ABSTRACT
17The history of psychology spans over 2,000 years from the ancient Greeks (especially Plato and Aristotle) through to the present day. However, most advances in psychology have occurred over the past 150 years, and so I will focus on that time period. There are two remarkable aspects to the recent history of psychology. First, many different approaches have been taken in the attempt to understand human behaviour. Second, psychology has made dramatic progress over what is (compared to most other sciences) a relatively short time.
Behaviourism (an approach to psychology starting approximately 100 years ago) was incredibly influential. Its main goal was to identify the main kinds of basic learning found in the human and other species. In view of its historical importance, the second part of this chapter is devoted to behaviourism.
