01:830:101 Chapter Notes - Chapter Ch. 1: James Mckeen Cattell, American Psychological Association, Johns Hopkins University

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: 01:830:101
• Professor: Sean Stevens

Document Summary

Psychology discipline developed from philosophical speculations about the mind into research-based science. Psychology comes from two greek words: psych- meaning the soul, logos- referring to the study of a subject. These two greek roots were first put together to define a topic of study in the 16th century, when psyche was used to refer to the soul, spirit, or mind, as distinguished from the body ( boring, 1966). Not until the early 18th century did the term psychology gain more than rare usage among scholars. By that time it had acquired its literal meaning, the study of the mind. Emerged as a scientific discipline only about 140 years ago. Mounted a campaign to make psychology an independent discipline rather than a stepchild of philosophy or physiology. Intellectual climate favored the scientific approach that wundt advocated. Proposals were well received by the academic community.