The word psychology comes from Greek, which means the science of the soul. Soul also means gas or breath in Greek, because ancient people believed that life depended on breathing, and when breathing stopped, life was over. With the development of science, the object of psychology has changed from the soul to the mind.

The famous German psychologist H. EBBINGHAUS (1850-1909) once described the development of psychology in this way: "Psychology has a long past, but only a short history. "(1885)

As a scientific history, psychology has a very short history. After the mid-19th century, the rapid development of natural science created conditions for psychology to become an independent science. In particular, the development of sensory neurophysiology in Germany played a more direct role in promoting psychology to become an independent science. It was not until the appearance of "Principles of Physiological Psychology" in 1874 that psychology separated from philosophy, became an independent science, and began a process of vigorous development.

The Development of Scientific Psychology

The development of physiology and physics in the 19th century prepared the necessary conditions for the birth of scientific psychology. The German sensory physiologist Weber (1795-1878) first established the differential threshold law of sensation. Later, Fechner (1801-1887) developed Weber's research and used psychophysical methods to determine the functional relationship between external physical stimuli and psychological phenomena. Their research methods became a model for scientific psychological research. The true separation of psychology from philosophy and becoming an independent science was mainly accomplished by the German physiological psychologist Wundt (1832-1920). In 1879, Wundt founded the world's first psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in Germany, using experimental methods to study psychological phenomena. This is recognized as a sign of the independence of psychological science. Wundt opposed the use of philosophical speculation to explore psychological phenomena and insisted on using natural science methods such as observation, experimentation, and mathematical statistics to reveal the laws of psychological processes. As a result, he achieved fruitful research results and trained a group of students from all over the world. . Wundt wrote many books throughout his life, among which "Principles of Physiological Psychology" is known as "the Declaration of the Independence of Psychology" and is the first systematic psychological monograph in the history of psychology. Wundt was the founder of scientific psychology and the first professional psychologist in the history of psychology.

The development of modern psychology

As the famous Chinese psychologist Mr. Hao Bin said: "Two hundred years ago, humans did not have scientific psychology as a way to explore the inner world. But mankind’s journey to explore the spiritual world has already set sail! It’s unclear in what form mankind will continue this journey two hundred years from now, but I firmly believe that as long as we exist, this pace will never stop.” The development of scientific psychology took more than a hundred years. In the process of development, on the one hand, people have been arguing about the research objects and theoretical systems of psychology for decades, forming various theoretical schools, and finally reached a basic political understanding in the 1950s. Make psychology continue to prosper. Domestic psychology and hypnotism researcher Cao Jianhan proposed the brain operation theory, which brings a better theoretical model for psychological display logic. On the other hand, with the deepening and expansion of psychological research, psychology itself continues to differentiate, and many branches of psychology have been derived, making psychology more and more important.

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