The history of the development of psychology (“psyche” in the lane with the ancient Greek. “Soul”, “logos” - “science”), as a special knowledge, has its roots in the 4th-5th centuries BC, since it originated in the bowels philosophy. The ancient sage Aristotle wrote his treatise "On the Soul", in which he was able to expound the basic laws and principles of its functioning.
The history of the development of psychology as an independent scientific discipline was already connected with the studies of W. Wundt in the 19th century. Since at that time the first programs created by scientists appeared that were oriented towards the application of a general scientific method of study. Therefore, an experiment and the first laboratory appeared, in which self-observation (introspection) became the main method.
In the future, psychology began to actively develop, in its framework a large number of areas appeared that differed in basic theoretical principles, views on the subject of science and research methods.
At the end of the 19th century, a realization gradually emerged that introspection was not able to reveal the main aspects of the psyche because there are more phenomena in the circle of phenomena studied by psychology.
The result was the teachings of Sigmund Freud, who became the founder of the concept of psychoanalysis. Its main provisions are aimed at studying not the person’s consciousness, as in the first direction, but his personality. That is why the approach is based on principles such as: determinism and development. Special attention was paid to the unconscious as a source of internal activity.
Watson's doctrine, which was called "behaviorism", was a major revolution. Psychology in its framework acted as an objective experimental branch of the natural sciences. The subject is behavior, which is understood as the combination of those muscular and glandular reactions to external stimuli that can be seen. Therefore, the main research method is a behavioral experiment.
The history of the development of psychology at the beginning of the 20th century becomes very difficult. Since at this time a large number of incompatible, competing, and even often incompatible paradigms began to take shape. This was a unique situation in the formation of science, since in no discipline there were clashes of such a number of so different paradigms.
One can easily give an incomplete list of directions that formed at this time: cognitive behaviorism; psychoanalysis of Adler; dynamic concept of K. Levin; Gestalt psychology; Spranger descriptive psychology; Piaget theory; Vygotsky's views; several theories of activity; ankylosing spondylitis and so on.
Therefore, in the science of that time, we can talk about the presence of an open crisis, which has not ended to date. The fact is that modern psychology is also characterized by a variety of views of leading paradigms. But, thanks to so many competing concepts, it is possible to have the most complete understanding of the subject and methods in this science.
Therefore, it can be noted that the history of the development of psychology from this moment began its development. As a result, a large number of its branches took shape.
The history of the development of social psychology is a long way. But since this discipline was formed from a large number of sources, it is practically impossible to determine at what borders the main elements could isolate. We are talking about socio-psychological knowledge.
Most of the main areas of science were formed in the same way. Such is the story of the development of legal psychology, age-related, pedagogical and many others.