| Rudolph Goclenius, a German scholastic philosopher, is | | | | on interpretive methods and introspection, but he was |
| credited with conceiving the term "psychology" in the | | | | predominantly focused on determining mental distress |
| 1590s. The word psychology comes from the Greek | | | | and psychopathology. Freud's theories proved to be |
| word psyche, which means "soul" or "spirit." Earlier, | | | | extremely successful. Edward Thorndike and B.F. |
| psychology was also considered a study of the soul. | | | | Skinner were the pioneers who championed the |
| Until the end of the 19th century, psychology was | | | | concept of behaviorism. Behaviorism was the leading |
| considered to be a part of philosophy. | | | | model in psychology for much of the early 20th |
| In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt established a laboratory at the | | | | century, mainly due to the formation and thriving |
| University of Leipzig in Germany mainly to pay | | | | application of conditioning theories as scientific models |
| attention to the study of psychology. Later on, William | | | | of human behavior. |
| James published his book in 1890 entitled Principles of | | | | However, over a period of time it became evident that, |
| Psychology, which established a number of | | | | although behaviorism had made some significant |
| practicalities for the sort of questions that | | | | discoveries, it was wanting as a guiding theory of |
| psychologists would focus on for years to come. | | | | human behavior. Humanistic psychology surfaced in |
| Other important early contributors to the field included | | | | the 1950s and has continued as a retort to positive and |
| Hermann Ebbinghaus, who led the way in studies on | | | | scientific approaches to the mind. It lays emphasis on a |
| memory, and the Russian Ivan Pavlov, who revealed | | | | phenomenological view of human experience and |
| the learning process of classical conditioning. In the | | | | seeks to understand human beings and their behavior |
| meantime, Sigmund Freud, who was qualified as a | | | | by conducting qualitative research. |
| neurologist and had no recognized training in | | | | The history of psychology has evolved and developed |
| experimental psychology, established a functional | | | | considerably over the ages. Its study, research, and |
| method of psychotherapy known as psychoanalysis. | | | | findings have greatly helped in understanding both |
| Freud's understanding of the mind was largely based | | | | human behavior and the human mindset. |