History of PsychologyIn this essay, I examine where psychology as a discipline came from and what effects these early ideas have had on psychology today. Psychology as a whole grew out of a number of different fields of study ranging from physics to biology, but the earliest psychological foundations are rooted in philosophy, which to this day propels psychological research in areas such as language acquisition, consciousness and even vision, among others. While the great philosophical distinction between mind and body in Western thought can be traced to the Greeks, it is the influential work of René Descartes, a French mathematician, philosopher and physiologist, who owes its origin to the Greeks. first systematic explanation of the mind/body relationship. As the 19th century progressed, the problem of the relationship between the mind and the brain became more and more pressing. The word psychology comes from two Greek words: Psyche and Logos. The term “psychology”? used early described the study of the mind. It was in the 18th century that psychology acquired its literal meaning: the study of behavior. In current studies, psychology is defined as the scientific and systematic study of human and animal behavior. The term psychology has a long history, but psychology as an independent discipline is relatively new. Psychology began and has had a long history as a subject in the fields of philosophy and physiology. It then became an independent field thanks to the work of the German Wilhelm Wundt, founder of experimental psychology and structuralism. Wundt emphasized the use of scientific methods in psychology, particularly through the use of introspection. In 1875, a room was set aside at Wundt for demonstrations on what we today call sensation and perception. It was the same year that William James established a similar laboratory at Harvard. Wilhelm Wundt and William James are generally considered the fathers of psychology, as well as the founders of the first two major "schools" of psychology. Structuralism and functionalism. Psychologist Edward B Titchner said: “To study the brain and the unconscious mind, we must divide it into its structural elements, after which we can build it into a whole and understand what it does. » (psicafe.com) Functionalism, an early school of psychology, focuses on the actions and functions of the mind rather than its internal contents. Its most prominent American advocate is William James. William James is the author of “The Principles of Psychology? a book considered one of the most important texts in modern psychology.