Week 3 Discussion-History and Systems

For the last few weeks, you have followed the many paths leading to modern psychology. The challenge so far has been the diverse viewpoints of the mind and behavior. Two important influences emerged in the late 19th century and they are the emergence of understanding brain function and the influence of hereditary. Francis Galton described human intelligence as being associated with social stature. For instance, it was thought someone with a family background of royalty, science, and medicine would breed more persons of genius than an individual of lower social status. Galton’s ideas were in part developed due to his cousin’s work on understanding evolution. That cousin was none other than Charles Darwin. Psychology as a science was just beginning at this time with little unification on not only understanding behavior but how to even go about studying it.