world, which have been preserved in the dialogue
Timaeus, while his work the Republic, is perhaps the world's most important politican
science text.
-Aristotle - De Anima, first book to treat psychology as a systematic philosophy. Notions
about the psyche. Founded philosophical psychology; Studied with Plato 20 years. After
Plato's nephew, Speusippus, is named the head of the Academy, Aristotle leaves Athens, but
later returns, to found his own school, the Lyceum, in 335 BC. Although he, too, wrote
philosophical dialogues, only a few fragments have come down to us. His surviving writings
exist in the form of treatises. Was considered the father of modern scientific thought, he was
also Alexander's tutor.
Aristotle was the greatest systematic philosopher of antiquity. He was the first to
philosophise on the basis of science. Because of his great knowledge, especially in the
physical sciences, he became known in history as a "panepistimon" or man of all sciences.
Aristotle developed the dialectical method in logic, not in the Socratic sense of the dialogue
but as a process consisting of thesis, antithesis and synthesis, which then becomes the new
thesis.
-Theophrastus - study of botany, treatise on physiological psychology (on the senses), a
collection of personality sketches (characters);
-Galen - influenced medicine with theory of humors. Was a practitioner. Integrated anatomy
and physiology.
-Homer-(applied psychology). "Nothing is sweeter than home." The greatest of the epic
poets. A psycho-historian. Wrote two great epic masterpieces, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
-Sophocles- "Tis not my nature to join in hating, but in loving." A major tragic poet of the
5th century BC. The Athenian audiences responded enthusiastically to his emergence as his
work was animated by serenity and was therefore most appropriate to meet the
requirements of an audience enjoying the triumphs of Athens. He brought about many
innovations in the art of dramaturgy.
 The Greeks regarded the soul as the source of consciousness and life.

They developed a 2-aspect theory of the soul: 1) Thymos - aspect

involved in thought and emotion and perishes with the body; and 2) Psyche - aspect
considered immortal. Psychology was derived from this aspect.

Early scientific and philosophical thought was primarily qualitative.

Quantitative analyses were scarce--Thales, Euclid and Pythagoras.

Reason and observation, unaided by instruments, were the methods

by which the majority of the first scientific knowledge was derived.
 Two branches of Greek thought then contributed to the development
of modern science: Cosmology and rationalism.
a) Cosmology = the study of the universe or cosmos --- how it originated, its structure and
evolution.
(Major contributor-- Democritus (460-370 BC) postulated the atomic theory of the universe).
b) Rationalists = used reason. Now known as the deductive method or the hypothetico-
deductive methods,
by means of which scientists attempt to postulate a rational set of assumptions to be tested
by experiment.

In summary, the Greeks recognized the significance of what has

become four important stages in the scientific method:
a) naturalistic observation;
b) Analysis and classification of natural phenomena into meaningful descriptive categories.
c) Formulation of hypotheses of cause and effect on the basis of such analyses and
d) Value of quantitative methods (Euclid and Pythagoras).

III. GRAECO-ROMAN PERIOD (100BC-500AD)

Wisdom for the conduct of life.

 Knowledge derived from the Greeks.

Increased separation of science and philosophy.

IV. HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN PERIODS (300-100 BC &

100BC-500AD)

Progress made by men who stood in the shadow of Aristotle, e.g.,

Theophrastus (372 BC-) and Galen. Psychology was most advanced by Theophrastus.

The Hellenistic period is often referred to as the twilight of Greek

thinking.
 It is also the period in which a decline in intellectualism began in the
Mediterranean and Alexandria.

Psychology is still a branch of philosophy.

Greek science extended over a period of 800 years. It began with the
earliest philosopher/scientists of the sixth century BC and continued to the 2nd or 3rd
century of the Christian era.

Some of Aristotle's students begin to make significant contributions to

psychology (e.g., Theophrastus).
 Greek scientific thought transmitted to the Arabs.

V. THE PATRISTIC PERIOD (200AD-500AD)

Known as the period of the church fathers--and devoted to the

formation of Christian Orthodoxy.

Influentials included Origen, Plotinus, and St. Augustine....

The church and Christianity influenced psychology - especially the

teachings of Jesus as taught to theologians by Origen. [Origen was one of the intellectual
theologians and leaders of the church. He believed that philosophy and science are
compatible with the church.
 Period focused on dualism of mind and body and supernaturalism -- or
that which was beyond nature. Supernaturalism led a preoccupation with the world to come
rather than the world as it exists.

