Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña

Faculty of Humanities and Education

Psychology school

History of Psychology

Heidy Elibet Piña Peña 18-2181

Prisila Fulgencio 20-0419

Subject:
LEX-124-03

Teacher:
Nepturne Merant

Santo Domingo, D.N. 2022

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 Contents
Introduction.............................................................................................................. 3
What Is Psychology? ............................................................................................... 4
Background of Psychology ................................................................................... 4
History Of Psychology ............................................................................................. 5
Philosophical background .................................................................................... 5
Platón ................................................................................................................... 5
Aristóteles ............................................................................................................ 6
Scientific Development......................................................................................... 8
Scientific Psychology ............................................................................................... 9
Wilhelm Wundt ..................................................................................................... 9
Sigmund Freud................................................................................................... 10
Structuralism ...................................................................................................... 11
Functionalism ..................................................................................................... 11
Conductism ........................................................................................................ 11
The Gestalt......................................................................................................... 12
Humanism .......................................................................................................... 12
Cognitive Psychology ......................................................................................... 12
Conclusion............................................................................................................. 14
Bibliography........................................................................................................... 15

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 Introduction

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and experience, of how humans and
animals feel, think, learn, and know to adapt to their environment. Modern
psychology has been dedicated to collecting facts about behavior and experience,
and organizing them systematically, developing theories for their understanding.
These theories help to know and explain the behavior of human beings and on
some occasions even to predict their future actions, being able to intervene on
them.
Historically, psychology has been divided into several areas of study. However,
these areas are interrelated and frequently overlap with each other. Physiological
psychology, for example, studies the functioning of the brain and nervous system,
while experimental psychology applies laboratory techniques to study, for example,
perception or memory.
The areas of psychology can also be described in terms of application areas.
Social psychologists, for example, are interested in the influences of the social
environment on the individual and the way in which they act in groups. Industrial
psychologists study the work environment of workers and educational
psychologists study the behavior of individuals and social groups in educational
environments. Finally, clinical psychology tries to help those who have problems in
their daily lives or suffer from a mental disorder.

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Psychology emerges as the way to answer questions. To be able to properly
establish history you must follow the trail of people, their ideas and the facts that
have led them to what is important in the present, therefore it is important to define
first:

What Is Psychology?

The word psychology comes from the Greek terms:

- psyche: which means soul, spirit and;
- logos: treatise, study.

Definition: Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes.

Behavior is everything that a person does agency, any action we can observe and
record. Mental processes are experiences internal subjective that we deduce from
the behavior: sensations, perceptions, dreams, thoughts, beliefs and feelings.
Psychology is not content with the description of behavior, it goes further; try
explain it, predict it and, finally, modify it.

Psychology has been defined in different epochs of history as the science that
studies the psyche or mind of people, as well as the spirit, consciousness and
behavior of the same.

Background of Psychology
Usually focuses on 3 areas of knowledge:

✓ Philosophy: Agreed on subjects under study and on basic reference

schemes.
✓ Natural Sciences: Which are contributions derived from physics and
biology, where biology provides the use of experimental methods for
the knowledge of man, some discoveries of the nervous system, as
well as ideas of biological evolutionism. Topics derived to understand
experimental psychology and differential psychology.
✓ Medicine: In particular Psychiatry which will influence what is
currently known as Clinical Psychology and not only in
Psychoanalysis.

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History Of Psychology
Psychology is the daughter of two parents:

o Philosophy: the search for wisdom through logical reasoning.

o Physiology: the study of vital processes of an organism.
Psychology comes from very different sources, but its origins as a science should
be found in the origins of philosophy, in ancient Greece.

Philosophical background
Platón and Aristóteles, like other Greek philosophers, addressed some of the basic
questions in psychology that are still studied today: Are people born with certain
aptitudes and abilities, and with a certain personality, or are they formed as a
consequence of experience? How does the individual come to know the world
around him? Are certain thoughts innate or are they all acquired?
Such questions were debated for centuries, but scientific psychology as such did
not begin until the 17th century with the work of the French rationalist philosopher
René Descartes and the British empiricists Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.
Descartes claimed that the human body was like clockwork, but that each mind (or
soul) was independent and unique. He maintained that the mind has certain innate
ideas, crucial for organizing the experience that individuals have of the world.
Hobbes and Locke, for their part, highlighted the role of experience in human
knowledge. Locke believed that all information about the physical world passes
through the senses, and that correct ideas can and should be verified with the
sensory information from which they.
The most influential current developed following Locke's point of view. However,
certain European psychologists who have studied perception would support the
Cartesian idea several centuries later that part of the mental organization is innate.
This conception still plays an important role in recent theories of perception and
cognition (thinking and reasoning).

