Founding Psychologists

Chapter 1 Section 2

William Wundt

William Wundt

• Structuralist- interested in the basic elements of human experience

• Laboratory of Psychology- 1879 in Leipzig Germany

• Wanted to pursue the study of government in a systematic and scientific manner

• Established modern psychology as a separate formal field of study

William James

William James

• “Father of Psychology”• Taught the first class in psychology at Harvard

in 1875• Took him 12 years to write the first textbook

in Psychology• Theorized that thinking, feeling, learning, and

remembering have the major function of helping us survive as a species

William James

• Focused on functions or actions of the conscious mind and the goals or purpose of behavior

• Functionalists- study how animals and people adapt to their environments

Sir Francis Galton

Sir Francis Galton

• Wanted to understand how heredity influences a person’s abilities, character, and behavior

• Tracked eminent people and concluded genius or eminence is a hereditary trait

• Did not consider the possibility that the tendency of genius to run in distinguished families might be about the environmental and socioeconomic advantages

Sir Francis Galton

• Believed in “good” marriages• Raised the issue of heredity v. environment

which is a continued subject of debate and study in Psychology today.

Wolfgang Köhler

Wolfgang Köhler

• (1887-1967)• Argued that perception is more than the sum

of its parts- it involves the “whole pattern” (Gestalt in German)

• Studied how sensations are assembled into perceptual experiences

• Became the forerunner for cognitive approaches to the study of Psychology

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud

• Studied the unconscious mind– There lied primitive biological urges that are in

conflict with the requirements of society and morality

– Thought this was responsible for many medically unexplained physical symptoms that troubled his patients

Sigmund Freud

• Used free association for indirectly studying the unconscious processes

• Had the role of psychoanalysts• Still remains contreversial

Ivan Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov

• (1849-1936)• Behavioral Psychologist• Pavlov’s Dog’s experiment• Stressed and interest in observable behavior

versus studying the thought process

John B. Watson

John B. Watson

• Worked with Ivan Pavlov• Believed psychology should concern itself only

with the observable facts of behavior and maintained that all behavior, even apparently instinctive behavior, is the result of conditioning and occurs because the appropriate stimulus is presented in the environment

B. F. Skinner

B. F. Skinner

• (1904-1990)• Introduced the concept of reinforcement to

behavioralism• Wrote a novel on a Utopian society where

behavioralism and reinforcements controlled society

Abraham Maslow

Abraham Maslow

• Humanistic Psychologist• Describes nature as evolving and self-directed• Does not see humans as being controlled by

events in the environment or by unconscious forces

• The environment and other outside forces simply serve as a background to our own internal growth

Carl Rogers

Carl Rogers

• Another humanist• See Abraham Maslow

Jean Piaget

Jean Piaget

• Cognitive Psychologist• Focus on how we process, store, retrieve, and

use information• How that information influences our thinking,

language, problem solving, and creativity• Believes behavior is influenced by a variety of

mental processes– Perceptions, memories, and expectations