Important contributors include:

-Plotinus - an Egyptian, who moved to Rome. He talked about a mystical reunion with the
world soul and development of the individual toward perfection.
-Augustine - Addressed unity and conflict. He was consulted on all psychological matters.
He believed that a major source of knowledge of self was by means of reflection, a form of
meditation by which we can come to know our soul. Augustine believed that miracles are
simply unusual occurrences and require no more and no less explanation than any other
event. If they were not rare, they would not cause surprise.
VI. THE MIDDLE AGES (500AD-900AD)

The early part of the period was referred to as the Dark Ages due to
the halt of scientific advancement, misgovernment, civil wars, barbarian people, discord,
and the dismantling of the monetary system. There was top heavy bureaucracies, civil wars,
and barbarian peoples in some areas. The uniformity of Roman law gave way to a maze of
discordant local customs. The universal monetary system of the Romans also disappeared.
 There were chaotic systems of government and low standards of
living. Also, there was widespread illiteracy. Science and culture suffered during this period.
In some areas religious scholarship survived.

There were no psychological advance made during this period; and

very little interest in Psychology. The works of Aristotle and Plato were even lost.

Islam was developed during this period. Islam means "surrender to

God." The followers were known as Muslims. Sicily and Spain came under the domination of
Islam. Hellenic civilization also merged into Muslim culture.

The birth of Islam and the Muslim faith occurred in the middle part of
the Middle Ages. Muslims assumed positions of leadership in government, the military and
religious affairs.
 Universities did not come into real prominence until the 13th century.
They came into being with the expansion of knowledge. For example, youth in the 11th
century entered monasteries; youth in the 13th century attended universities.

Universities began to emerge toward the latter part of the Middle

Ages -- the University of Bologna, University of Paris, Oxford and Cambridge
Universities. The curricula included art, natural ethics, philosophy, metaphysics, theology,
law and medicine.

During this period, Arabic scholars also had added valuable

observations in medicine and had added a variety of new perspectives to philosophy.

Translations included religious, philosophical, medical, science -- such

as optics, geology and math.
 Introduction of these texts and translations divided the middle ages
into what can be known as 2 distinct periods: a) the early middle ages, without the benefits
and knowledge and b) the later, middle ages, with ancient knowledge and science restored.

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote the "Summa Contra Theologica", an

introduction to Christian theology. (Click on the hyper link or go to lessons above to find an
overview of the life and works of Aquinas). He was also author of commentaries on Aristotle
and various books of the Bible.

A reawakening of knowledge occurred in the late middle ages.

VII. THE RENAISSANCE (1450-1800 AD)

A period of general and literary enrichment. Also called the Age of

Reason. This period was a scientific and philosophical movement which started in France and
took hold in Britain and Germany. Its new ideas about human progress through science and
reason strongly influenced the revolutionary leaders in America and France.
 Called the "Enlightenment," or Age of Reason. Was a scientific and
philosophical movement which started in France and took hold in Britain and Germany. Its
new ideas about human progress through science and reason strongly influenced the
revolutionary leaders in America and France.

Scientists of the Enlightenment were very keen to find out about the
world, nature, chemistry, and physics.

Renaissance men were discovering ancient geography through

translations of ancient manuscripts.

There was development of a new education with a new curriculum.

 The field of psychology was broadened.

Voyages and discoveries of the world took place (Columbus, Diaz,

daGama, and, the captains of Prince Henry the Navigator). The world was enlarged.

This period included such scholars as: Leonardo da Vinci -- an artist,

engineer and geologist, painted the famous Madonna & Child; Linnaeus -founded modern
botany and zoology and classified plants and animals into groups; Lavoisier - proved that
air consists of oxygen and nitrogen and also made the first table of chemical elements;
Benjamin Franklin was both a statesman and a man of science. He studied electricity and
used a key on a kite string to act as a lightning conductor; he also invented a stove and
bifocal glasses; Mozart was a child genius and the most brilliant composer of his day.
Scheele discovered oxygen; Cavendish discovered h;ydrogen; Rutherford discovered
nitrogen; Fahrenheit invented a mercury thermometer, Celsius invented a centigrade
thermometer; Luigi Galvani discovered contact electricity. Also the French Montgolfier
brothers made the first ascent in a hot-air balloon.
 The Romantic movement followed the Enlightenment, and it affected
revolutionary politics in Europe as well as its arts. Two leading figures in the movement were
the composer Beethoven and Goethe, the poet.

