Psychology Timeline (Modern Period)

Reference: SC: Psychology

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West

1800s

  • c. 1800 – Franz Joseph Gall developed cranioscopy, the measurement of the skull to determine psychological characteristics, which was later renamed phrenology; it is now discredited.
  • 1807 – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel published Phenomenology of Spirit (Mind), which describes his thesis-antithesis-synthesis dialectical method, according to which knowledge pushes forwards to greater certainty, and ultimately towards knowledge of the noumenal world.
  • 1808 – Johann Christian Reil coined the term “psychiatry”.

1810s

1820s

1840s

1850s

1860s

1870s

1880s

1890s

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

21st century

2000s

2010s

2020s

2020

2021

  • July – A study reports that adolescent loneliness in contemporary schools and depression increased substantially and consistently worldwide after 2012.
  • September – Psychologist and behavior geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden publishes The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality, an argument for using genetics to create a just society – including in terms of psychology-related predispositions, similar to a bioethical argument made by Papaioannou in 2013.
  • October – The American Psychological Association releases guidelines for the optimal use of social media in professional psychological practice.
  • December – In applied behavioural science, “megastudies” as meta-analyses are proposed and demonstrated for investigating the efficacy of many different interventions designed in an interdisciplinary manner by separate teams, e.g. to inform policy.

2022

2023

  • February – A study hypothesizes mental health awareness efforts (in current forms) or increasingly glamorised and romanticised mental disorders on social media (e.g. quotes about depression on aesthetically appealing backgrounds shared more widely on certain social media – especially TikTok) may contribute to the recent substantial rise in reported mental health problems by intensifying and over-diagnosing of such. Around 2023, the rapid rise of TikTok prompts extensive research into potential harmful effects of such apps such as higher levels of mental problems correlating with higher levels of usage or addictive elements of this and similar apps.
  • March – Bioengineers show bodily system changes can induce anxiety, in specific altered heart rate by itself in risky contexts, after earlier studies also implicated immune system elements.
  • April – The first review of interventions against false conspiracy beliefs is published, indicating interventions “that fostered an analytical mindset or taught critical thinking skills” are most effective and that preventive action is important.
  • June – A time-use study provides the first comprehensive bird’s-eye view, with a “global human day” framework, of what humans currently spend their time on.

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East

  • 1872–1950 – Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Psychology
    Sri Aurobindo formulates an “integral” psychology that treats consciousness as fundamental, introduces the “psychic being” as evolving soul, and outlines a multi‑tiered model of mind (from physical mind up to supramental) with practices for their transformation.
  • 1905 – First psychology lab in India
    Sir Brojendra Nath Seal establishes what is widely regarded as India’s first psychology laboratory at Calcutta University, initiating institutional Western‑style psychological research in India.
  • 1916 – First Department of Psychology in India
    N. N. Sengupta founds the first Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Calcutta, explicitly connecting laboratory methods with India’s long introspective traditions.
  • Mid‑20th century – Indian and Buddhist thought enter global psychology
    As humanistic and transpersonal psychologies emerge (c. 1960s), Indian concepts of self‑realization, samādhi, nirvāṇa, and Buddhist meditation are integrated into Western theories of self‑actualization and peak experiences.
  • 1926–2022 – Thich Nhat Hanh and engaged mindfulness
    Thich Nhat Hanh develops a modern, socially engaged Buddhist psychology, articulating the Five and Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings and presenting mindfulness as a whole‑life practice beyond symptom relief.

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