Live Life Team
Although psychology began as the “science of mental life”, it has undergone various developments, and is today considered to be the “science of the thought processes and behaviour of humans and animals in their interaction with the environment”.
The beginning of the study of psychology started with the ancient civilisations of Greece, Egypt, India, and China. Aristotle’s book, ‘De Anima’, is considered to be the first basis of psychology, as it implied that the heart is the foundation for mental activity. Psychological experimentation started in 1021 when Alhazen, a Persian scientist, wrote the ‘Book of Optics’. His book tackled several topics such as mathematics, anatomy, physics, optics, and psychology. The book discussed and described the psychology of visual perception (the interpretation of “information from visible light reaching the eye”), and optical illusions (the visually perceived images that do not tally with the objective reality).
The first extensive psychological study through experimentation was conducted in 1879, and was also regarded as the “birth date of psychology”. It was Wilhelm Wundt, known as the “father of psychology”, who established the first laboratory at Leipzig University in Germany. In 1890, William James, an American scholar, laid the foundation of psychology for the future in his book, ‘Principles of Psychology’. In the 1920’s to 1960’s, psychological study centred on the “science of observable behaviour”. There are also significant events that occurred in the 1960’s: the study became the science of behaviour, and psychology focused on the behaviour and development of animals.
