Describe the key features of the historical development of modern day psychology particularly focusing on changes in explanation of human behaviour.

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Sarah Nicholls                07/05/2007

Unit 1 Perspectives

1. Describe the key features of the historical development of modern day psychology particularly focusing on changes in explanation of human behaviour.

The word psychology was derived from two Greek words, psyche meaning mind, soul, spirit and logos meaning study.  Philosophy was the predecessor to psychology. The new psychology differed from philosophy because psychology has a scientific influence while philosophy had been reflecting on and speculating about the mind.

In Europe around 1879 Wilhelm Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Wundt investigated the mind through introspection. He analysed conscious thought by recording research under controlled conditions. The emphasis was on measurement and control in a scientific manor, rather than speculation.

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Around the same time a wealthy Irish American called William James opened the 1st psychology laboratory in America at Harvard University in 1875. Like Wundt, James applied some of the principles of science to human behaviour. These two men are considered the ‘founding fathers of psychology’.

In Europe in the late 19th century as a reaction against Wundts Structulisum the Gestalt schools of psychology was opened in Austria and Germany. Psychologist Sigmund Freud started publishing his theories on psychoanalysis in which the unconscious mind played a critical role and this represented a major alternative to James and Wundt. Freud combined ...

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