PRESENTATION ON

Introduction and
Brief History of Psychology
by
Wajahat Ali Ghulam
1

Definition
Psychology A scientific study of human behavior and
mental processes.
Etymologically, it came from the Greek words, Psyche
which means soul or mind, and Logos which means
the study of.

Definition

Behavior - Any response or activity of an organism. It

can either be simple or complex; overt or covert;
conscious or unconscious; voluntary or involuntary;
rational or irrational.

Important People in the

Devt. of Psychology

Important People in the

Devt. of Psychology
Aristotle (384 322 BC) He made assumptions
out of observation regarding human behavior.
He believed that all beings, humans included,
have souls, which animate them. Humans,
however, compared to other animal, have
rational souls. Thus, humans are not only,
physical, but also rational. He also theorized
about learning, memory, motivation, emotion,
perception and personality.

Important People in the

Devt. of Psychology

Rene Descartes
(1596 1650) supported the view that
humans enter the world
with an inborn store of
knowledge. He argued
that some ideas (such
as God, the self,
perfection and infinity)
are innate. He is also
notable for his
conception of the body
as a machine that can
be studied.

Important People in the

Devt. of Psychology

John Locke
(16321704) Believed that at birth
the human mind is a
tabula rasa or a
blank slate, on which
experience writes
knowledge.

Important People in the

Devt. of Psychology

Charles Darwin
(1809 1882) - He is the author of the
Law of Natural Selection or Theory of
Evolution; inspired the Psychological
school of thought, Functionalism.

Important People in the

Devt. of Psychology

Francis Galton
(18221911) - He was concerned with the study of
individual differences. He was considered as the
Father of Mental tests

Important People in the

Devt. of Psychology

Ernst Weber (17951878); Gustav Fechner;

Herman von Helmholtz (18211894) German
Physicians who started experimenting with
behavior through scientific methodologies.

The First Microprocessor 1971

Wilhelm Wundt Considered as the Father of
Modern Psychology. He established the
first experimental laboratory for the study of
Psychology, in Leipzig, Germany, 1879. He
created a machine that measured the time
lag between peoples hearing a ball hit the
platform and their pressing a telegraph key.
Wundt has seeking to measure the atoms of
the mind the fastest and simplest mental
processes.

Important People in the

Devt. of Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt - in his laboratory in

Leipzig, Germany

Important People in the

Devt. of Psychology

G. Stanley Hall
A student of Wundts who
established what many
consider as the first American
psychology laboratory at Johns
Hopkins University in 1883.

Important People in the

Devt. of Psychology

Hermann
Ebbinghaus
- A German who
reported on the first
experiments
on
memory, 1885.

15

16