Descartes made significant contributions bordering the Renaissance

period and the modern period. He decided that the point of interchange between the mind
and body is the pineal gland, located at the base of the cerebrum. He also described in
detail, the nervous system and was considered the father of modern philosophy by
existentialists. Descartes also was considered a leader in the development of mathematics,
and lad the foundation for analytic geometry and contributed to modern algebra. Was author
of: The Discourse on the Method of Righlty Conducting One's Reason; Searching
Truth in the Sciences; and the Meditations on First Philosophy.
VIII. MODERN PERIOD (16TH-17TH Century)

The emphasis was on methodology, science and mathematics. Also

know as the "Scientific Revolution."
 Influential scientists included Francis Bacon, Galileo, Sir Isaac
Newton, William Harvey, Napier.

Francis Bacon was one of the first men to study nature by using
scientific observation. Developed an empirical methodology and inductive reasoning. It is
reported that he translated the first King James version of the Bible and was the true writer
of Shakespeare and other Elizabethan literature. Was considered the first English essayist. It
is also reported that he secretly laid the groundwork for the establishment of the United
States of America.
-In his works Novum Organum, Advancement of Learning, and New Atlantis, Bacon
outlined his views of what
science should become. He proposed drastic changes in scientific procedure.
-He died from a chill after stuffing a fowl with snow. He was studying refrigeration.

Galileo was the first to turn a telescope to the skies to map the
galaxy. He provided evidence that the earth was not the fixed center of the universe, but
that it and all the other planets revolved around the sun.
Galileo also observed the moon's "seas" and mountains, the planets and the stars of the
Milky Way. His studies included the laws of "falling bodies" using experiments and
mathematics. He studied the pendulum and designed a clock.
 William Harvey conducted experiments and microscopic
observations that proved that the blood circulates around the body.

Isaac Newton, laid the foundations of modern science. He worked on

mathematical calculus, light and gravity and invented his own reflecting telescope. He
worked out laws on gravity and how things move, using observation and mathematics. He
found out that white light was made up of a rainbow, or "spectrum," of colored light.

Napier, a Scottish mathematician invented logarithms. He invented a

calculating system using rods of bone.

IX. BRITISH EMPIRICISM (17th & 18th Century)

Empiricism became a viable alternative to rationalism. Focused

primarily on associationism - the ways in which mental events are connected.
 They accepted the Baconian proposition that science must start from
observations that are collected carefully and from which cautious generalizations are made.

Empiricism places the origin of mind in sensation and explains the

higher mental processes such as memory, thinking and imagination as complexes of
persistent impressions held together by associations. Associations exist due to certain
conditions that were present at the time of the impression such as repetition and contiguity.

They believed that mind is built from sensory experiences (sense);

these experiences provide elemental ideas or memories which come together to form
complex ideas by virtue of association.

Thus the field of psychology was becoming more empirical and

moving away from rationalism during the British empirical system.
 Some noted scientists included:
-- Thomas Hobbes- 1588-1679- first British empiricist. He explained memory and
imagination as decaying
sense impressions held together by association;
-- John Locke- 1632-1704 - extended Hobbes principles, developed the first completely
worked out empirical theory
of knowledge and Tabula Rasa - the mind is blank at birth;
-- George Berkeley-1685-1753- talked about mentalism, that mental aspects of life are
paramount and that only reality is
mind. He developed a theory of vision and depth and space perception;
-- David Hume (1711-1776) - the mind is only a name given to the flow of ideas,
memories, imagination and
feelings. Published Treatise on Human Nature and An Inquiry Concerning Human
Understanding;
-- David Hartley- 1705-1757 - Considered physiology and psychology to be
associational. Published Observations of
Man in 1749 and believed in tabula rasa-the mind is blank at birth;
--James and John Stuart Mills (sensation and ideas are primary material of the mind).
--James Mills (1773-1836)- considered the greatest associationist; believed that
sensations and ideas are primary material
of the mind; wrote Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind.
--John Stuart Mills (1806-1873) - wrote Logic; believed that the "whole is more than the
sum of its parts." "Elements
may generate complex ideas, but the ideas generated are not merely the sum of the
individual parts."
X. EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY (1800s TO 1870s)

Advanced initially by German psychologists (Wundt and others).

 They believed that an experiment was a way of testing a theory.
Instead of passively observing nature, experimenters actively interfere in natural
phenomena. The goal of an experiment is to put nature to question.

During this period great strides were being made in the understanding
of the nervous system.

Physiologists were moving closer to psychology. This was the

beginning of the development of physiological psychology.

Physiology became an experimental discipline in the 1830s.

Physiology emerging in the 19th century influenced psychologists to turn their attention to
searching for neural mechanisms underlying behavior.
 This was the beginning of the development of neurology and brain
functioning.

This was the beginning of the development of psychophysics.

