Problem:
Literally, psychology means the study of the psyche, or mind, and this study is as old as the human species. Ancient peoples, for example, surely studied one another to determine who was reliable and trustworthy, and evidence suggests that they attempted to account for dreams, mental illness, and emotions. Was this psychology? Or did psychology commence with the first systematic explanations of human cognitive experience, such as those proposed by the early Greeks? Plato and Aristotle, for example, created elaborate theories that attempted to account for such processes as memory, perception, and learning. Is this then the point at which psychology started? Perhaps psychology only came into existence when it emerged as a science in Germany late in the 19th century? This option seems especially unsatisfactory for two reasons: (1) It ignores the vast philosophical heritage that molded psychology into the type of science that it eventually became and (2) it omits important aspects of psychology that arose outside the realm of science. Need Assignment Help?