Wilhelm WUNDT
- Father of psychology, wanted to establish the study of the mind as a science.
- Analyzed the mind in terms of its basic components [STRUCTURALISM]
William JAMES
- Prof of psych, philo and physiology at Harvard.
- Was a “big-picture” person and liked to look at things as a whole [FUNCTIONALISM]
Wolfgang KOHLER
- Researched apes and other animals, concluded intelligence is the ability to perceive relationships (insight)
- His research into insight learning opened new doors for the subjects of perception, intelligence and problem solving.
Jean PIAGET
- Observed the development of intelligence in children.
- Noted that cognitive development happened in stages and is completely independent from a child’s past experiences.
Albert ELLIS and Aaron BECK
- Irrational thought patterns caused depression, not environment.
Sigmund FREUD
- Studied hysteria, concluded that human nature is violent and sexual.
- Repression mechanisms within the brain.
- Adult personality is strongly influenced by our childhood experiences.
- Never ending internal struggle between violence and repression.
Ivan PAVLOV
- Classical conditioning of dogs [British Empiricism]
John B. WATSON
- Proper subject of psychology is observable behavior. Behavior is influenced by the surrounding environment. [Behaviourism]
- “Give me a dozen infants and I can raise them up to be anything”
B. F. SKINNER
- “A person does not act upon the world, it acts upon him”
- Stated mental events, images and thoughts are not causes of behavior, environment is cause of behavior [Modern Behaviorism]
Carl ROGERS
- Humanistic Theory of Self-Conditioning
- Created an entirely new area of Clinical Therapy.
Karl LASHLEY, Wilder PENFIELD
- Wondered how different areas of the cerebral cortex affected the brain and its functions.
- PENFIELD was able to create a detailed map of the brain and its functional areas.
Kurt LEVIN
- Interested in the field of social psychology.
- Believed that people acted as part of a group rather as an individual in society.
Rene DESCARTES
- Wondered how is it that people feel things? Suggested the idea of a reflex arc
- Suggested information was processed in a central brain region.
Gustav FECHNER
- Into measurement, and wanted to know how to measure what we hear, see, or feel.
William JAMES and Mary CALKINS
- JAMES founding father of psychology in the US, was interested in the physiology of learning.
- CALKINS was first women to have degree in Harvard, first women Pres. Of American Association of Psychology.