Many of the Americans interested in psychology studied in Germany

with the German psychologists; among them William James and Edward Titchener.
XI. FRENCH PSYCHOLOGY (Late 18th to Early 19th Century)

Advanced the study of Psychopathology and Intelligence. Just before

the beginning of the 19th century, France became the first country to begin to develop
adequate care for the insane and the feeble-minded. French psychologists focused on
psychopathological behavior. Contributed to the development of pathological psychology.
 Included scientists such as:
--Jean Itard - 1775-1838- began work with the feebleminded. Was the pioneer in the
systematic study of mental deficiency;
--Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) - began work on mesmerism or "animal
magnetism"-now hypnosis);
--Jean Charcot (1825-1893) - often referred to as the father of neurology; Freud was a pupil
of Charcot and lived and
studied with him in France for a while;
--Alfred Binet - studied intelligence and constructed the first intelligence test.
XII. FUNCTIONALISM IN AMERICA (19th Century)

Considered the first truly American system of psychology.

William James called the founder of modern psychology. Developed

a functional psychology which included the study of consciousness. Was considered the
leading American forerunner of functionalism, with his 2-volume work, The Principles of
Psychology, (1890). His functional psychology included the study of consciousness as an
ongoing process or stream.
 The focus was on the study of mind and the function of thought.
Functionalism's primary interest was the study of mind as it functions in adapting the
organism to its environment.

Today's psychology is said to be functionalistic because of its

emphasis on learning, intelligence, testing, perception and other functional processes.
[Revised 1-06]

The Different Areas of Psychology

and Their Great Contributors

http://media.gratex.sk/budyk/old/english/misc/FREUD.htm http://media.gratex.sk/budyk
/old/english/misc/FREUD.htm Sigmund Freud (
Austrian psychiatrist 1856-1939), founder of
Psychoanalysis, born in Vienna, awarded the M.D. degree in 1881 from the University of Vienna. With the
Nazi occupation of Austria, Freud fled in 1938 to England, where he died in 1939. His theory has had
enormous impact, influencing anthropology, education, art, and literature.

http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/misc/pavlov.html http://arbl.c
vmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/misc/pavlov.html Ivan Pavlov Born to a Russian
minister on September 14, 1849, Pavlov grew up in the town of Ryazan. Due to a childhood accident, Ivan was
unable to attend school as early as other children, but did get started at age 11. After finishing school he was
sent to theological seminary to follow in his father's footsteps, but dropped out in 1870 to enroll at the
University of St. Petersburg. It was there that Pavlov became interested in and started his career in
physiology

http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/skinner.html http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/skinner.htm
B. F. Skinner
l Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born in the small Pennsylvania town of Susquehanna
on March 20, 1904. He became interested in psychology while at Harvard University and was inspired by
Bertrand Russell's articles on behaviorism. In 1931 he received a Ph.D. from Harvard and then continued to
do research there until 1936. While there he developed the Skinner box, a controlled environment for
studying the behavior of organisms.

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~kensicki/watson-acad.html
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~kensicki/watson-acad.html John B. Watson Psychologist, born in
Greenville, SC. He studied at Chicago, and became professor of psychology at Johns Hopkins University
(1908-20), where he established an animal research laboratory. He became known for his behaviorist
approach, which he later applied to human behavior. In 1921 he entered advertising and wrote several
general books on psychology.
 The Father of Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920):
German Philosopher & Psychologist
A child of a Lutheran minister, he was born in 1832 in Neckarau, a suburb of
Mannhiem, located in the southwest part of Germany. Education, not
friendship and play, dominated his early years. At the age of thirteen he
attended a Gymnasium, a German secondary school, that rigorously prepared
a student for a university education. Although many of the ideas of Wundt are
disregarded today, he is held in the minds of most psychologists as the Father
of Psychology, because he had the first real laboratory.

