History

The psychodynamic approach is rooted in the basic belief that people have unconscious desires, thoughts, feelings, and memories that, while outside of conscious awareness, still influence a person’s behavior.

Albert Bandura was an influential Canadian-American psychologist known for his social learning theory, the Bobo doll experiment, observational learning, and self-efficacy. Throughout his long career, he left an indelible mark on the field of psychology and influenced other areas such as education and psychotherapy. In this article, learn more about Albert Bandura, including his early …

B. F. Skinner was born on March 20, 1904. He went on to become an influential psychologist who first described the learning process known as operant conditioning. Skinner played a pivotal role in behaviorism, a school of thought that suggested that all behavior was learned through conditioning processes.  Skinner referred to himself as a radical …

Psychological experiments can tell us a lot about the human mind and behavior. Some of the best-known experiments have given us insights into topics such as conformity, obedience, attachment, and learning. There are many famous (and sometimes infamous) psychological experiments that have helped shape our understanding of the human mind and behavior. Such experiments offered …

Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst whose work had an influence on the field of psychiatry as well as philosophy, religion, and literature. He was a contemporary of Sigmund Freud and the two were friends until a bitter split over theoretical differences led Jung to form his own school of thought known as …

Margaret Floy Washburn was an important early psychologist who is notable for being Edward B. Titchener’s very first graduate student. Like other women psychologists of her time, she faced considerable discrimination in the pursuit of her studies and career, yet she managed to leave an important mark  on the field as a respected teacher, writer, …

Christine Ladd-Franklin was a pioneering American woman psychologist and mathematician. Though she completed a dissertation at John Hopkins University, the school would not grant women doctorate degrees at that time. Among her accomplishments, she was known for developing her own theory of color vision. Christine Ladd-Franklin’s Early Life Christine Ladd was born in Connecticut on …

Do you enjoy psychoanalyzing the people around you? Does interpreting dreams sound like fun? Are you inspired by the work and theories of Sigmund Freud? Here is a tongue-in-cheek list of a few signs that you might be the next great psychoanalyst. (Disclosure: I am neither a psychoanalyst nor a comedian.) The Bottom Line Analyzing …

When was the famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud born? While it might seem like a fairly simple and straightforward question, it turns out that there is actually a bit of controversy over the real date of his birth. When Was Freud Born? The date most frequently cited as the day that Sigmund Freud was born is May 6, …

Some of the most famous psychologists in history made important contributions to understanding the human mind and behavior. Some of these thinkers were also philosophers, educators, and therapists. While some became lightning rods for controversy, all of these thinkers impacted the field of psychology. These famous psychologists made important contributions to understanding how people think, …

Structuralism was a school of thought in psychology that sought to understand the human mind by breaking it down to its smallest possible components. For example, in order to understand human consciousness, structuralism would try to break conscious experience down into much smaller elements, such as the perception, images, or experiences associated with consciousness. It …

There are many important events that have had a powerful influence on the history of psychology. The following are just a few important dates in psychology that mark significant events and milestones. On February 24, 1913, John B. Watson delivered his lecture, Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It, at a meeting of the American Psychological …

Abraham Maslow was an influential American psychologist who founded the school of thought known as humanistic psychology. His famous hierarchy of needs describes how people are motivated by increasingly complex needs. Maslow was inspired to develop his theory by his dissatisfaction with some of the major theories of psychology that existed at the time. He …

Diana Baumrind is a developmental psychologist who is perhaps best-known for her research on parenting styles and her writings on ethics in psychological research. Through her work, she identified three primary styles of parenting. Two critical factors that she looked at during her research included how responsive parents were to their children and the demands …

Psychologist Carol Dweck is considered a pioneering figure in the study of human motivation. She is perhaps best known for her research on implicit theories of intelligence and how mindsets influence motivation and success. In this article, learn more about her life, work, theories, and influence on psychology. Early Life and Education Carol S. Dweck …