When was applied psychology born

Stern , a disciple of Ebbinghaus, worked with criminal law scholar F. Liszt to conduct performance experiments on witness testimony. This was the first collaboration between a legal scholar and a psychologist. The impact of behaviorism was enormous, and this school of thought continued to dominate for the next 50 years. Psychologist B. Skinner furthered the behaviorist perspective with his concept of operant conditioning , which demonstrated the effect of punishment and reinforcement on behavior.

While behaviorism eventually lost its dominant grip on psychology, the basic principles of behavioral psychology are still widely in use today. Therapeutic techniques such as behavior analysis , behavioral modification, and token economies are often utilized to help children learn new skills and overcome maladaptive behaviors, while conditioning is used in many situations ranging from parenting to education.

While the first half of the 20th century was dominated by psychoanalysis and behaviorism, a new school of thought known as humanistic psychology emerged during the second half of the century. Often referred to as the "third force" in psychology, this theoretical perspective emphasized conscious experiences.

American psychologist Carl Rogers is often considered to be one of the founders of this school of thought. While psychoanalysts looked at unconscious impulses and behaviorists focused on environmental causes, Rogers believed strongly in the power of free will and self-determination.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow also contributed to humanistic psychology with his famous hierarchy of needs theory of human motivation. This theory suggested that people were motivated by increasingly complex needs. Once the most basic needs are fulfilled, people then become motivated to pursue higher level needs. During the s and s, a movement known as the cognitive revolution began to take hold in psychology. During this time, cognitive psychology began to replace psychoanalysis and behaviorism as the dominant approach to the study of psychology.

Psychologists were still interested in looking at observable behaviors, but they were also concerned with what was going on inside the mind. Since that time, cognitive psychology has remained a dominant area of psychology as researchers continue to study things such as perception, memory, decision-making, problem-solving, intelligence, and language. The introduction of brain imaging tools such as MRI and PET scans have helped improve the ability of researchers to more closely study the inner workings of the human brain.

The story certainly does not end here. Psychology has continued to evolve since and new ideas and perspectives have been introduced. Recent research in psychology looks at many aspects of the human experience, from the biological influences on behavior on the impact of social and cultural factors. Today, the majority of psychologists do not identify themselves with a single school of thought. Instead, they often focus on a particular specialty area or perspective, often drawing on ideas from a range of theoretical backgrounds.

This eclectic approach has contributed new ideas and theories that will continue to shape psychology for years to come. As you read through any history of psychology, you might be particularly struck by the fact that such texts seem to center almost entirely on the theories and contributions of men. This is not because women had no interest in the field of psychology, but is largely due to the fact that women were excluded from pursuing academic training and practice during the early years of the field.

There are a number of women who made important contributions to the early history of psychology, although their work is sometimes overlooked. In order to understand how psychology became the science that it is today, it is important to learn more about some of the historical events that have influenced its development. While some of the theories that emerged during the earliest years of psychology may now be viewed as simplistic, outdated, or incorrect, these influences shaped the direction of the field and helped us form a greater understanding of the human mind and behavior.

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Whipple, G. Manual of mental and physical tests. Wilpert, B. How European is work and organizational psychology? Drenth, J. Takens Eds. New York: Wiley. While Titchener and his followers adhered to a structural psychology, others in America were pursuing different approaches. William James, G. An interest in functionalism opened the way for the study of a wide range of approaches, including animal and comparative psychology Benjamin, William James — is regarded as writing perhaps the most influential and important book in the field of psychology, Principles of Psychology, published in Opposed to the reductionist ideas of Titchener, James proposed that consciousness is ongoing and continuous; it cannot be isolated and reduced to elements.

For James, consciousness helped us adapt to our environment in such ways as allowing us to make choices and have personal responsibility over those choices.

At Harvard, James occupied a position of authority and respect in psychology and philosophy. Through his teaching and writing, he influenced psychology for generations. One of his students, Mary Whiton Calkins — , faced many of the challenges that confronted Margaret Floy Washburn and other women interested in pursuing graduate education in psychology.

With much persistence, Calkins was able to study with James at Harvard. She eventually completed all the requirements for the doctoral degree, but Harvard refused to grant her a diploma because she was a woman.

Stanley Hall — made substantial and lasting contributions to the establishment of psychology in the United States. At Johns Hopkins University, he founded the first psychological laboratory in America in In , he created the first journal of psychology in America, American Journal of Psychology. Influenced by evolutionary theory, Hall was interested in the process of adaptation and human development.

Using surveys and questionnaires to study children, Hall wrote extensively on child development and education. James McKeen Cattell — received his Ph. Like Galton, he believed society was better served by identifying those with superior intelligence and supported efforts to encourage them to reproduce. Such beliefs were associated with eugenics the promotion of selective breeding and fueled early debates about the contributions of heredity and environment in defining who we are.

At Columbia University, Cattell developed a department of psychology that became world famous also promoting psychological science through advocacy and as a publisher of scientific journals and reference works Fancher, ; Sokal, Throughout the first half of the 20th century, psychology continued to grow and flourish in America.

It was large enough to accommodate varying points of view on the nature of mind and behavior. Gestalt psychology is a good example. The Gestalt movement began in Germany with the work of Max Wertheimer — Consider that a melody is an additional element beyond the collection of notes that comprise it. The Gestalt psychologists proposed that the mind often processes information simultaneously rather than sequentially.

For instance, when you look at a photograph, you see a whole image, not just a collection of pixels of color. Using Gestalt principles, Wertheimer and his colleagues also explored the nature of learning and thinking. Most of the German Gestalt psychologists were Jewish and were forced to flee the Nazi regime due to the threats posed on both academic and personal freedoms.

In America, they were able to introduce a new audience to the Gestalt perspective, demonstrating how it could be applied to perception and learning Wertheimer, In many ways, the work of the Gestalt psychologists served as a precursor to the rise of cognitive psychology in America Benjamin, Behaviorism emerged early in the 20th century and became a major force in American psychology. Championed by psychologists such as John B. Watson — and B. Skinner — , behaviorism rejected any reference to mind and viewed overt and observable behavior as the proper subject matter of psychology.

Through the scientific study of behavior, it was hoped that laws of learning could be derived that would promote the prediction and control of behavior. Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov — influenced early behaviorism in America. His work on conditioned learning, popularly referred to as classical conditioning, provided support for the notion that learning and behavior were controlled by events in the environment and could be explained with no reference to mind or consciousness Fancher,