Platón
Socrates and Platón referred to the term "soul" (psyché) and to questions of soul
life. Plato considered that the causes of behavior went back to the "type" of soul
that each being carried, distinguishing three categories: rational, irascible and
appetitive. In addition, Plato elaborates his theory on the intelligible world and the
sensible world, proposing that the soul is deceived by the senses and only truly
knows the world of ideas through understanding and intelligence, which according

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to him constitute true knowledge (in as opposed to imagination and belief, as lower
categories).

Platón realizes that the concept is the essence of the object and existence. This
union is the intellectual intuition of the idea. Only the idea exists and has essence.
Platón’s ideas are what really exist. What seems real to us in our life are only
shadows, illusions of what is really true and that is only perceived with the intellect.
These ideas do not change and are perfect.
Platón used to resort to stories to expose his philosophical thoughts, such as the
one that refers to the fact that man has memories prior to this life of other perfect
intellect experiences where spirits inhabit contemplating essences eternally.

It describes the reality of this life as a mere diffuse projection of the true things, in
the darkness of our understanding. These projections are not things, they look like
them but they are not real.
Knowledge is only obtained with the intellectual intuition of the true essences.
Platón recognizes a hierarchy and prioritizes the idea of good above all others.
Ideas for Platón are realities that exist, the only ones, because the things of this life
are only reflections of them. That is why his thought is considered a realism of
ideas, which are transcendent to man. The Christian religion is based on Platonic
philosophy.

Aristóteles
For Aristóteles, wisdom does not have practical purposes but tries to discover the
principles of reality, the first causes; it is a science that seeks knowledge in itself.
Man began by admiring reality and then tried to explain it, and thus philosophy was
born.

Metaphysics for Aristóteles is wisdom par excellence and is universal knowledge,

the most difficult, because it is the most abstract science that exists and the one
that least depends on the senses.
Aristóteles, like Platón, was convinced that the object of scientific knowledge is the
universal and that this universal is real, it has reality not only in the mind but also in
things, even though its existence in the thing does not have the formal universality
that has the understanding.

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For example, individual beings are part of the same species, they are real
substances, but they do not participate in a real, objective universal. Science deals
with the universal element in things, that is, with specific similarity.

This formal principle deserves the name of substance only in a secondary sense
because the essential element has a reality superior to that of the individual and
can be the object of science.

What makes an individual a substance of this or that species is the universal

element, the form of the thing, which the understanding abstracts.
For Aristóteles, the term substance has two meanings, the individual substance,
composed of matter and form, and the formal element or the specific essence that
corresponds to the universal concept, in relation to us, which does not mean that
they are such in nature, dignity, or time.
The true substance is for Aristóteles mainly form, immaterial and pure. They are
the first substances, independent of matter, like God, the intelligences of the
spheres and in man, the understanding.

Metaphysics therefore equals theology, because matter is unintelligible, only form

is intelligible.
Aristóteles recognizes four principles: matter, form, the source of movement, the
efficient cause, and the final cause.

Movement is a fact in the world. Aristóteles tells us that there must be a foundation
in the action of change, because there is always something previously potentially
modified and that by the action of some efficient cause receives a new update.

The actions always occur on something defined, but this raw material does not
exist as such but always exists in conjunction with the form that is what gives it its
character.
The raw material is an element that all bodies have, a power of transformation, a
pure potentiality.

There are therefore three factors of change, the form, the material and the privation
or requirement necessary for the change to take place.
So that two people can be identical in terms of their essence or human nature but
they differ because the matter informed is different.

The act, says Aristóteles, is first than power, because the act is the end, that for
which power exists or is acquired. What is eternal, imperishable, is actual in the
highest sense.

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Eternal things, says Aristotle, must be good, there can be no defect or evil or
perversion in them. There can be no separate bad principle, since what has no
matter is pure form. The cause of all goods is the Good itself. The immobile prime
mover that is the source of all movement is the final cause, the ultimate cause of
the actualization of power, that is, the cause for goodness to come to fruition.
Currently science knows that DNA contains all the necessary information of any
organism since it begins to exist. The action of each individual of a species will
allow the realization of its potential.

Scientific Development
Apart from this philosophical heritage, the field that has contributed the most to the
development of scientific psychology has been physiology, that is, the study of the
functions of the various organs and systems of the human body. The German
physiologist Johannes Müller attempted to relate sensory experience to the
activities of the nervous system and the physical environment of organisms, but the
first true representatives of experimental psychology were the German physicist
Gustav Theodor Fechner and the German physiologist Wilhelm Wundt. Both are
considered the fathers of current scientific psychology. Fechner developed
experimental methods to measure the intensity of sensations and relate it to that of
the physical stimuli that caused them, establishing the law that bears his name and
which is still today one of the basic principles of perception. Wundt, who in 1879
founded the first experimental psychology laboratory in the German city of Leipzig,
trained students from around the world in the new science.

