History of Psychology

As we have seen, the laboratory psychology tradition, using controlled experimentation, originated in Germany. The German psychologists used experiments to find general laws of how the human mind worked, and psychologists like Edward Titchener brought that tradition to the United States. A very different tradition started in Britain, where the methods used were only rarely controlled laboratory experiments, and instead careful observation in natural settings was preferred. The British tradition also emphasizes individual differences rather than general laws. In this chapter, we cover the pioneering work of the British cousins Charles Darwin and Francis Galton. We discuss Darwin’s work on biological evolution but also his psychological ideas, particularly in regard to emotion. Galton’s mind meandered across many disciplines, from meteorology to criminology, but fortunately for psychologists, he contributed research methods, data analysis techniques, and important findings besides.