The Emergence of German Experimental Psychology

Until the middle of the 19th century, psychology was widely regarded as a branch of philosophy. For instance,
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) declared in his Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science (1786) that a scientific
psychology "properly speaking" is impossible. However, Kant proposed what looks to modern eyes very much like
an empirical psychology in his Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View (1798).
Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841) took issue with Kant's conclusion and attempted to develop a mathematical
basis for a scientific psychology. Although he was unable to render his theory empirically testable, his efforts did
lead scientists such as Ernst Heinrich Weber (1795-1878) and Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801-1887) to attempt to
measure the mathematical relationships between the physical magnitudes of external stimuli and the psychological
intensities of the resulting sensations. Fechner (1860) is the originator of the term psychophysics.
Meanwhile, individual differences in reaction time had become a critical issue in the field of astronomy, under the
name of the "personal equation". Early researches by Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784-1846) in Königsberg and
Adolf Hirsch led to the development of a highly precise chronoscope by Mathias Hipp that, in turn, was based on a
design by Charles Wheatstone for a device that measured the speed of artillery shells (Edgell & Symes, 1906). Other
timing instruments were borrowed from physiology (e.g., the kymograph) and adapted for use by the Utrecht
ophthamologist Franciscus Donders (1818-1899) and his student Johan Jacob de Jaager in measuring the duration of
simple mental decisions.
The 19th century was also the period in which physiology, including neurophysiology, professionalized and saw
some of its most significant discoveries. Among its leaders were Charles Bell (1774-1843) and François Magendie
(1783-1855) who independently discovered the distinction between sensory and motor nerves in the spinal column,
Johannes Müller (1801-1855) who proposed the doctrine of specific nerve energies, Emil du Bois-Reymond (1818-
1896) who studied the electrical basis of muscle contraction, Pierre Paul Broca (1824-1880) and Carl Wernicke
(1848-1905) who identified areas of the brain responsible for different aspects of language, as well as Gustav Fritsch
(1837-1927), Eduard Hitzig (1839-1907), and David Ferrier (1843-1924) who localized sensory and motor areas of
the brain. One of the principal founders of experimental physiology, Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894),
conducted studies of a wide range of topics that would later be of interest to psychologists – the speed of neural
transmission, the natures of sound and color, and of our perceptions of them, etc. In the 1860s, while he held a
position in Heidelberg, Helmholtz engaged as an assistant a young M.D. named Wilhelm Wundt. Wundt employed
the equipment of the physiology laboratory – chronoscope, kymograph, and various peripheral devices – to address
more complicated psychological questions than had until then been considered experimentally. In particular he was
interested in the nature of apperception – the point at which a perception comes into the central focus of conscious
awareness.
In 1874 Wundt took up a professorship in Zurich, where he published his landmark textbook, Grundzüge der
physiologischen Psychologie (Principles of Physiological Psychology, 1874). Moving to a more prestigious
professorship in Leipzig in 1875, Wundt founded a laboratory specifically dedicated to original research in
experimental psychology in 1879, the first laboratory of its kind in the world. In 1883, he launched a journal in
which to publish the results of his, and his students', research, Philosophische Studien (Philosophical Studies) (For
more on Wundt, see, e.g., Bringmann & Tweney, 1980; Rieber & Robinson, 2001). Wundt attracted a large number
of students not only from Germany, but also from abroad. Among his most influential American students were G.
Stanley Hall (who had already obtained a PhD from Harvard under the supervision of William James), James
McKeen Cattell (who was Wundt's first assistant), and Frank Angell. The most influential British student was
Edward Bradford Titchener (who later became professor at Cornell).
Experimental psychology laboratories were soon also established at Berlin by Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) and at
Göttingen by Georg Elias Müller (1850-1934). Another major German experimental psychologist of the era, though
he did not direct his own research institute, was Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909).
Experimentation was not the only approach to psychology in the German-speaking world at this time. Starting in the
1890s, employing the case study technique, the Viennese physician Sigmund Freud developed and applied the
methods of hypnosis, free association, and dream interpretation to reveal putatively unconscious beliefs and desires
that he argued were the underlying causes of his patients' "hysteria." He dubbed this approach psychoanalysis.
Freudian psychoanalysis is particularly notable for the emphasis it places on the course of an individual's sexual
development in pathogenesis. Psychoanalytic concepts have had a strong and lasting influence on Western culture,
particularly on the arts. Although its scientific contribution is still a matter of debate, both Freudian and Jungian
psychology revealed the existence of compartmentalized thinking, in which some behavior and thoughts are hidden
from consciousness – yet operative as part of the complete personality. Hidden agendas, a bad conscience, or a sense
of guilt, are examples of the existence of mental processes in which the individual is not conscious, through choice
or lack of understanding, of some aspects of their personality and subsequent behavior.
Psychoanalysis examines mental processes which affect the ego. An understanding of these theoretically allows the
individual greater choice and consciousness with a healing effect in neurosis and occasionally in psychosis, both of
which Richard von Krafft-Ebing defined as "diseases of the personality". Carl G. Jung was an associate of Freud's
who later broke with him over Freud's emphasis on sexuality. Working with concepts of the unconscious first noted
during the 1800s (by John Stuart Mill, Krafft-Ebing, Pierre Janet, Théodore Flournoy and others), Jung defined four
mental functions which relate to and define the ego, the conscious self. Sensation (which tell consciousness that
something is there), feelings (which consist of value judgments, and motivate our reaction to what we have sensed),
intellect (an analytic function that compares this event to all known events and gives it a class and category,
allowing us to understand a situation within a historical process, personal or public), and intuition (a mental function
with access to deep behavioral patterns, intuition can suggest unexpected solutions or predict unforeseen
consequences, "as if seeing around corners" as Jung put it). Jung insisted on an empirical psychology in which
theories must be based on facts and not on the psychologist's projections or expectations.

