History of Modern Psychology
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For centuries mans fascination with themselves and each other has led to various theories. Most important the fascination with human nature has led to the development of the science of psychology. Psychologys answer to mans fascination and wondering has come about through the roots in other discipline; disciplines such as philosophy, biology, and physiology. This led to a science that aims to describe and explain how human thinks, how human feel, and how human acts. Psychology is the scientific study of human behavior and mental processes. The science of psychology has a history that goes back to ancient past. Back to the time of Plato and Aristotle but began to flourish and take shape in the 1600s. For one to have an appreciation for this science he or she must consider the root and various perspectives of psychology.
Modern psychology has come a long way since Rene Descartes and john Locke in the 16th century. The science of psychology began to flourish in the 1600s with philosophers Descartes and Locke contributing significant theories on human behavior, impacting the rise of modern psychology. “As a science psychology evaluates competing ideas with careful observations and vigorous analysis” (Myers, 2007. p. 2). Rene Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician who became influential and well-known in the field of psychology. He is the father of the mind-body interaction also known as the dualism theory. According to the dualism theory the mind and body are separate entities working together to build human experiences (Goodwin, 2008). While Descartes was working on his theory a British scientist Francis bacon was taking the science of psychology into a down-to-earth forum (Myers, 2007). Bacons theories were centered on experiments, experience, and common sense. He became one of the founding father of modern science, and his influence still hovers in experiments of todays psychological science. Some years after Bacons death a British philosopher, John Locke came up with the theory that ones experiences play an important role in personality and behavior. Locke and another British philosopher Thomas Hobbes argues that all human experience are physical process that occur within the brain. They both view the human mind and body as one entity. This theory disagrees with Descartes theory; Locke belief was that at birth the human mind is as blank as a white paper and on which experience writes (Goodwin, 2008. p. 40). Locke and Bacons theories aid in the formation of modern empiricism. Empiricism is the view that knowledge originates from experience and science should therefore rely on observation and experimentation (Myers, 2007).
For centuries philosophers continue to think and theorize about thinking but in 1879 psychology were born. Modern psychologys roots are linked to other discipline such as philosophy, biology, and physiology but Wilhelm Wundt,