Physicians, concerned with mental illness, also contributed to the development of

modern psychological theories. Thus, the systematic classification of these
diseases, developed by the pioneer of psychiatry Emil Kraepelin, established the
bases of the classification methods still in use. Best known, however, is the work of
Sigmund Freud, who developed the method of research and treatment known as
psychoanalysis. In his works, Freud drew attention to the drives (instincts) and the
unconscious processes that determine human behavior. This emphasis on the
contents of thought and the dynamics of motivation, rather than on the nature of
cognition itself, exerted a decisive influence on the development of contemporary
psychology.

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Scientific Psychology
Scientific Psychology began in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany, where a scientist named
Wihelm Wundt founded the first psychological laboratory in the world to examine
the conscious experience of people. In that same year, the scientific method
applied to human behavior was introduced; this method was used to find out how
sensations, images and feelings were formed in people; Likewise, the stimuli of
various kinds of lights, sounds and weights were observed and calculated in order
to discover how these elements affected the perceptions of the human mind.

Methodological Influence
Maintains that the sciences are the result of the intellectual attitude.
Rejects the Aristotelian-Atomist methodology, the speculative methodology;
axiomatic. Although the deductive methodology predominates.
Accepts the experimental method, based on observation, experimentation
and verification (predominance of induction)
Influence Of Biology

The most important contributions to scientific psychology were:

The application of the experimental method to human affairs.
Discoveries in research on the nervous system and its relationship with the
mind.
The biological ideas of evolutionary theory.

Wilhelm Wundt
He was the first scientific psychologist, since he created the first treatise on the
principles of physiological psychology; from which the scientific method is derived.

He believes that the object of psychology is the basic structure of the human mind,
that is, breaking it down into its elementary components (chemistry of the mind)
and creates the theory that man is a being passive with sensations.

The method that Wundt used for the structure of his scientific theories was
Introspection (that is, self-observation) in which he has a rigorous experimental
control with trained subjects, who were his own disciples, studies of the which
concluded that the only certain reality is immediate experimentation (the facts of
patent consciousness for the subject).

In order to reach this behavioral structure, Wundt was inspired by several currents
that give rise to structuralism as it is currently known. These currents are:

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 ✓ Empirical: Where different results were obtained in each laboratory, giving
as a general result a Cause- which would be the method (introspection) and
an effect, however, it is impossible to compare experiences.
✓ Theoretical: In this current it is impossible understand complex processes,
because it focuses on the observation of an object instead of observing
sensations such as the color or shape of said object, likewise it is observed
that at a distance two objects can be observed as if they were the same.

Sigmund Freud
He developed his theory in the field of medical practice by implementing therapy-
based applied psychology, rather than using academic science-research methods.
For this reason, it has little influence and dialogue with other schools of the time.
Freud applied an object consisting of the existence of 3 levels of consciousness
which he describes as:
1.The Conscious: Recognized Experiences.
2.The Preconscious: Easily accessible to Consciousness.
3.The Unconscious:
o Repressed ideas and experiences.
o Among its multiple studies is Retrospective-Introspection which consists of a
subject relating their experience, thus going back to the problem of origin.
This method is known as Therapy.
o Likewise, Freud maintains that the personality structure is based on three
(3) functional instances that are the motors of behavior, these being the IT
(ID) consisting of instincts (sex-aggression) for one's own pleasure.

Self O Ego: consisting of the rational satisfaction of the desires of the id (its
own reality).

The Super Self or Super Ego: Consisting of conscience, morality, and the
social. It is the one that represses the unacceptable and sends it to the
subconscious.
He maintains that there is a conflict between these three instances and as a
consequence of these conflicts new approaches arise with respect to dreams;
neurotic disorders and defense mechanisms (sublimation consisting of substituting
instinct for a socially accepted object such as sex, love, aggression and sports).

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Structuralism
The two most representative people of this school were:
o Wilhelm Wundt (1839-1920) Father of Psychology. He founded the first
laboratory of Experimental psychology in Leipzig (Germany) in 1879
(founding date of Psychology).

o Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927) Wundt's pupil. He defined his

master's job as "structuralism" and made it known in America.

The method used in their investigations was the analytical introspection.

The object of study is consciousness and the main idea of structuralists is based
on elementalism and associationism.

Structuralism, by being based on introspection as research method, did not have

enough confidence or resources that could increase the validity of your ideas.