[edit] Early American Psychology

Around 1875, the Harvard physiology instructor (as he then was), William James, opened a small experimental
psychology demonstration laboratory for use with his courses. The laboratory was never used, in those days, for
original research, and so controversy remains as to whether it is to be regarded as the "first" experimental
psychology laboratory or not. In 1878, James gave a series of lectures at Johns Hopkins University entitled “The
Senses and the Brain and their Relation to Thought” in which he argued, contra Thomas Henry Huxley, that
consciousness is not epiphenomenal, but must have an evolutionary function, or it would not have been naturally
selected in humans. The same year James was contracted by Henry Holt to write a textbook on the "new"
experimental psychology. If he had written it quickly, it would have been the first English-language textbook on the
topic. It was twelve years, however, before his two-volume Principles of Psychology would be published. In the
meantime textbooks were published by George Trumbull Ladd of Yale (1887) and James Mark Baldwin then of
Lake Forest College (1889).
In 1879 Charles Sanders Peirce was hired as a philosophy instructor at Johns Hopkins University. Although better
known for his astronomical and philosophical work, Peirce also conducted what are perhaps the first American
psychology experiments, on the subject of color vision, published in 1877 in the American Journal of Science (see
Cadwallder, 1974). Peirce and his student Joseph Jastrow published "On Small Differences in Sensation" in the
Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, in 1884. In 1882, Peirce was joined at Johns Hopkins by G. Stanley
Hall, who opened the first American research laboratory devoted to experimental psychology in 1883. Peirce was
forced out of his position by scandal and Hall was awarded the only professorship in philosophy at Johns Hopkins.
In 1887 Hall founded the American Journal of Psychology, which published work primarily emanating from his own
laboratory. In 1888 Hall left his Johns Hopkins professorship for the presidency of the newly-founded Clark
University, where he remained for the rest of his career.
Soon, experimental psychology laboratories were opened at the University of Pennsylvania (in 1887, by James
McKeen Cattell), Indiana University (1888, William Lowe Bryan), the University of Wisconsin-Madison (1888,
Joseph Jastrow), Clark University (1889, Edmund Clark Sanford), the McLean Asylum (1889, William Noyes), and
the University of Nebraska (1889, Harry Kirke Wolfe). However, it was Princeton University's Eno Hall, built in
1924, that became the first university building in the United States to be devoted entirely to experimental
psychology when it became the home of the university's Department of Psychology.[19]
In 1890, William James' Principles of Psychology finally appeared, and rapidly became the most influential textbook
in the history of American psychology. It laid many of the foundations for the sorts of questions that American
psychologists would focus on for years to come. The book's chapters on consciousness, emotion, and habit were
particularly agenda-setting.
One of those who felt the impact of James' Principles was John Dewey, then professor of philosophy at the
University of Michigan. With his junior colleagues, James Hayden Tufts (who founded the psychology laboratory at
Michigan) and George Herbert Mead, and his student James Rowland Angell, this group began to reformulate
psychology, focusing more strongly on the social environment and on the activity of mind and behavior than the
psychophysics-inspired physiological psychology of Wundt and his followers had heretofore. Tufts left Michigan for
another junior position at the newly-founded University of Chicago in 1892. A year later, the senior philosopher at
Chicago resigned, and Tufts recommended to Chicago president William Rainey Harper that Dewey be offered the
position. After initial reluctance, Dewey was hired in 1894. Dewey soon filled out the department with his Michigan
companions Mead and Angell. These four formed the core of the Chicago School of psychology.
In 1892, G. Stanley Hall invited 30-some psychologists and philosophers to a meeting at Clark with the purpose of
founding a new American Psychological Association (APA). (On the history of the APA, see Evans, Staudt Sexton,
& Cadwallader, 1992.) The first annual meeting of the APA was held later that year, hosted by George S. Fullerton at
the University of Pennsylvania. Almost immediately tension arose between the experimentally- and philosophically-
inclined members of the APA. Edward Bradford Titchener and Lightner Witmer launched an attempt to either
establish a separate "Section" for philosophical presentations, or to eject the philosophers altogether. After nearly a
decade of debate a Western Philosophical Association was founded and held its first meeting in 1901 at the
University of Nebraska. The following year (1902), an American Philosophical Association held its first meeting at
Columbia University. These ultimately became the Central and Eastern Divisions of the modern American
Philosophical Association.
In 1894, a number of psychologists, unhappy with the parochial editorial policies of the American Journal of
Psychology approached Hall about appointing an editorial board and opening the journal out to more psychologists
not within Hall's immediate circle. Hall refused, so James McKeen Cattell (then of Columbia) and James Mark
Baldwin (then of Princeton University's Department of Psychology) co-founded a new journal, Psychological
Review, which rapidly grew to become a major outlet for American psychological researchers.
Beginning in 1895, James Mark Baldwin (Princeton University Department of Psychology) and Edward Bradford
Titchener (Cornell) entered into an increasingly acrimonious dispute over the correct interpretation of some
anomalous reaction time findings that had come from the Wundt laboratory (originally reported by Ludwig Lange
and James McKeen Cattell). In 1896, James Rowland Angell and Addison W. Moore (Chicago) published a series of
experiments in Psychological Review appearing to show that Baldwin was the more correct of the two. However,
they interpreted their findings in light of John Dewey's new approach to psychology, which rejected the traditional
stimulus-response understanding of the reflex arc in favor of a "circular" account in which what serves as "stimulus"
and what as "response" depends on how one views the situation. The full position was laid out in Dewey's landmark
article "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology" which also appeared in Psychological Review in 1896.
Titchener responded in Philosophical Review (1898, 1899) by distinguishing his austere "structural" approach to
psychology from what he termed the Chicago group's more applied "functional" approach, and thus began the first
major theoretical rift in American psychology between Structuralism and Functionalism. The group at Columbia, led
by James McKeen Cattell, Edward L. Thorndike, and Robert S. Woodworth, was often regarded as a second (after
Chicago) "school" of American Functionalism (see, e.g., Heidbredder, 1933), although they never used that term
themselves, because their research focused on the applied areas of mental testing, learning, and education. Dewey
was elected president of the APA in 1899, while Titchener dropped his membership in the association. (In 1904,
Titchener formed his own group, eventually known as the Society of Experimental Psychologists.) Jastrow promoted
the functionalist approach in his APA presidential address of 1900, and Angell adopted Titchener's label explicitly in
his influential textbook of 1904 and his APA presidential address of 1906. In reality, Structuralism was, more or less,
confined to Titchener and his students. Functionalism, broadly speaking, with its more practical emphasis on action
and application, better suited the American cultural "style" and, perhaps more important, was more popular among
university trustees and private funding agencies.

