A Brief History of Psychology
Psychology officially began in America with the formation of the American Psychological Association in July 1892.
Note: Psychology had its beginnings in Europe. The first experimental laboratory was established at the University of Leipzig, Germany in 1879. Wilhelm Wundt is generally credited with establishing Psychology as an academic discipline.
In the early 1900s, Sigmund Freud proposed the first comprehensive theory of human nature.
Note: A theory of human nature is typically referred to as a “Theory of Personality.”Although his ideas achieved prominence, many competing theories have since attempted to resolve the obvious flaws in Freud's conclusions. All have failed. Today, the body of knowledge known as Psychology works without a universally accepted theory to explain human nature.
Note: A theory that adequately explains the motivation behind human decisions and behavior must exist. This is why we refer to the absent theory as “missing.”
Psychology has been operating without an official core theory since its onset in 1892. The missing core “Theory of Personality,” will explain the motivation behind human decisions and behavior. Many failed theories of personality have been proffered over the decades, yet all have proven to be incapable of standing up to scrutiny.
Note: Psychologists cannot answer the proverbial “Pleasure versus Pain” question because they do not understand human nature. The question can be posed as follows: “Do human beings seek pleasure or avoid pain?” When asked, most psychologists will say, “A little of both,” yet the answer is “Neither!”
In the absence of an official core “Theory of Personality,” psychologists must create their own individualized theory. They do this by taking bits from various failed theories such as Freud, Fromm, Erikson, Horney, Young, Adler, Maslow, Skinner and others. (Most add a few ideas of their own.) This is why psychologists disagree among themselves. In short, psychologists are guessing and working in the dark.
This statement is not an attack on Psychology. It is an observation based on the facts. The statement must be regarded as correct unless the APA (American Psychological Association) can point to an officially recognized and endorsed comprehensive theory of human nature as of January 1992.
Note: No such theory has been announced by the APA as of September 2016.
Is Psychology real science?
Psychology is comprised of three branches – “Research,” “Theoretical Modeling” and “Application.”
Psychologists in “Research,” are practicing science because (1) they organize and systematically arrange the data they collect from (2) forming and testing hypotheses by way of the scientific method. (3) They deduce from the data general laws and principles that (4) explain the data and make accurate predictions consistently.
Psychologists in “Theoretical Modeling” are presumably conducting science as well. However, they have yet to discover the missing theory in Psychology that explains the motivation behind human decisions and behavior.
In contrast, Psychologists in “Application” administer pseudoscience. We say this with confidence because (1) the central theory of human nature is missing. (2) Working without “the missing central theory” forces psychologists to form their own individualized theory. To do so, they must use general laws and principles of unproven or defunct theories.