Brief History of Psychology

BRIEF HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

1860	Gustav Fechner writes a book which began to define the discipline of psychology.
1879	Wilhelm Wundt establishes the first experimental psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany. His theory of structuralism has the goal of understanding the structure of the human mind by using scientific introspection. Structuralism was further developed and brought to the US by one of Wundt's students, Edward Titchener.
1890	William James publishes his landmark book, Principles of Psychology, the first psychology textbook. His theory of functionalism stresses not mind structure, but rather why people do what they do. Studied the "stream of consciousness."
1898	Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, conducts his landmark classical conditioning experiments with dogs. Roots the Behaviorist theory are formed.
1900	Sigmund Freud becomes internationally famous with the publication of his book, The Interpretation of Dreams. The Psychoanalytic theory is formed.
1920s	John B. Watson, the father of Behaviorism writes and presents many papers which establish Behaviorism as one of two major forces in psychology.
1930s - 1940s	The Psychoanalytic theorists (Freud and followers) and Behaviorists (Watson and followers) battle for dominance in psychology.
Late 1940s	Abraham Maslow turns from his Behaviorist root to begin the formation of the third major force in psychology, the Humanistic perspective, often called the "third force" in psychology.
1948	American Psychological Association holds major Boulder, Colorado conference. Resolution is made to move psychology from a theoretical, to a more scientifically research-based discipline
1950s	B.F. Skinner publishes controversial, popular books, which further develop the Behaviorist theory.
1951	Carl Rogers furthers the Humanistic theory with the publication of his revolutionary book, Client-Centered Therapy.
1960s	Albert Bandura and John Dollard begin to move Behaviorism away from studying only overt behavior to understanding underlying cognitions believed to produce behavior. The Cognitive perspective is formed.
1970s	Psychology becomes popular with the general public. A myriad of self-help books become best sellers.
1980s	Neuropsychological perspective is officially formed as psychology turns its focus to understanding the biological roots of behavior, thinking, emotion. Evolutionary perspective is formed with the main focus of studying how behavior patterns in humans and animals have evolved to solve problems and adapt to environmental changes.
Current & Future	1990s, 2000 and beyond, the neuropsychological perspective continues to be the hottest area of research. Researchers now, and apparently for some time in the future, will be focused on trying to understand all aspects of behavior, thinking and emotion in terms of their biological causes.