History of Psychology In this essay I will examine where psychology as a discipline came from and what effects these early ideas have had on psychology today. Psychology as a whole is derived from a number of factors across areas of study from physics to biology, but the earliest psychological foundations are rooted in philosophy, which to this day drives psychological inquiry into areas such as language acquisition, consciousness and even vision among many others. While the great philosophical distinction between mind and body If Western thought can be traced back to the Greeks, it is to the influential work of René Descartes, the French mathematician, philosopher and physiologist, that we owe the first systematic account of the mind/body relationship. As the 19th century progressed, the problem of the relationship between mind and brain became increasingly urgent. The word psychology comes from two Greek words: Psyche and Logos. The term ?psychology? used early it described the study of the spirit. It was in the 18th century that psychology acquired its literal meaning: the study of behavior. In today's studies, psychology is defined as the scientific and systematic study of human and animal behavior. The term psychology has a long history, but psychology as an independent discipline is quite new. Psychology began, and has had a long history, as a topic in the fields of philosophy and physiology. It then became an autonomous field thanks to the work of the German Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of experimental psychology and structuralism. Wundt emphasized the use of scientific methods in psychology, particularly through the use of introspection. In 1875, a room was set aside for Wundt for demonstrations of what we now call sensation and perception. This is the same year that William James created a similar laboratory at Harvard. Wilhelm Wundt and William James are generally considered the fathers of psychology, as well as the founders of the first two great "schools" of psychology. Structuralism and functionalism. Psychologist Edward B Titchner said; ?to study the brain and the unconscious we should break it down into its structural elements, after which we can build it into a whole and understand what it does.? (psicafe.com) Functionalism, an early school of psychology, focuses on the acts and functions of the mind rather than its internal contents. Its most important American supporter is William James. William James is the author of "The Principles of Psychology?" a book that is considered one of the most important texts of modern psychology.