"Psychology has
a long past but only a short story"
Hermann
Ebbinghaus, an experimental psychologist, was famous for the first line in his
general textbook of psychology. His first line in his book was “Psychology has
a long past but only a short history.” (Ebbinghaus, 1908). This line implied the
affirmation and declaration of independence of modern and scientific psychology from the old
and mere-speculating psychology. “Long past” meant that psychology, the study
of human behavior and mental processes, has been around ever since the beginning. However, it was
not studied the way it’s studied now. “Long past” referred to the era wherein
psychology was laid out by Plato and Aristotle. It was more linked with
rationalism, which relies on reason and intuition. According to Ebbinghaus, old
psychology had no progressive development. It was stagnant and cannot be
expounded further. It was not until the end of the 19th century that
German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt established the first laboratory dedicated to
experimental psychology. Modern psychology was recently considered a science
and used empiricism, instead of rationalism. By this time, psychology finally
had a story and history, although short, which also meant that there was
finally change and cumulative development. Modern psychology now has a broad
range of topics and areas of study. It has contributed a great deal of research,
which made people understand human phenomena better.
