Roots of Psychology
While psychology did not emerge as a separate discipline until the late
1800s, its earliest history can be traced back to the time of the early Greeks.
The nature–nurture debate centers on the question of whether
human capabilities are inborn or acquired through experience. The nature
view holds that human beings enter the world with an inborn store of
knowledge and understanding of reality. Early philosophers believed that this
knowledge and understanding could be accessed through careful reasoning
and introspection. In the seventeenth century, Descartes supported the
nature view by arguing that some ideas (such as God, the self, geometric
axioms, perfection, and infinity) are innate. The nurture view holds that
knowledge is acquired through experiences and interactions with the world.
Although some of the early Greek philosophers had this opinion, it is most
strongly associated with the seventeenth-century English philosopher John
Locke. According to Locke, at birth the human mind is a tabula rasa, a blank
slate on which experience ‘writes’ knowledge and understanding as the
individual matures.
The Beginnings of Scientific Psychology
However, the formal beginning of psychology as a scientific discipline
is generally considered to be in the late 19th century, when, in 1879 in
Leipzig, Germany, Wilhelm Wundt established the first experimental
laboratory devoted to psychological phenomena. Wilhelm Wundt (1832–
1920) who is generally thought of as the “father” of psychology. His aim was
to study the building blocks of the mind. He considered psychology to be the
study of conscious experience. Wundt’s vision for the new discipline included
studies of social and cultural influences on human thought Wundt relied on
introspection to study mental processes. Introspection refers to observing
and recording the nature of one’s own perceptions, thoughts, and feelings.
While psychology did not emerge as a separate discipline until the late
1800s, its earliest history can be traced back to the time of the early Greeks.
The nature–nurture debate centers on the question of whether
human capabilities are inborn or acquired through experience. The nature
view holds that human beings enter the world with an inborn store of
knowledge and understanding of reality. Early philosophers believed that this
knowledge and understanding could be accessed through careful reasoning
and introspection. In the seventeenth century, Descartes supported the
nature view by arguing that some ideas (such as God, the self, geometric
axioms, perfection, and infinity) are innate. The nurture view holds that
knowledge is acquired through experiences and interactions with the world.
Although some of the early Greek philosophers had this opinion, it is most
strongly associated with the seventeenth-century English philosopher John
Locke. According to Locke, at birth the human mind is a tabula rasa, a blank
slate on which experience ‘writes’ knowledge and understanding as the
individual matures.
The Beginnings of Scientific Psychology
However, the formal beginning of psychology as a scientific discipline
is generally considered to be in the late 19th century, when, in 1879 in
Leipzig, Germany, Wilhelm Wundt established the first experimental
laboratory devoted to psychological phenomena. Wilhelm Wundt (1832–
1920) who is generally thought of as the “father” of psychology. His aim was
to study the building blocks of the mind. He considered psychology to be the
study of conscious experience. Wundt’s vision for the new discipline included
studies of social and cultural influences on human thought Wundt relied on
introspection to study mental processes. Introspection refers to observing
and recording the nature of one’s own perceptions, thoughts, and feelings.
