The Beginning of Psychology

    Psychology as a science was talked about and recorded as far back as the time of Aristotle and Confucius. Since the late 1800s, it has radically expanded into the diverse subject that it is today. There are many people who contributed largely to psychology.
    In 1879 Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology laboratory. He also developed the method of introspection, or a person's perspective or opinion of an object.
    William James a professor of physiology at Harvard traded over to psychology and gave the first psychology lecture during his classes. He also wrote the book Principles of Psychology in 1890. James believed in a stream of consciousness or continuous series of thoughts.
    Charles Darwin too contributed partly to psychology in developing functionalism, which dealt with the evolution of the mind and the purpose it serves in preserving life.
    Behaviorism is the result of the studies of John B. Watson who in 1913 questioned the effects of the environment on one's behavior or responses.
    Sigmund Freud was responsible for the studies dealing with a person's level of unconsciousness. He used psychoanalysis to try to make someone's unconscious contents to their conscious awareness.
    George A. Miller started the Center for Cognitive Science at Harvard in 1957. Cognitive psychology deals with higher-order mental functions such as thinking, intelligence, language, memory, and decision making.