Events that Influenced

Psychology

Circa 460 – 377 B.C

The ancient Greeks generally believed that the
gods punished people for wrongdoing by causing
them confusion and madness. However, the
Greek physician Hippocrates rejected these
beliefs.

between years 10 - 20
Chinese rulers conducted the first
psychological exams, requiring
public officials to take personality
and intelligence tests.

the late 800’s

Persian Dr. Mohammed Eibon
Acharya was one of the first to
describe mental illness and even
treated patients.

1500’s
Polish astronomer Nicolaus
Copernicus challenged the widely
held view that the sun revolved
around Earth, suggesting instead
that Earth revolves around the sun.

1600s
English scientist Sir Isaac
Newton formulated the laws of
gravity and motion.

1700s
French scientist Antoine Lavoisier
founded the science of chemistry
and explained how animals and
plants behaved use oxygen in

respiration.
 John B.
Watson

1858-1978
John B Watson was the founder of the school of
behaviorism and defined psychology as the
scientific study of observable behavior.

1879
in Germany, Wilhelm Wundt set up the
first psychology laboratory and
published the principles of physiological
psychology. Wilhelm and his student,
such as Eduard Bradford Titchener,
founded a field of psychology known as
structuralism.

1886
Austrian neurologist Sigmund
Freud started his own practice
of specialized disorders.

a 2+ b 2 2
1890 =c
William James published his book
defining psychology as the science of
mental life.

1900
Freud published his book called the
interpretation of dreams, where he
used his theory of psychoanalysis. He
believed that our personalities are
shaped by unconscious motives.

Early 20th Century (~1912)

2
Gestalt psychology was developed as an alternative to

behaviorism and structuralism, and it takes the idea that our

perceptions of objects are more than the sum of their parts.
German psychologists formed the core of the school of Gestalt
psychology in the early 20th century which rejected the
behaviorist notion that psychologists should concentrate only
on observable behavior.

1938
American Psychologist B.F Skinner
published the book behavior of organisms,
which focused on observable behavior
(rats in a maze).