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Psych Timeline
Psych Timeline
History of Psychology
Objective: Students will be required to construct a timeline from provided
information, and evaluate the changes in psychology over time.
Essential Questions:
How has psychology changed over time?
How has the rate of change been affected?
How have psychologists influenced one another?
How has technology changed psychology?
How has the view of the mind changed?
How has the treatment of the mentally ill changed?
How was the psychological world influenced by significant events in world history?
1879 Structuralism
Structuralism is the view that all mental experiences can be understood as a
combination of simple elements or events. This approach focuses on the
structure of conscious mind, contrasting with functionalism. Structuralist's
attempted to study the mind through by introspection (looking inwards at
one's own mental experience). Introspections aim was to analyze conscious
though into its component parts (such as images, sensations and feelings).
One structuralist, Titchener, claimed there were a total of 46,708 basic
sensations that combined to form the structure of the human mind
1890 Functionalism
An early psychological approach pioneered by William James which emphasizes
the function or purpose of behavior and consciousness, as opposed to the
study of the structure of conscious mind advocated by structuralism.
Influenced by the evolutionary theories of Darwin, James argued that the
various behaviors and thoughts are functional to helped a person survive and
adapt to their environment. According to James, the role of a psychologist is
to figure out the underlying causes and practical implications of behaviors
and mental processes.
1900 Psychoanalysis
The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, asserts that people are
motivated by powerful, unconscious drives and conflicts, processes of which
we are not aware. Freud argued that conscious awareness is merely the tip of
the iceberg. Beneath the visible tip, lies the unconscious part of the mind,
containing unrevealed wishes, passions, guilty secrets, unspeakable
yearnings, and conflicts between desires and duty. We are not aware of our
unconscious urges and thoughts as we go about our daily business, yet they
make themselves known in dreams, slips of the tongue, apparent accidents,
and even jokes.
1933 Nazi Persecution of Psychologists After the Nazi party gains control of
the government in Germany, scholars and researchers in psychology and
psychiatry are persecuted. Many, including Freud, whose books are banned
and burned in public rallies, move to Britain or the United States.