History of Psychology Homepage

History of Psychology Timeline

In the beginning.......

700 B.C.

Psamtik I conducts the first psychological experiment in Egypt

625 – 546 B.C.

Time period of Thales, who invented the idea of Nous. He was the first Greek philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, is credited with writing a book on navigation, and is rumored to have been Anaximander’s teacher.

Circa 600 B.C.

”Discovery of mind” in various parts of the world

580 B.C.

The Greek philosopher Anaximander, a biologist, geographer, and astronomer, organizes a map of the world

550 B.C.

Pythagoras, the first pure mathematician, completes his famous theorem

535 - ~450 B.C.

The time Period of Alcmaeon, who proposed four 'powers' of the body: hot, cold, wet, and dry. Also asked the question, "Where does the nous live?"

507 B.C.

Cleisthenes makes Athens the world’s first democracy.

500 - 428 B.C.

The Time Period of the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras, philosopher, mathematician and teacher of Pericles

490 - 420 B.C.

The Time Period of the Greek philosopher Protagoras, who believed that truth and knowledge are created by the mind.

469 - 399 B.C.

The Time Period of the Greek philosopher Socrates, teacher of Plato.

460 - 377 B.C.

The Time Period of Hippocrates, father of medicine, the Hippocratic oath, and the 4 "humors" (blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile)

460 - 370 B.C.

The Time Period of the Greek philosopher Democritus, who came up with the concept of 'atoms.' Atoms struck the body and were translated into perception in the mind.

427 - 348 B.C.

The Time Period of the Greek philosopher Plato, teacher of Aristotle

384 - 322 B.C.


Aristotle

Era of the great philosopher

367 B.C.

Plato becomes the founder of the Academia

350 B.C.

Aristotle creates The Anima

341 - 270 B.C.


Epicurus

Time period of the philosopher Epicurus, who based his physics on the theory of a materialistic universe unregulated by divine providence and composed of indestructible atoms moving in a void. Founder of Epicureanism: "Pleasure is the beginning and the end of the blessed life"

336 - 264 B.C.

Time period of the philosopher Zeno, cofounder of stoicism (a philosophy that stated that peace could only be found through controlling ones emotions)

335 B.C.

Aristotle becomes the founder of the Lyceum

120 - 201

Time period of Galen, whose work influenced the medical community for 1500 years. Galen worked on a theory of personalities, and was the first to classify emotions.

406

Augustine completes Confessions

426

Augustine completes City of God

1247


Bedlam

World's first mental hospital opens in London. It was called Bethlehem Royal Hospital, but soon became commonly known as 'Bedlam.'

1264


St.Thomas Aquinas

Publishes his famous Summa Theologica

1605


Francis Bacon
Biography

The Proficience and Advancement of Learning is published

1632 - 1704

Time period of John Locke, a major leader of the British empiricist tradition, and one of the most influential philosophers of post-renaissance Europe.

1637

French philosopher Renê Descartes publishes Discourse on Method. Descartes is famous for the quote "I think, therefore I am"

1649


René Descartes

Writes Passions of the Soul which postulates the total separation of body and soul

1651


Thomas Hobbes

Publishes the Leviathan

1690

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding is published by English philosopher John Locke

1709


George Berkeley

An Essay Toward a New Theory of Vision is published

1732

A treatise of empirical psychology is published by Christian von Wolff

1734

A treatise of rational psychology is published by Christian von Wolff

1748


David Hume

Publishes the famous An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding

1782

Immanuel Kant, one of the most influential philosophers of the day, publishes Critique of Pure Reason

1834

Johannes Müller publishes Handbüch des Physiologie des Menschen

1838

Elements of Physiology is published by Johannes Müller

1858


Wilhelm Wundt

Works with Hermannn von Helmholtz as his assistant

1859


Charles Darwin

Publishes The origin of the species

1860

Gustav Theodor Fechner publishes Elements of Psychophysics

1869


Francis Galton

Hereditary Genius is published

1871

The descent of man is published by Charles Darwin

1872

Charles Darwin publishes The Expression of the Emotions in the Man and in the Animals

1874

Wundt left Heidelberg for a better position at the University of Zurich

1875


William James

Teaches the course The relationships among the Physiology and the Psychology

Wundt leaves Zurich and heads toward University of Leipzig

1876

Francis Galton uses method of twin comparisons

1879

Wilhelm Wundt establishes first psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany

1880

Francis Galton makes systematic use of questionaries

1881

Wundt begins to publishes journal Philosophische Studien

1883

Francis Galton publishes Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development

The first laboratory of psychology in America is established at Johns Hopkins University by G. Stanley Hall

1885


Hermann Ebbinghaus

Ebbinghaus publishes Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology (Über das Gedächtnis)

1887

Christine Ladd-Franklin receives an honorary LLD from Vassar, the only Vassar graduate to receive this honor

1888


J. McKeen Cattell

Becomes America's first professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania

1890

William James publishes Principles of Psychology

J. M. Cattel publishes Mental Tests and measurements.

1892

The American Psychological Association is founded, having only 42 members

Ladd-Franklin develops the Ladd-Franklin theory, which stated that evolution led to an increased differentiation between color and black and white vision, and assumed a photochemical model of the visual system. This theory enjoyed widespread acceptance for many years.

