Timeline: Psychology timeline

1879

First psychology laboratory

The First Psychology Laboratory was established by Wilhelm Wundt at the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879.

1883

First American psychology laboratory

The first American psychology laboratory was established by G. Stanley Hall at Johns Hopkins University in 1883

1886

First doctorate in psychology

The first doctoral degree in psychology awarded in the United States was to G. Stanley Hall in 1878 from Harvard University, though it was in philosophy.

1888

First professor of psychology

The first individual to hold the academic title "professor of psychology" in the United States was James McKeen Cattell.

1892

APA founded

APA was founded in July 1892 by a small group of men interested in what they called "the new psychology."

1896

Functionalism

In 1896, Functionalism in psychology gained significant traction with John Dewey's "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology."

1896

First psychology clinic

The first psychology clinic was established in 1896 by Lightner Witmer at the University of Pennsylvania. This clinic is widely recognized as the birthplace of clinical psychology as a distinct field.

1900

Interpretation of Dreams

In 1900, Sigmund Freud published The Interpretation of Dreams, a seminal work that introduced his theory of the unconscious and its influence on dreams.

1901

Manual of Experimental psychology

A guide for conducting psychological experiments, emphasizing the application of scientific methods to understand behavior

1904

First women president of APA

The first female president of the American Psychological Association was Mary Whiton Calkins.

1905

IQ tests developed

In 1905, French psychologist Alfred Binet and his colleague Theodore Simon developed the first widely recognized intelligence test, known as the Binet-Simon Scale

1908

A mind That Found Itself

"A Mind That Found itself" is a raw and unflinching memoir that shattered the silence surrounding mental illness.

1909

Psychoanalysts visit Clark University

In 1909, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, along with other prominent figures in psychoanalysis, visited Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, to participate in a celebration of the University's 20th anniversary.

1913

Behaviorism

In 1913, John B. Watson's lecture "psychology as the behaviorist Views It," is widely credited with establishing behaviorism as a prominent school of thought in psychology.