introduction to history of psychology

PRESENTATION ON

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Introduction and Brief History of Psychology by

Wajahat Ali Ghulam

Definition

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Psychology – A scientific study of human behavior and mental processes.

Etymologically, it came from the Greek words, Psyche which means “soul” or “mind”, and Logos which means “the study of.”

Behavior - Any response or activity of an organism. It can either be simple or complex; overt or covert; conscious or unconscious; voluntary or involuntary; rational or irrational.

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Definition

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Important People in the Dev’t. of Psychology

Important People in the Dev’t. of Psychology

Aristotle (384 –322 BC) – He made assumptions out of observation regarding human behavior. He believed that all beings, humans included, have souls, which animate them. Humans, however, compared to other animal, have rational souls. Thus, humans are not only, physical, but also rational. He also theorized about learning, memory, motivation, emotion, perception and personality.

Important People in the Dev’t. of Psychology

Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) - supported the view that humans enter the world with an inborn store of knowledge. He argued that some ideas (such as God, the self, perfection and infinity) are innate. He is also notable for his conception of the body as a machine that can be studied.

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Important People in the Dev’t. of Psychology

John Locke (1632–1704) - Believed that at birth the human mind is a “tabula rasa” or a blank slate, on which experience “writes” knowledge.

Important People in the Dev’t. of Psychology

Charles Darwin

(1809 – 1882) - He is the author of the

Law of Natural Selection or Theory of

Evolution; inspired the Psychological

school of thought, Functionalism.

Important People in the Dev’t. of Psychology

Francis Galton (1822–1911) - He was concerned with the study of individual differences. He was considered as the “Father of Mental tests”

Important People in the Dev’t. of Psychology

Ernst Weber (1795–1878); Gustav Fechner;

Herman von Helmholtz (1821–1894) German Physicians who started experimenting with behavior through scientific methodologies.

The First Microprocessor – 1971Wilhelm Wundt – Considered as the “Father of

Modern Psychology.” He established the first experimental laboratory for the study of Psychology, in Leipzig, Germany, 1879. He created a machine that measured the time lag between people’s hearing a ball hit the platform and their pressing a telegraph key. Wundt has seeking to measure the “atoms of the mind” – the fastest and simplest mental processes.

Important People in the Dev’t. of Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt - in his laboratory in Leipzig, Germany

G. Stanley Hall A student of Wundt’s who established what many consider as the first American psychology laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in 1883.

Important People in the Dev’t. of Psychology

Hermann Ebbinghaus

- A German who reported on the first experiments on memory, 1885.

Important People in the Dev’t. of Psychology

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