1. Chapter 1 The History of Psychology

2. Traditional psychology has only existed for about 100 years, but its origins go back deeply into history. As far back as the Stone Age, people have been contemplating the reasons for behavior. Ancient Egyptians believed that inside each person was a smaller person called “Ka” who was responsible for behavior.

3. The ancient Greeks believed that much of our behavior stemmed from philosophy. Socrates taught his student Plato to “know thyself”. Later, Plato’s student, Aristotle taught that the mind and body were related and could not exist without each other. In ancient cultures people believed thoughts, dreams, confusion, bizarre behavior, and even madness were sent by gods.

4. The Greek physician, Hippocrates was an exception. He believed that they were caused by an abnormality in the brain. In the Middle Ages, many Europeans believed in demon possession. To determine whether a person was possessed, they would use the water- float test.

5. Great scientific advances were made during the 1500s-1700s. This led to the development of modern psychology in the 1800’s. Ideas about human behavior and mental processes should be supported by evidence. 1879 is usually pointed out as the year psychology began as a laboratory science.

6. Wilhelm Wundt (Structuralism) – Structuralists were concerned with discovering basic elements of conscious experience. Two separate categories: objective sensations, such as sight and taste, were assumed to accurately reflect the outside world; subjective feelings were thought to include emotional responses and mental images.

7. Structuralists believed that the human mind functioned by combining these basic elements of experience. William James (Functionalism) – Functionalists were concerned with how mental processes help organisms adapt to their environment. Functionalists believed that adaptive (successful) behavior patterns are repeated and eventually become habits.

8. John B. Watson (Behaviorism) – Watson believed that psychology must be limited to observable, measurable events (behaviors), not mental processes. B.F. Skinner – He was a behaviorist who added the concept of reinforcement. When you are rewarded for an action, you will repeat it. Gestalt – means “shape” or “form” in German.

9. This school was founded by Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler and was based on the idea that perceptions are more than the sums of their parts. Sigmund Freud – (School of Psychoanalysis) Freud emphasized the importance of unconscious motives and internal conflicts in determining human behavior.

10. Believed that unconscious processes, especially sexual and aggressive urges, are more important than conscious experience in governing people’s behaviors and feelings.