Intro to Psychology Notes.  Green River College PSYC 100

Intro to Psychology Notes
I. History of Psychology
A. Pre-scientific psychology… People have probably always speculated about human
behavior…documented studies however date back some 25 centuries to some of the
“great” Greek philosophers
B. The following chart summarizes the pre-scientific psychological views
connected Distinct parts Inborn ideas Blank slate
-the Hebrews
-Aristotle
-Augustine
-Socrates
-Pluto
-Descartes
-Socrates
-Plato
-Aristotle
-John Locke
A. Dorothea Dix - A.(American) Advocate on behalf of the mentally ill. Created the first ever
mental asylums during the Civil War.
B. Psychology as a science
1. Structuralism – Wilhelm Wundt
a) Established the 1st formal psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany
b) Focus of structuralism: to study consciousness, how the elements of the mind were
organized and related to one another