FROM SPECULATION TO SCIENCE: HOW PSYC DEVELOPED * psycologys story is one of ppl groping toward a better understanding of themselves * the term psychology (the study of the mind) comes from two greek words: * psyche soul * logos the study of a subject
A new science is born: The contributions of Wundt and Hall * psyc intellectual parents were the disciplines of philosophy and physiology * by 1870s a small # of scholars in both fields were actively exploring qtions about the mind * Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) who mounted a campaign to make psyc an indp discipline rather than a stepchild of philosophy or physiology * 1879, Wundt succeeded in est the first formal lab for research in psyc * This is why 1879 is christened as psyc’s “date of birth” * 1881, Wundt est the first journal devoted to publishing research on psyc * All in all, Wundt is characterized as the founder of psyc * Wundt’s conception of psyc was influential for decades * He believed that psyc primary focus was consciousness- the awareness of immediate experience and thus it became the scientific study of conscious experience * Between 1883 and 1893 some 24 new psyc research labs sprang up inside the US * G. Stanley Hall (1846-1924) who studied briefly with Wundt, was a particularly impt contributor to the rapid growth of psyc in America * Hall reeled off a