History of Psychology

In 1910, Hermann Ebbinghaus famously described psychology as having “a long past but only a short history” (p. 9). By “history,” Ebbinghaus was apparently referring to the brief period of time when experimental psychologists had been consciously working as members of a new, official discipline; the first psychology laboratory had been opened only about thirty years before his comment. By “past,” Ebbinghaus seemed to reference the age-old questions about human behavior and experience that psychologists study; for thousands of years, scholars had been debating and writing about these topics. If you have taken other courses in psychology, you are likely already familiar with some of these questions, and it is helpful to consider them as we take a brief tour through the history of psychology.