What historical events influenced the way basic psychological science is conducted today?
***Basic psychology is the science of learning for the sake of
knowledge. Basic science asks three questions: What happened?,
How did it happen?, and Why did it happen? The goal of basic psychology
is to control behavior.***
Three Historical Roots of Basic Psychology — outline taken from Dr. John A. Johnson‘s PSY 2 lecture —
- GERMAN SCIENCE
- BRITISH PHILOSOPHY
- AMERICAN BEHAVIORISM
William R. Marmie from the Ph.D. Psychology Program at the University of Colorado, Boulder provides links to many of the “Individuals in the History of Psychology“. He also lists “Organizations interested in the History of Psychology”.
The Psychology Department of The University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, N. B., Canada provides many links to materials for “The History of Psychology” with their HistPsyc Headlines.
The University of Oregon Honors College in Eugene, Oregon states that William Wundt’s 1876 book, Physiological Psychology focused ” on the introspective method to understand the mind”. This site also provides a brief history of psychology from 1900 through today.
Serendip provides an extensive history of psychology in Mind, Brain, and the Experimental Psychology of Consciousness and states that “Experimental psychology, born with Fechner, nurtured by Helmholtz and Doners, was to be raised by Wundt”.
Shawn Bayern, a student at Yale University, created and maintains a web page taken from Professor Kurt Frey’s psychology class. He provides a definition type list of philosophers, physiologists, and schools of thought in psychology along with some review questions.
“Psychology in America”, provided by Serendip, focuses on the works of authors in their discussion of “Mind, Body, and Culture: American Psychology before William James”.
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy provides a definition and description of Behaviorism. The description tells that John Watson believed “the only way to accurately interpret someone’s mental states was through observing their behavior”.
Return to Aspects of Psychology
Return to History of Basic Psychology
cxp220@email.psu.edu12-10-96