History of Modern Psychology

The History of Psychology is something that is important to many psychologists everywhere. The history is celebrated by many centennial celebrations that started in 1979 (Goodwin, 2008, pg. 2). In the 1960's when the history of psychology caught interest research of psychology's past became prominent (Goodwin, 2008, pg. 2). History is important, because it lets people know where they came from, and what mistakes were made, and what discoveries were made, and how we can apply the past to future learning (Goodwin, 2008, pg. 3).

One of the forerunners to the beginning philosophy to psychology is Rene Descartes. The Renaissance gave him a great stage to start with, because it had already started the changing of thought, made science more accepted, and made the approved teachings of the church mundane. Descartes wanted to search for a system where all information could be united (Goodwin, 2008, pg. 32). He believed that knowledge can be found through reasoning, and wouldn't accept any truth unless it could not be doubted (Goodwin, 2008, pg. 32). In the Discourse on Method, Descartes explained his four rules for being able to reason so one could come up with the truth (Goodwin, 2008, pg. 33). The first one is what I stated previously is he would accept information as truth unless it was un-doubtable. The second rule he would take information and break it down to the first stages. The third rule is that he would take the first stages or simple part of thought and work forward to make more the idea more complex (Goodwin, 2008, pg. 33) He also believed that the ideas were learned from experiences are derived ideas (Goodwin, 2008, pg. 34). Descartes also believed that the mind and the body were two separate parts that affected each other; like cause and effect. He compared people and animals to machines, which is Cartesian dichotomy. Animals were like machines, because there were unable to reason the way that people do. People are like machines like animals, but because they can reason, and use logic. So animals only had bodies, and people had a mind and body that could affect each other (Goodwin, 2008, pg. 34).

The second step toward psychology becoming an accepted science is the ideas of the British Empiricists. This is based on the ideas of John Locke, where he believed that our ideas are based on our experiences. Locke rejected any ideas of innate thought, and he believed that people are born with a mind that is like a blank piece of paper, and that the parents are the ones that shape the child trough education Goodwin, 2008, (pgs. 39, 40, 42). Locke also came up with the concept of simple ideas and complex ideas. Simple ideas are the result of sensory experiences, and complex ideas are all the simple ideas put together (Goodwin, 2008, pg. 40). Locke also came up with association. Association is what holds are the experiences of life together so that they are meaningful. (Goodwin, 2008, pg. 41).

The next step from there would have been British Associationism. This is the belief that the complex ideas of the mind were related by association (Goodwin, 2008, pg. 46). David Hume was the leader of Associationism. Hume decided to study himself to be able to unlock the "laws of the mind (Goodwin, 2008, pg.46) His system was based off of empiricist ideas. He came up with some of the mind's basic parts. The first one is impressions;