A Historical Timeline of Modern Psychology

six famous psychologists posing in front of college building
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The timeline of万博maxbetx官网登陆spans centuries, with the earliest known mention ofclinical depression在公元前1500年的古埃及手稿知道n as the Ebers Papyrus. However, it was not until the 11th century that the Persian physician Avicenna attributed a connection between emotions and physical responses in a practice roughly dubbed "physiological psychology."

Some consider the 17th and 18th centuries the birth ofmodern psychology(主要特点是威利的出版am Battie's "Treatise on Madness" in 1758). Others consider the mid-19th century experiments done in Hermann von Helmholtz's lab to be the start of modern psychology.

Many say that 1879, when Wilhelm Wundt established the first experimental psychology lab, was the true beginning of psychology as we know it. From that moment forward, the study of psychology would continue to evolve as it does today. Highlighting that transformation were a number of important, landmark events.

Important Psychology Events: 19th Century

The 19th century was when psychology was established as an empirical, accepted science. While measures would change within that 100-year span, the model of research and evaluation would begin to take shape.

  • 1878:G. Stanley Hallbecomes the first American to earn a Ph.D. in psychology.
  • 1879:Wilhelm Wundtestablishes thefirst experimental psychology labin Leipzig, Germany dedicated to the study of the mind.
  • 1883: G. Stanley Hall opens the first experimental psychology lab in the U.S. at Johns Hopkins University.
  • 1885: Herman Ebbinghaus publishes his seminal "Über das Gedächtnis" ("On Memory") in which he describes learning and memory experiments he conducted on himself.
  • 1886:Sigmund Freudbegins offering therapy to patients in Vienna, Austria.
  • 1888:James McKeen Cattellbecomes the first professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. He would later publish "Mental Tests and Measurements," marking the advent of psychological assessment.
  • 1890:William Jamespublishes "Principles of Psychology." Sir Francis Galton establishes correlation techniques to better understand the relationships between variables in intelligence studies.
  • 1892: G. Stanley Hall forms theAmerican Psychological Association(APA), enlisting 26 members in the first meeting.
  • 1896: Lightner Witmer establishes the first psychology clinic in America.
  • 1898:Edward Thorndikedevelops theLaw of Effect.

Important Psychology Events: 1900 to 1950

The first half of the 20th century was dominated by two major figures: Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. It was a time when the foundation of analysis was built, including Freud's examination of psychopathology and Jung's analytic psychology.

  • 1900: Sigmund Freud publishes his landmark book, "Interpretation of Dreams."
  • 1901: The British Psychological Society is established.
  • 1905:Mary Whiton Calkinsis elected the first woman president of the American Psychological Association. Alfred Binet introduces theintelligence test.
  • 1906:Ivan Pavlovpublishes his findings onclassical conditioning.Carl Jungpublishes "The Psychology of Dementia Praecox."
  • 1911:Edward Thorndike publishes "Animal Intelligence," which leads to the development of the theory ofoperant conditioning.
  • 1912:Max Wertheimerpublishes "Experimental Studies of the Perception of Movement," which leads to the development ofGestalt psychology.
  • 1913: Carl Jung begins to depart from Freudian views and develops his own theories, which he refers to as analytical psychology.John B. Watsonpublishes "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views" in which he establishes the concept of behaviorism.
  • 1915: Freud publishes work on repression.
  • 1920: Watson and Rosalie Rayner publish research on classical conditioning of fear with their subject,Little Albert.
  • 1932:Jean Piagetbecomes the foremost cognitive theorist with the publication of his work "The Moral Judgment of the Child."
  • 1942:Carl Rogersdevelops the practice ofclient-centered therapy, which encourages respect and positive regard for patients.

Important Psychology Events: 1950 to 2000

The latter half of the 20th century was centered around the standardization of the diagnostic criteria of mental illness, hallmarked by the release of theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)by the American Psychiatric Association. It is the foundational tool still in use today to direct diagnosis and treatment.

  • 1952: The first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is published.
  • 1954:Abraham Maslowpublishes "Motivation and Personality," describing his theory of ahierarchy of needs. He is one of the founders ofhumanistic psychology.
  • 1958: Harry Harlow publishes "The Nature of Love," which describes the importance of attachment and love in rhesus monkeys.
  • 1961:Albert Banduraconducts his now-famousBobo doll experimentin which child behavior is described as a construct of observation, imitation, and modeling.
  • 1963: Bandura first describes the concept of observational learning to explain aggression.
  • 1974:Stanley Milgrampublishes "Obedience to Authority," which describes the findings of his famousobedience experiments.
  • 1980: The DSM-III is published.
  • 1990: Noam Chomsky publishes "On the Nature, Use, and Acquisition of Language."
  • 1991: Steven Pinker publishes an article introducing his theories as to how children acquire language, which he later publishes in the book "The Language Instinct."
  • 1994: The DSM-IV is published.

Important Psychology Events: 21st Century

With the advent of genetic science,psychologistsare now grappling with the ways in which physiology and genetics contribute to a person's psychological being.

  • 2002: Steven Pinker publishes "The Blank Slate," arguing against the concept oftabula rasa(the theory that the mind is a blank slate at birth). Avshalom Caspi offers the first evidence that genetics are associated with a child's response to maltreatment. Psychologist Daniel Kahneman is awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his research on how people make judgments in the face of uncertainty.
  • 2003: Genetic researchers finish mapping human genes, with the aim of isolating the individual chromosomes responsible for physiological and neurological conditions.
  • 2010:Simon LeVay publishes "Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why," which argues that sexual orientation emerges from prenatal differentiation in the brain.
  • 2013: TheDSM-5is released. Among other changes, the APA removes "gender identity disorder" from the list of mental illnesses and replaces it with "gender dysphoria" to describe a person's discomfort with their assigned gender.
  • 2014: John O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser, and Edvard Mosershare the Nobel Prizefor their discovery of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain that is key to memory and navigation.
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