[edit] Early French Psychology

In no small measure because of the conservatism of the reign of Louis Napoléon (president, 1848-1852; emperor as
"Napoléon III," 1852-1870), academic philosophy in France through the middle part of the 19th century was
controlled by members of the eclectic and spiritualist schools, led by figures such as Victor Cousin (1792-1867),
Théodore Jouffroy (1796-1842), and Paul Janet (1823-1899). These were traditional metaphysical schools, opposed
to regarding psychology as a natural science. With the ouster of Napoléon III after the débacle of the Franco-
Prussian war, new paths, both political and intellectual, became possible. From the 1870 forward, a steadily
increasing interest in positivist, materialist, evolutionary, and deterministic approaches to psychology developed,
influenced by, among others, the work of Hyppolyte Taine (1828-1893) (e.g., De L'Intelligence, 1870) and Théodule
Ribot (1839-1916) (e.g., La Psychologie Anglaise Contemporaine, 1870). In 1876, Ribot founded Revue
Philosophique (the same year as Mind was founded in Britain), which for the next generation would be virtually the
only French outlet for the "new" psychology (Plas, 1997). Although not a working experimentalist himself, Ribot's
many books were to have profound influence on the next generation of psychologists. These included especially his
L'Hérédité Psychologique (1873) and La Psychologie Allemande Contemporaine (1879). In the 1880s, Ribot's
interests turned to psychopathology, writing books on disorders of memory (1881), will (1883), and personality
(1885), and where he attempted to bring to these topics the insights of general psychology. Although in 1881 he lost
a Sorbonne professorship in the History of Psychological Doctrines to traditionalist Jules Soury (1842-1915), from
1885 to 1889 he taught experimental psychology at the Sorbonne. In 1889 he was awarded a chair at the Collège de
France in Experimental and Comparative Psychology, which he held until 1896 (Nicolas, 2002). France's primary
psychological strength lay in the field of psychopathology. The chief neurologist at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris,
Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893), had been using the recently revivied and renamed (see above) practice of
hypnoisis to "experimentally" produce hysterical symptoms in some of his patients. Two of his students, Alfred
Binet (1857-1911) and Pierre Janet (1859-1947), adopted and expanded this practice in their own work. In 1889,
Binet and his colleague Henri Beaunis (1830-1921) co-founded, at the Sorbonne, the first experimental psychology
laboratory in France. Just five years later, in 1894, Beaunis, Binet, and a third colleague, Victor Henri (1872-1940),
co-founded the first French journal dedicated to experimental psychology, L'Année Psychologique. In the first years
of the 20th century, Binet was requested by the French government to develop a method for the newly-founded
universal public education system to identify students who would require extra assistance to master the standardized
curriculum. In response, with his collaborator Théodore Simon (1873-1961), he developed the Binet-Simon
Intelligence Test, first published in 1905 (revised in 1908 and 1911). Although the test was used to effect in France,
it would find its greatest success (and controversy) in the United States, where it was translated in by Henry H.
Goddard (1866-1957), the director of the Training School for the Feebleminded in Vineland, New Jersey, and his
assistant, Elizabeth Kite (a translation of the 1905 edition appeared in the Vineland Bulletin in 1908, but much better
known was Kite's 1916 translation of the 1908 edition, which appeared in book form). The translated test was used
by Goddard to advance his eugenics agenda with respect to those he deemed congenitally feeble-minded, especially
