Timeline Flashcards
1879
Wundt opened the first experimental psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany and, as a result, Psychology began to emerge as its own discipline. Before this, in the 17-191hcenturies, psychology only was regarded as an experimental branch within philosophy.
1900
Freud established the psychodynamic approach. He highlighted the importance of the unconscious mind on behaviour and developed his own therapy called psychoanalysis.
1913
Watson and Skinner established the behaviourist approach. They criticised Freud and Wundt, arguing that true scientific psychology should restrict itself to studying phenomena that can be directly observed and measured. They believed that all behaviour is learnt and that psychologists should only be interested in observable behaviours.
1950s
Rogers and Maslow developed the humanistic approach. They rejected the views put forward by both the behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches and emphasised the importance of free will by attempting to understand the whole person.
1960
Ten years later, the cognitive approach emerged with the introduction of the computer. The cognitive approach was interested in studying mental processes; cognitive psychologists believe that we can make inferences about how the mind works based on results from laboratory experiments.
1980
The biological approach began to surface as the dominant approach in psychology. This was due to advances in technology, for example, brain scans that allow psychologists to have an increased understanding of the functioning human brain.
2000
Most recently, cognitive neuroscience- has emerged in the forefront of psychology, which brings together the biological and cognitive approaches. This approach investigates how biological structures influence mental states.