Edward B. Titchener, student of Wundt, comes to the US.

1894


Margaret Floy Washburn

Washburn completes her training under Titchener

1896


Mary Whiton Calkins

Calkins publishes a paper in the Psychological Review extending Ebbinghaus' memory research.

1900


Sigmund Freud

Publishes The Interpretation of Dreams


Carl G. Jung

Carl G. Jung is appointed Bleuler's assistant

1905


Alfred Binet

Publishes New Methods for the Diagnosis of the Intellectual Level of Subnormals.

Calkins elected as the first woman president of the American Psychological Association

1906


Ivan Pavlov

Publishes his findings regarding classical conditioning

1907

Carl G. Jung publishes The Psychology of Dementia Praecox


Alfred Adler

Alfred Adler publishes his main work: A Study of Organic Inferiority and Its Psychical Compensation

1908


Kurt Koffka

Koffka receives his doctorate under Stumpf at the University of Berlin

Alfred Binet and Theodor Simon develop tests for measurement children's intelligence

Washburn publishes, "The Animal Mind"

1909


Wolfgang Kohler

Kohler receieves his doctorate under Stumpf at the University of Berlin

Calkins publishes an introductory psychology textbook, "A First Book in Psychology"

1910


Max Wertheimer

Wertheimer discoveres the illusionary movement of light, and calls it the "Phi Phenomenon"

Wertheimer, Koffka and Kohler meet

1911


E. L. Thorndike

Publishes his famous Animal Intelligence

1912

Wertheimer publishes, "Experimental Studies of the Perception of Movement." These findings marked the beginning of Gestalt Psychology

1913


John Watson

Publishes Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It Carl G. Jung begins to depart from freudian views and develops his own theories

Kohler goes to the Canary Islands to study chimpanzees. He is stranded there until the end of World War I.

1915

Sigmund Freud publishes the metapsychological work on repression

1916

Washburn publishes, "Movement and Mental Imagery"

1917

Kohler writes "The Mentality of Apes"

1918

Calkins elected as the first woman president of the American Philosophical Association

1920

Kohler returns to Germany

Watson is forced to leave academia. He enters the advertising business, where he applies psychological methods and principles to advertising.

1921

Washburn elected as the second woman president of the American Psychological Association

Koffka publishes "The Growth of the Mind," which deals with child development.

1922

Koffka introduces Gestal Psychology to America with Perception: An Introduction to the Gestalt Theory

Kohler succeeds Stumpf at the University of Berlin

1923

Sigmund Freud publishes The Ego and the Id

1925

E. K. Strong publishes The Psychology of Selling and Advertising

Ladd-Franklin publishes "The Nature of Color Sensation"

1930


B. F. Skinner

Publishes his first experimental paper, On The Conditions of Eliciation of certain Eating Reflexes

1932

Washurn becomes the first woman psychologist and second woman scientist elected to the National Academy of Sciences

1935

Koffka publishes "Principles of Gestalt Psychology"

Kohler flees Germany, joins the faculty of Swarthmore College, and becomes the spokesman for Gestalt Psychology

1937

B. F. Skinner uses the term operant for the first time and applies the term respondent to the pavlovian type of reflex

1938

B. F.Skinner publishes The Behavior of the Organisms

1942


Carl Rogers

Develops therapy centered on the patient

1954

Abraham Maslow developes a hierarquical theory of human personality in the book Motivation and Personality

1957

B. F. Skinner publishes Verbal behavior

Watson receives a citation from the American Psychological Association for his contributions to psychology

1959

Kohler elected as president of the American Psychological Association

1960

Robert Watson publishes article History of Psychology: a Neglected Area

1961

Carl Rogers publishes On becoming a person

1968

Abraham Maslow publishes Toward a Psychology of Being

1971

B. F. Skinner publishes Beyond Freedom and Dignity


Information about the History of Psychology Homepage 

can be obtained from: 

Dr. Charles I. Abramson
at (405) 744-7492
via E-Mail: charles.abramson@okstate.edu

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with special thanks to Craig Satterfield and Charles Abramson.

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