Psychology 1000 : Chapter 1-4.doc

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Laura Fazakas- De Hoog

Document Summary

Boring once observed that psychology has a long past, but a short history. The long past indicates that psychology has roots extending back to the ancient greek philosophers. Many were interested in the causes of human behaviour and wrote extensively on the topic. Breakthroughs in anatomy and medicine increased our understanding of the human condition and contributed to the study of psychology. But the study of psychology as a distinct discipline only began in 1879 when wundt (pronounced vunt ) established the first psychological laboratory in leipzig, germany. So as an independent field of study, we"ve only been around for just over 100 years! As you go through chapter 1, there are 3 important topics to consider: psychology is a science. As a science, the field psychology follows particular methods of investigation. What we know about behaviour is based on observation, theory, and research methodology.