THE IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING
THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
➢ Learn a lot about contemporary psychology
➢ Objectives and methods used in psychology are always changing
➢ What may seem the best method/most important one day, may be
the opposite the next day
➢ I.e. Many ideas rejected years ago are now regarded as
ground-breaking and very important
NATURE VS NURTURE
Nature
Assumes that the basis of human behavior is determined by hereditary
factors
Nurture
Assumes that human behavior is determined by the experiences people
have throughout their life (focuses a lot on the influence of the
environment)
SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY
VS
PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Scientific psychology
● Studies behavior in experimental way
● Based on the idea that behavior is based on objective (therefore
replicable) biological processes (therefore replicable)
Philosophical psychologists
● Viewed behavior as a social phenomenon that could not be reduced
to biological factors and studied experimentally
, WILHELM WUNDT
➢ Founder of psychology
➢ 1879: started a psychological laboratory in Leipzig
➢ He saw psychology as an experimental science (therefore conducted
psychological experiments)
➢ Believed that not all phenomena could be investigated with the use
of experiments
➢ I.e. he found that higher order psychological processes could not be
investigated through experiments (therefore, focused mainly on
general aspects of human psychology - perception)
Distinction between Wundt-1 and Wundt-2
Wundt-1
● Experimental/science approach
● Performs psychological experiments in his laboratory
● Focused on general aspects of perception
Wundt-2
● Philosopher
● Studies and writes about topics that have to do with our conscious
and creative mind
● Studied phenomena
○ Language
○ Thoughts
○ Social behavior
ARISTOTLE
➢ Author of the first book about psychology
Psyche
● Refers to 'the power of life' (power of perception and knowledge)
● The term introduced 'biology' and 'psychology' in today’s world
Why the church agreed with his philosophy
● His distinction between heaven and earth
● All objects move to a 'natural place' (so that people belonged to the
earth, had to do their work and had to accept their social rank)
The role of the church’s agreement with the redistribution of philosophy
● After the middle ages, roman knowledge was lost so therefore
people only learned to read, write and copy writings from churches
(therefore his)
● The first universities arose from churches
, THE EFFECT OF GALILEO'S
DISCOVERY
the moon revolves around Jupiter
↓
other planets do not all orbit the earth
↓
the earth is not the center of the universe
➢ Led to many new ideas
➢ Researchers and scientists went from:
being interested in understanding why the universe is the way
it is
↓
rather how the universe operates
MECHANISMS
=> The universe was regarded as material (made from matter)
When it was discovered that earth was not the center of the universe, the
universe was regarded as not being full of planets anymore and instead
mechanistic
How has it has affected science
Analysis method
● Came about from wanting to know how something works
● The researcher first dissects an object into smaller parts (such as
atoms) and then tries to understand how these parts interact and
explain how the object works
Quantification
● Phenomena can only be studied if the elements that make it up are
quantifiable
● Why? because it’s objective (measurements not dependent on
observer)
Reductionism
● Explain or reduce, all the behavior of matter in terms of the
components that are found at the most basic level of organization:
the atoms.
● About reducing certain phenomena at a certain level of organization
to phenomena that are at a lower level of organization
How mechanisms have affected society
THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY
➢ Learn a lot about contemporary psychology
➢ Objectives and methods used in psychology are always changing
➢ What may seem the best method/most important one day, may be
the opposite the next day
➢ I.e. Many ideas rejected years ago are now regarded as
ground-breaking and very important
NATURE VS NURTURE
Nature
Assumes that the basis of human behavior is determined by hereditary
factors
Nurture
Assumes that human behavior is determined by the experiences people
have throughout their life (focuses a lot on the influence of the
environment)
SCIENTIFIC PSYCHOLOGY
VS
PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Scientific psychology
● Studies behavior in experimental way
● Based on the idea that behavior is based on objective (therefore
replicable) biological processes (therefore replicable)
Philosophical psychologists
● Viewed behavior as a social phenomenon that could not be reduced
to biological factors and studied experimentally
, WILHELM WUNDT
➢ Founder of psychology
➢ 1879: started a psychological laboratory in Leipzig
➢ He saw psychology as an experimental science (therefore conducted
psychological experiments)
➢ Believed that not all phenomena could be investigated with the use
of experiments
➢ I.e. he found that higher order psychological processes could not be
investigated through experiments (therefore, focused mainly on
general aspects of human psychology - perception)
Distinction between Wundt-1 and Wundt-2
Wundt-1
● Experimental/science approach
● Performs psychological experiments in his laboratory
● Focused on general aspects of perception
Wundt-2
● Philosopher
● Studies and writes about topics that have to do with our conscious
and creative mind
● Studied phenomena
○ Language
○ Thoughts
○ Social behavior
ARISTOTLE
➢ Author of the first book about psychology
Psyche
● Refers to 'the power of life' (power of perception and knowledge)
● The term introduced 'biology' and 'psychology' in today’s world
Why the church agreed with his philosophy
● His distinction between heaven and earth
● All objects move to a 'natural place' (so that people belonged to the
earth, had to do their work and had to accept their social rank)
The role of the church’s agreement with the redistribution of philosophy
● After the middle ages, roman knowledge was lost so therefore
people only learned to read, write and copy writings from churches
(therefore his)
● The first universities arose from churches
, THE EFFECT OF GALILEO'S
DISCOVERY
the moon revolves around Jupiter
↓
other planets do not all orbit the earth
↓
the earth is not the center of the universe
➢ Led to many new ideas
➢ Researchers and scientists went from:
being interested in understanding why the universe is the way
it is
↓
rather how the universe operates
MECHANISMS
=> The universe was regarded as material (made from matter)
When it was discovered that earth was not the center of the universe, the
universe was regarded as not being full of planets anymore and instead
mechanistic
How has it has affected science
Analysis method
● Came about from wanting to know how something works
● The researcher first dissects an object into smaller parts (such as
atoms) and then tries to understand how these parts interact and
explain how the object works
Quantification
● Phenomena can only be studied if the elements that make it up are
quantifiable
● Why? because it’s objective (measurements not dependent on
observer)
Reductionism
● Explain or reduce, all the behavior of matter in terms of the
components that are found at the most basic level of organization:
the atoms.
● About reducing certain phenomena at a certain level of organization
to phenomena that are at a lower level of organization
How mechanisms have affected society
