Psychology emerged as a scientific discipline in the early 1900s, propelled by figures like John Watson, who advocated for behaviorism, focusing on observable and measurable phenomena rather than introspection. Wilhelm Wundt is credited as the first psychologist with the establishment of the first psychology lab in 1879, marking psychology's transition from philosophy to an independent scientific field. Key advancements, including brain scans and the integration of social learning theory, have further solidified psychology's scientific foundation and its applications in various human endeavors.

1. Emergence of Psychology as a
scientific discipline
Lecture-2

2. Emergence of Psychology as a Science
• Psychology became a science in the early 1900s when
some early scientists started doubting if looking inside
our minds (introspection) was a good way to study it.
• John Watson said instead of focusing on thoughts we
can't see, psychology should study things we can see
and measure. This idea led to behaviorism and made
psychology a real science.

3. Physiology also contributed to psychology's
eventual emergence as a scientific
discipline.
• Early physiological research on the brain and
behavior had a dramatic impact on
psychology, ultimately contributing to applying
scientific methodologies to the study of
human thought and behavior.

4. • Psychology is a relatively new discipline officially
pioneered in the 1870s by Wilhelm Wundt.
• It was originally a branch of philosophy that evolved into
a fully-fledged science in its own right. This involved the
hard work of many brilliant minds and has resulted in a
field that contributes to varied human tasks: from taking
care of our mental health to creating successful
marketing. Let's take a look at how this journey
unfolded.

5. Psychology in philosophy
• Psychology began as a branch of philosophy. We can see
the influence of philosophy on psychology in the way that
modern psychologists often theorise about certain
hypotheses before conducting an experiment. We can
also see its roots in how some concepts considered true
are mostly or completely based on theory as they cannot
fully be scientifically studied.

6. The first psychologist
• The first person to consider
themselves a psychologist
was Wilhelm Wundt, who
opened the first psychology
laboratory in 1879 in
Leipzig and developed the
first experimental
technique to be considered
scientific: introspection.

7. Scientific terms
• In order to truly establish psychology as a
science, it had to have scientific means of
experimentation, and terms that could be
standardized across the science.

8. Early approaches: Behaviourism
• One of the earliest approaches to psychology as a science was
Behaviorism, which is still practiced today.Behavioural
psychologists believe that we can study behavior objectively and
scientifically and that all behavior is acquired and maintained
through conditioning.
• Behaviourist psychologists didn’t agree with the scientific validity
of introspection. Therefore, they studied human behaviour using
the same techniques as other scientific disciplines.
• In Behaviourism, there are two main types of conditioning:
classical and operant.

9. Behaviorism's influence on psychology as
a science
• Behaviourism took Wundt’s scientific approach
to study psychology further. Behaviour is explicit
and can be recorded and studied more
objectively than thoughts, which meant that the
Behaviourist focus on purely studying outward
behavior was considered more scientific. This
helped psychology to become more established
as a science.

10. Social learning theory
• After the Behaviourist approach, which
dominated the first half of the 1900s, Bandura
introduced the concept of Social Learning Theory.
Similar to Behaviourism, Bandura believed our
behaviour was a direct result of stimuli. However,
he introduced the concept of mental processes
and social interactions (observational learning) as
also having a role in behaviour, which was
dismissed in the behaviorist's approach as
unscientific.

11. The first brain scans
• In modern psychology, brain scans are one of the
most objective and scientific methods we have to
study the activity of our brains, which can have
biological applications as well as psychological
ones. However, it has taken centuries to develop
and perfect this approach.

12. The emergence of psychology as a science - Key
takeaways
• Psychology began as a branch of philosophy.
• The first psychological lab was first established at the
University of Leipzig in 1879.
• An early approach to psychology, Behaviourism, contributed
to psychology’s reputation as a science, as it focused on
studying explicit behaviour that was easier to study
objectively and therefore less susceptible to bias.
• Brain scans, first developed in the 1880s, have also
developed rapidly into a highly scientific technique, showing
that as technology has advanced, psychology has also
become more scientific.