Historical Development

HISTORICAL
DEVELOPMENT
PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF EDUCATION
MARYNOR M. LUMABAD
MAEd- MATH
What is Psychology?
• It’s the scientific study of human mind and its functions,
specially those affecting behavior in a given context.
• Greek: “psyche” means “soul” and “logos” means “to study”.
• Modern: psycho means “mind” and logy “science”
• “The science of mind.”
• Early psychology focused on measuring and understanding
the mind.
• Later psychology focused on measuring and understanding
behavior.
• Psychology did not become an independent discipline
separate from philosophy until the late 19th century.
• The search for knowledge was the quest of the early
philosopher scientists -- the desire to know. Psychology was
interwoven in early science and philosophy.
I. ANCIENT EGYPT (664BC – 554BC)
• Egypt was known for its Egyptian Mystery System or set of secret
doctrines, since knowledge was power in those days.
• The Kybalion is a great philosophical text written by Hermes
Trismegistus. Trismegistus was known as the "scribe of the gods." He
was also known as the father of the occult wisdom, the founder of
astrology and the discoverer of alchemy.
• The Kybalion is described as the fundamental and basic teachings
embedded in the esoteric teachings of every race.
Contributions of Egyptians to science and
philosophy
1. Stolen Legacy by George G.M. James (1954). San Francisco: Julian
Richardson Associates.
2. From Ancient Africa to Ancient Greece: An Introduction to the History of
Philosophy by Dr. Henry Olela (1981). Atlanta, GA: The Select
Publishing Corporation.
3. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization (The
Fabrication of Ancient Greece- 1785-1985, Volume 1), by Martin Bernal
(1987). New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.
II. ANCIENT GREEK PERIOD
(500BC – 300BC)
• The early Greeks had a tremendous confidence in their superior
ability for reasoning.They also used naturalistic observations to
derive at theories and hypotheses.
• Their reasoning was called rationalism - the search for the
essence of things. (Now known as the deductive method). They
saw the world as a macrocosm and man as a microcosm.
Heraclitus
He sought to discover the nature of
knowledge and the essence of things.
He believed all people possess "logos"
or the ability to reason, but do not make
use of it. He believed the key to
understanding was introspection.
Thales
• He was the first known Greek
philosopher, physicist and
mathematician.
• His contributions to psychology were
his discussion of the nature of matter.
Pythagoras
• He developed the label "philosopher"
and was the first to call himself a
philosopher--lover of knowledge.
• Pythagoras believed the body was a
container for the soul whose object
was eventually to purify itself so it
could become free of the body.
Democritus
• He was a member of the school of thought
called atomism, a theory that held that the
things of the physical world were made up
of an infinite number of absolute units
called atoms.
• The knowledge of truth, according to
Democritus, is difficult, since the
perception through the senses is subjective.
Alcmaeon
• He investigated the basis for knowledge.
• He was the first to define the difference
between man and animals, saying that
man differs from the latter in the fact that
he alone has the power of understanding.
He recognized the brain as the seat of
consciousness and called it the soul.
Socrates
• He devoted his life and work to moral
philosophy and to the search for moral
good, virtue and justice.
• The main method he used was dialectics
(the method of seeking knowledge by
question and answer) by which he tried to
teach men how ignorant they were and to
help them know themselves.
Plato
• He devoted his life to philosophy, first as
a devoted pupil of Socrates, and later by
founding his own school of philosophy,
the Academy.
• He wrote the Republic. Duality of the
Psyche. He was also an author of some 31
philosophical dialogues, and founder, in
387, of the Academy, in Athens.
• Plato defined 3 aspects of the
psyche--reason, feeling and appetite.
• He also wrote about the duality of the
psyche and the relationship between
mind and body.
• He believed the action of the humors
of the body affects one's mental state.
Plato
Aristotle
• He wrote De Anima, the first book to treat
psychology as a systematic philosophy
• He was considered the father of modern
scientific thought
• He rejected the idea of dualism of soul and
the body and put forward the view that these
two are not separate but one entity, this
theory was called hylomorphism.
• They developed a 2-aspect theory of the soul:
1) Thymos - aspect involved in thought and emotion and
perishes with the
body; and
2) Psyche - aspect considered immortal.
• Psychology was derived from this aspect.
HELLENISTIC AND ROMAN PERIODS
(300-100 BC & 100BC-500AD)
• Psychology is still a branch of philosophy.
• Greek scientific thought transmitted to the Arabs.
• Some of Aristotle's students begin to make significant
contributions to psychology (e.g., Theophrastus).
THE PATRISTIC PERIOD (200AD-500AD)
• The church and Christianity influenced psychology - especially

the teachings of Jesus as taught to theologians by Origen.
• Origen was one of the intellectual theologians and leaders of the
church. He believed that philosophy and science are compatible
with the church.
• This period focused on dualism of mind and body and
supernaturalism -- or that which was beyond nature.
THE MIDDLE AGES (500AD-900AD)
• The early part of the period was referred to as the Dark Ages.
• There were no psychological advance made during this period; and very
little interest in Psychology. The works of Aristotle and Plato were even
lost.
• Universities began to emerge toward the latter part of the Middle Ages --
the University of Bologna, University of Paris, Oxford and Cambridge
Universities. The curricula included art, natural ethics, philosophy,
metaphysics, theology, law and medicine.
THE RENAISSANCE (1450-1800 AD)
• Also called the “Enlightenment” or Age of Reason.
• Scientists of the Enlightenment were very keen to find out
about the world, nature, chemistry, and physics.
• The field of psychology was broadened.
Rene Descartes
• He was the author of: The Discourse on the
Method of Rightly Conducting One's
Reason; Searching Truth in the Sciences;
and the Meditations on First Philosophy.
• He supported the nativism, at its core, is
the belief that the human soul brings with
innate knowledge that is necessary for its
very definition.
BRITISH EMPIRICISM
(17th & 18th Century)
• During this period, the field of psychology was becoming more
empirical and moving away from rationalism.
• This period focused primarily on associationism - the ways in
which mental events are connected.
John Locke (1632-1704)
Locke’s claim that the mind is like a
tabula rasa (a blank slate) prior to sense
experience. This makes it sound as
though the mind is nothing prior to the
advent of ideas.
EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
(1800s TO 1870s)
• This was the beginning of the development of neurology, brain
functioning, and psychophysics.
• Advanced initially by German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt.
Wilhem Wundt (1832-1920)
• He is the Father of Modern Psychology
• He founded the first psychological
laboratory at the University of Leipzig
in Germany devoted to experimental
psychology
• He published Principles of
Physiological Psychology
FUNCTIONALISM IN AMERICA
(19th Century)
• This was Considered the first truly American system of
psychology.
• The focus was on the study of mind and the function of
thought. Functionalism's primary interest was the study of mind
as it functions in adapting the organism to its environment.
William James
• Developed a functional psychology which
included the study of consciousness
• Author of 2-volume work, The Principles
of Psychology, (1890)
• His functional psychology included the
study of consciousness as an ongoing
process or stream.

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HISTORICAL

• The church and Christianity influenced psychology - especially

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