PSYC 1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: American Psychological Association, Johns Hopkins University, Wilhelm Wundt

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Myriam Mongrain

Document Summary

Behavior is classified into two categories, overt (behaviors or actions that can be measured or observed) and covert (behaviors or actions that cannot be observed directly, such as thoughts and feelings). Psychology"s intellectual parents were the disciplines of philosophy and physiology. The emergence of psychology as a distinct discipline is accredited to wilhelm. In 1879 he established the first formal laboratory for research in psychology at the university of leipzig (thus 1879 is considered as the date of birth of psychology). Founded by john watson, behaviorism is a theoretical orientation based on the premise that scientific psychology should study only observable behavior (overt behavior). According to him mental processes were not a proper form of scientific study because they are private events and cannot be observed objectively. He also stated that behavior is governed by the environment (nature vs. nurture argument).