HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

PREPARED BY DR.I.K. EVBUOMA

(REFERENCED)
INTRODUCTION

The Study of Psychology as a scholarly field dates

back to Ancient Greeks.
Knowledge from other fields also inputted what was
to become psychology.
Such fields include physiology, neuroscience,
sociology and anthropology.
Psychological thought existed in Ancient Egypt also.
NINETEENTH CENTURY

 Until 1870s, Psychology was the branch of the domain of

Philosophy.
 In 1879 however, Psychology, as a self conscious field of
experimental study began in Leipeg, in Germany.
 There, Wilhelm Wundt founded the first laboratory
dedicated exclusively to psychological research.
 The first person to ever refer to himself as a psychologist
was Wilhelm Wundt.
 Ferdinand Ueberwasser (1752-1812), a notable precursor
of Wundt, had earlier designated himself as Professor of
Empirical Psychology and Logic in 1783. He gave lectures
on Scientific Psychology and Logic at the Old University
of Munster, Germany.
 Others who contributed then to the field included
Hermann Ebbingaus (a pioneer in the field of “memory”;
William James, (American father of Pragmatism); and
Ivan Pavlov (who developed the procedures associated
with classical conditioning).
 Followed by the development of experimental psychology were
the emergence of various applied fields of psychology.
 Scientific pedagogy was brought from the U.S. by G. Stanley in
the early 1880s, followed by John Dewey’s Educational Theory
(1890s) and Hugo Munsterber (application of Psychology to
Industry, law, and other fields).
 In 1890, Lightmer Whitmer established the first psychology
clinic. Catell adapted Francis Galton’s onthropometric methods to
generate the first program of mental testing in 1890s.
TWENTIETH CENTURY

 Edward Titchener’s critique of Wundt’s empiricism

contributed to the formulation of behaviourism, fathered
by John B Watson but popularised by B.F Skinner.
 It proposed emphasis on the study of overt behaviour, as
that behaviour that can be quantified and easily measured.
 On the contrary, earlier behaviourists had considered the
study of the ‘mind’ too vague for productive scientific
study.
 B.F. Skinner and his colleagues however conceived “thinking”
as a form of couvert behaviour to which the same principles of
overt (observable) behaviour could be applied.
 In the final decades of the 20th Century, there came the rise of
Cognitive Science, an interdisciplinary approach to the study
of the human mind.
 The same considers the ‘mind’ as a subject for investigation,
aided by the study of tools such as linguistics, computer
science, philosophy, behaviourism, evolutionary psychology,
and neurobiology.
THE GROWING HUMANISM IN THE
THERAPEUTIC PRACTICE 1930 ONWARDS
 PROPONENTS/FOUNDERS  HUMANISTIC CONCEPTS
 Carl Rogers  (i). Existential Psychology
 Abraham Maslow  (ii). Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy
 (iii). Positive Psychology
 Gordon Allport, (Led by Martin Selman).
 Eric Fromm  (iv). C.R’s Cloninger’s approach to
wellbeing and charcter development.
 Rolo May
 (v). Transpersonal Psychology
(incorporating Spirituality, Self-
transcendence, Self realization, Self
Actualization and Mindfulness).
 According to this form of investigation, it is proposed that a
wide understanding of the human mind is possible, and such
understanding can be applied to other research domain; an
example of which is emotional intelligence.

 The conceptual divisions in psychology based on its schools

and historical trends show a growing humanism in
therapeutic practice from 1930 onwards, in response to
Watson’s behaviourism and Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic
determinism tendencies.
 For purposes of clarity, the divisions concepts generated in
psychology, as they emerged historically are described as
‘waves’ or ‘forces’, based on their schools (of thoughts).
 Such divisions are categorized in the next slide from the
earliest to the farthest :
 FIRST WAVE - Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. (This was the
initial Behaviour Therapy)
 SECOND (FORCE OR) WAVE - Cognitive Therapy. (By Albert
Ellis)
 THIRD FORCE OR THIRD WAVE (Humanistic Psychology) – Has
to do with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.(Emphasis is
on one’s pursuit of values &methods of self awareness))
 FORTH WAVE - Is all about Transpersonal Concepts and
positive flourishing.
 FIFTH WAVE - Denotes Integration of earliest Concepts into a
Unified View or Unifying Theory
 REFERENCES
Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopaedia.