The philosophers of sixth century B.C were already discussing over various problems of psychology. Democritus (480 - 370 B.C.) Greek philosopher, who developed the atomic theory of the universe, which had been originated by his mentor, the philosopher Leucippus. According to his exposition of the atomic theory of matter, all things, even human are composed of minute, invisible, indestructible particles of pure matter (atoma, "Indivisibles") which move about eternally in infinite empty space (Kenon, "The Void").
He also pointed that different parts of the body are made up of different kinds of particles, which differ in their functioning. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was an eminent philosopher, who coined the term psychology which is derived from two words i.e. psyche and logos. Psyche means soul and logos means study. For Aristotle, Psychology was a study of the soul. Insisting that form (The essence, or unchanging characteristic element is an object) and matter (the common undifferentiated substratum of things) always exist together. Aristotle defined a soul as a "Kind of functioning of a body organized so that it can support vital functions."
In considering the soul as essentially associated with the body, he challenged the Pythagorean doctrine that the soul is a spiritual entity imprisoned in the body. Aristotle's doctrine in a synthesis of the earlier notion that the soul does not exist from the body and the platonic notion of a soul as a separate, non-physical entity whether any part of the human soul is immortal and if so, whether its immotiability is personal, are not entirely clear in his treatise on the soul.
Through the functioning of the soul, the moral and intellectual aspects of humanity are developed. Aristotle argued that human insight in his highest form (nouspoetikos, "Active mind") is not reducible to a mechanical "passive mind" that does not appear to transcend physical nature. Aristotle clearly stated the relationship between human insight and the sense is what has become a slogan of empiricism.
The view the knowledge is grounded in sense experience "There is nothing in the intellect," he wrote "that was not first in the sense." Aristotle also gives his primary principles of association. These principles explain how different thoughts are associated with each other in mind. St. Augustine (354-430 B.C.) said that introspection method helps to obtain pure knowledge rather than by sensory perception. He believes that, "will power of mind and soul is responsible for habits, response and beliefs." Through 15th century Aristotle's and Augustine's views were most popular. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) approved ideas of will power and beliefs given by Aristotle and Augustine. He modified concept of soul presented by Aristotle. Descartes (1596-1650) opposed Aquinas and presented the theory of Dualism.
According to him mind and body are different and interact with each other. He believes that mind affects body and body affects mind. He discussed physiological machanism of interaction between mind and body. Decartes is usually called as first psychologist of modern psychology.
In 17th century, John Locke (1632-1704) was another prominent philosophere. He adopted Radical Environment view-regarded the mind of person as birth as a tabular rasa, a blank stale upon, which imprinted knowledge and did not believe in intution or theories of innate -conceptions. Berkely (1658-1753) said that in depth perception, brain needs different forms of processing information from retina of eyes. He argues that reality does not exist in matter in the environment, but it is established in the mind. G.Fechner (1801-1887) was a German psychologist.
He became professor of Physics at the University of Leipzig in 1834, but in 1839, he turned to the study of psydrphysics (The relationship between Physics and psychology). He desired Fechner's law, a method for the exact measurement of sensation. F.C. Donders (1862) measured mentalabilities with the help of experiments on reaction time. Heremann Ebbinghuas (1850-1909) worked in field of memory. He formulated Decay theory of memory. He studied the speed of learning and forgetting and found that with the lapse of time, forgetting of learnt material takes place, which is fast in initial stages and gradually gets constant later. He also formulated nonsense syllabus, which are widely used in experiment of memory and forgetting.
The History of psychology as a scholarly study of the mind and behaviour dates back to the Ancient Greeks. Psychology as a self-conscious field of experimental study began in 1879, in Leipzig Germany, when Wilhelm Wundt founded the first laboratory dedicated exclusively to psychological research in Germany. Wilhelm wundt opened the Institute for Experimental Psychology at the university of Leipzig in Germany in 1879. This was the first laboratory dedicated to psychology, and its opening is usually thought of as the beginning of modern psychology. Indeed, Wundt is often regarded as the father of psychology. Studying the field's successes and mistake, alongside today's emerging findings, teaches students how to think critically about psychology, they say. Psychology history aslo demonstrate how the field began as developed in response to modern culture, politics, economics and current events.
Two men, working in the 19th century, are generally credited as being the founders of psychology as a science and academic discipline that was distinct from philosophy. Their names were Wilhelm Wundt and William James. Philosophical interest in behaviour and the mind dates back to the ancient civilization of Egypt, Greece, China and India, but psychology as a discipline didn't develop until the mid-1800s, when it evolved from the study of philosophy and began in German and American labs. Thus, Washburn never married and served as a professor at Vessar Collage for 36 years. She was a skilled researcher and prolific writer. Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt(1832-1920) is known to posterity as the "fatherbof experimental psychology" and the founder of the first psychology laboratory, whence he exerted enormous influence on the development of psychology as a discipline, escially in the united states. Sigmund Freud is perhaps the most well-known psychologist in history.
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behaviour, according to the American Psychology Association. Psychology is a multifaceted discipline and includes many sub-fields of study such areas as human development, sports, health, clinical, social behaviour and cognitive processes. Like all scientist, psychology researchers form hypotheses, devise experiment to gather data, and carefully analyze the result. Psychology journals are filled with such studies. Judged from this perspective, psychology is clearly a science. Experimental psychology uses classic, laboratory-based, scientific methods to study human behaviour:- it uses similar techniques to physics, chemistry, or biology often carried out in a lab, except that instead of studying light rays, chemical reaction, or beetles, the experiments involve ourselves and other people.
In 1892 Wilhelm Wundt defined psychology as the science which studies the "internal experiences". These psychologists gave up the metaphysical concept of mind as a spiritual substance. Psychology is a behaviour science, and deals with experience and behaviour of individuals. you may consider becoming a psychologist if you are interested in working with people and have a scientist mind. They use scientific method and knowledge about human mind and behaviour to help deal with practical problems such as- Helping people overcome depression, stress, trauma or phobias. Psychology is a science because it follows the empirical method. It is this emphasis on the empirically observable that made it necessary for psychology to change its definition from the study of the mind (because the mind itself could not be directly observed) to the science of behaviour. Jean Piaget, 84, a psychologist whose great sympathy for children and keen observation of how they cope with the world made him a principal founder of modern child psychology, died Tuesday in Geneva, Switzerland.
William james is considered to be the founder of functional psychology. But he could not consider himself as a functionalist, nor did he truly like the way science divided itself into schools. Introspection is the oldest method used in psychology. To introspect means "to look within". It is internal observation. Child psychology, also called child development, the study of the psychological processes of children and, specifically, how these processes differ from those of adults, how they develop from birth to the end of adolescence, and how and why they differ from one child to the next.