immigrants from non-Western European countries. Binet's test was revised by Stanford professor Lewis M. Terman
(1877-1956) into the Stanford-Binet IQ test in 1916. With Binet's death in 1911, the Sorbonne laboratory and
L'Année Psychologique fell to Henri Piéron (1881-1964). Piéron's orientation was more physiological that Binet's
had been. Pierre Janet became the leading psychiatrist in France, being appointed to the Salpêtrière (1890-1894), the
Sorbonne (1895-1920), and the Collège de France (1902-1936). In 1904, he co-founded the Journale de
Psychologie Normale et Pathologique with fellow Sorbonne professor Georges Dumas (1866-1946), a student and
faithful follower of Ribot. Whereas Janet's teacher, Charcot, had focused on the neurologial bases of hysteria, Janet
was concerned to develop a scientific approach to psychopathology as a mental disorder. His theory that mental
pathology results from conflict between unconscious and conscious parts of the mind, and that unconscious mental
contents may emerge as symptoms with symbolic meanings led to a public priority dispute with Sigmund Freud.

[edit] Early British Psychology

Although the British had the first scholarly journal dedicated to the topic of psychology – Mind, founded in 1876 by
Alexander Bain and edited by George Croom Robertson – it was quite a long while before experimental psychology
developed there to challenge the strong tradition of "mental philosophy." The experimental reports that appeared in
Mind in the first two decades of its existence were almost entirely authored by Americans, especially G. Stanley Hall
and his students (notably Henry Herbert Donaldson) and James McKeen Cattell.
Francis Galton's (1822-1911) anthropometric laboratory opened in 1884. There people were tested on a wide variety
of physical (e.g., strength of blow) and perceptual (e.g., visual acuity) attributes. In 1886 Galton was visited by
James McKeen Cattell who would later adapt Galton's techniques in developing his own mental testing research
program in the United States. Galton was not primarily a psychologist, however. The data he accumulated in the
anthropometric laboratory primarily went toward supporting his case for eugenics. To help interpret the mounds of
data he accumulated, Galton developed a number of important statistical techniques, including the precursors to the
scatterplot and the product-moment correlation coefficient (later perfected by Karl Pearson, 1857-1936).
Soon after, Charles Spearman (1863-1945) developed the correlation-based statistical procedure of factor analysis in
the process of building a case for his two-factor theory of intelligence, published in 1901. Spearman believed that
people have an inborn level of general intelligence or g which can be crystallized into a specific skill in any of a
number of narrow content area (s, or specific intelligence).
Laboratory psychology of the kind practiced in Germany and the United States was slow in coming to Britain.
Although the philosopher James Ward (1843-1925) urged Cambridge University to establish a psychophysics
laboratory from the mid-1870s forward, it was not until the 1891 that they put so much as £50 toward some basic
apparatus (Bartlett, 1937). A laboratory was established through the assistance of the physiology department in 1897
and a lectureship in psychology was established which first went to W. H. R. Rivers (1864-1922). Soon Rivers was
joined by C. S. Myers (1873-1946) and William McDougall (1871-1938). This group showed as much interest in
anthropology as psychology, going with Alfred Cort Haddon (1855-1940) on the famed Torres Straits expedition of
1898.
In 1901 the Psychological Society was established (which renamed itself the British Psychological Society in 1906),
and in 1904 Ward and Rivers co-founded the British Journal of Psychology.