What
is psychology?
Probably
as long as mankind has existed, human beings have had different
considerations about where we come from, what makes us the way we are, how
our destiny is determined (if it
is determined), how we develop from we are born until we die, etc. etc.
Already the old Greeks developed the theory of the four temperaments
(earth, water, fire and air) which they used to determine personality and each
individual's behaviour. This ancient Greek theory - and other theories
about the human temperament, the soul and mental state - have been
discussed up through history.
With
the scientific revolution in the 19th century the idea that everything
could be observed, measured, made objects for experiments and finally explained from scientific methods, became more end more modern.
Darwin's
theory of evolution viewed man as a product of the long development from small bacteria,
via more organised animals, to the humans we find today.
The idea that human behaviour could also be object for scientific
research and explained in the same way as natural laws or theories followed soon, and
the scientific field of “psychology” was created.
Through
the development of psychology different schools of thoughts have developed,
ranking from schools which look upon humans as an advanced animals, to
schools of thought which see man as a unique creature which cannot be
explained, but maybe interpreted.