Functionalism
The two most representative philosophers of this school were:
William James (1842-1910) Philosopher and psychologist. From the study of
structuralism James considered it a mistake to separate the mental structure into
parts elementals; for him, the real interest was in studying the functions derived
from our thoughts and feelings.
John Dewey (1859-1952) Philosopher, psychologist and educator. Valued for
introducing the functionalism and direct this pragmatic philosophy towards
education. He founded school psychology; he thought that the weight of education
was not should fall on the contents but on the needs of the students.
They developed many more research methods beyond introspection, including
questionnaires, mental tests and objective descriptions of the behaviors.
Both they and other functionalist thinkers. They wanted to accumulate knowledge
that could be apply to everyday life.

Conductism
John B Watson (1878-1958) American psychologist considered the founder of the
behavioral psychology. He thought the only way of understanding human actions
was through from the study of their behavior and facts observables. He is the
highest representative of classical conditioning.
Burrhus F. Skinner (1904-1990) American psychologist. His special contribution
has been in the area of operant conditioning.

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They replaced introspection, as a method of research, by laboratory studies on the
conditioning. If the type of response that a person or an animal would give to a
certain stimulus, they believed that it would be known the most important thing in
the mind.
With this orientation, the research was directed towards the animal
experimentation and work on the learning.

The Gestalt
Max Wertheimer (1880-1943) German psychologist, considered the founder of the
gestalt psychology. I thought that our perception was based on a series of laws
organizational, which he considered innate to be human.

Wolfgang Köhler (1887-1967) His most relevant contribution is the concept of

insight learning.
The object of study are the laws of organization perceptive of the human being.

They consider that the psychological phenomenon is itself itself a "whole" (gestalt),
because the properties of the parts without more do not define the whole that
result. Their ideas follow the principles of isomorphism and the totalism.

Humanism
The two most representative people of this school are:
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) Together with Rogers he founded the humanist
approach in psychology. One of his main contributions is his pyramid model of
human motivations.

Carl Rogers (1902-1987) He was a participant and instrumental manager in the

development of Client Centered Therapy.
Humanistic Psychology known as phenomenological they accentuate the
importance of subjectivity and the singular experience of the individual.
Humanists attach great importance to possibility that we all have of self-realization
through. Through creativity and personal development.

Cognitive Psychology
Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Who formulated a theory to explain the various levels of
cognitive development, or process of acquiring knowledge. Piaget assumes the
existence of a capacity continuously in growth for the acquisition of knowledge,
capacity that proceeds in an orderly sequence.

Donald Broadbent (1926-1993) Known for his contributions within the cognitive
framework to attention study.

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Cognitive psychologists do not settle for the behavior analysis in terms of simple
stimulus-response connections, but instead try to understand how the mind
processes information you perceive; that is, how it organizes, remember and use
this information.

Psychology is today a field with increasing specialization, the result of necessity

and new trends. Child psychologists, for example, have been influenced by the
observations and experiments of the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, and
psychologists interested in language and communication by the American Noam
Chomsky's linguistic revolution. Advances in understanding of animal behavior and
sociobiology have helped to significantly broaden interest and research techniques
in psychology. The ethological works of the Austrian zoologist Konrad Lorenz and
the Dutchman Nikolaas Tinbergen, who studied the animals in their natural habitats
and not in the laboratory, drew attention to the uniqueness of the species and
determined some key factors in understanding their behavioral development.
Another source of changes in modern psychology comes from recent advances in
information technology and computing, which have brought not only a new
approach to the approach to the study of cognitive functions, but also the tool to
evaluate complex theories about these processes. Computers are symbol
manipulators, that is, they receive coded (symbolic) information, transform it, and
use it according to their purposes. Electronic engineers are dedicated to
developing machines that perform complex tasks, such as making judgments or
decisions.
At the same time, some psychologists try to analyze behavior by comparing the
human mind to an information processor. Engineers investigate how people solve
the most difficult problems to try to reproduce them in the computer, while
psychologists have learned that their theories must be precise and explicit if they
are to program them, in order to make predictions of the most complex
psychological theories. For all these reasons, complex behaviors are increasingly
being studied today and more refined theories are being proposed and evaluated.

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Conclusion

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 Bibliography

https://www.studocu.com/es-mx/document/universidad-etac/introduccion-a-la-
psicologia/ensayo-sobre-la-historia-de-la-psicologia/2898498
https://www.elalmanaque.com/psicologia/historia.htm
https://psicologiaymente.com/psicologia/platon-historia-psicologia
http://historiadelapsicologia1ersemestre.blogspot.com/2010/09/platon-y-
aristoteles.html

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