Major Contributors to Early Psychology
Aristotle
(384-322 BC)
suggested that the heart is the mechanism of mental processes.
John Locke
(1632-1704)
described the human mind as a "blank slate" that is shaped by our experiences.
Charles Darwin
(1809-1882) was best known for his theory of evolution and survival of the fittest.
His work led to a great deal of study on evolution in many different fields including psychology.
Wilhelm Wundt
(1832-1920) established the first laboratory in Germany marking the beginning of the formal study of behavior. One of his students, G. Stanley Hall would later open a laboratory at John Hopkins University.
William James
(1842-1910)
published Principles of Psychology, which later became the foundation for functionalism.
Ivan Pavlov
(1849-1936)
published the first studies on classical conditioning. He is most known for classical conditioning of dogs.
Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
began Psychodynamic theory based on unconscious desires and childhood trauma.
John Watson
(1878-1958)
is known as the
founder of Behaviorism.
G. Stanley Hall
(1844-1924) received the first American Ph.D. in psychology in (1878). He later founded the American Psychological Association (1892).
Jean Piaget
(1896-1980) developed the stages of cognitive development. He believed that changes in cognition progressed through a series of stages throughout the life span through a combination involving both nature and nurture.
B.F. Skinner
Photo Citation: Silly Rabbit. (1950). B.F. Skinner.. [Image]. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:B.F._Skinner_at_Harvard_circa_1950.jpg
(1904-1990)
built on the work of Pavlov with operant conditioning.
Abraham Maslow
(1908-1970)
was a leader in the Humanistic movement in psychology. He arranged human needs on a ladder with basic needs at the bottom and higher goals and needs at the top with the idea that before people can achieve higher goals their basic needs must be met first.
Frantz Fanon
Photo Citation: Public Domain. (n.d.). Frantz Fanon.. [Image]. Available from http://www.blackpast.org/gah/fanon-frantz-1925-1961
(1929-1961)
was a French Psychiatrist born on the Caribbean island of Martinique. He wrote Black Skin, White Mask, an analysis of the negative psychological effects of colonial subjugation upon Black people and the psychology of oppression.
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