Compared with the ancestor of psychology, philosophy, the history of its formation and development as a science is small. However, many centuries passed before psychology became an independent branch of scientific knowledge, during which knowledge and ideas about the human soul were formed - such a “shaky”, “obscure” and indefinite, but such a comprehensive subject, the study of which psychology has devoted itself. Thus, the main stages in the development of psychology can be divided into pre-scientific, which arose in ancient times, philosophical - very long, when for many centuries the ideas and observations of wise scientists about man and his “inner world” gathered and formed in certain theories , which begins in the middle of the XIX century, when the first experimental studies in this field began.
The historical stages of the development of psychology begin in ancient times. Ancient philosophers tried to understand the nature of man. They were convinced of the existence of a certain substance responsible for its behavior. Materialists represented the soul in the form of a physical body, consisting of the smallest atoms, idealists believed that the soul is immaterial, a kind of ephemeral substance that lives independently of the human body and contains a higher mind. The great philosopher Aristotle did not separate the soul or “psyche” from the body, he believed that it is located in the heart of a person, accumulates knowledge of the Universe and thanks to this helps a person realize himself in life.
The problem of the soul gave rise to endless discussions during the Middle Ages. Theologians rejected philosophical teachings about the soul and naturally scientific research, believing that everything on earth and the human mind in particular is governed by a higher divine being. The scholastics, on the other hand, tried to combine theological teachings with Aristotle's theory and explain earthly processes from the point of view of the human mind, “illuminated” by divine faith.
The next stages in the development of psychology as a science of consciousness begin in the 17th century and are connected with the theory of Descartes, who created a mechanistic model of behavior. According to her, the soul, located in the brain and its essence, flows through the motor nerves into the muscles, which allows the limbs to move and perform certain actions. In addition, the soul allows a person to control his actions, which distinguishes him from the animal. This dualistic theory, showing the existence of a soul that controls the body using a mechanical model, despite the development of knowledge in human anatomy and physiology, has long been a leading one and has become the starting point for the formation of later psychological theories.
The stages of development of psychology in the XVII century are associated with the rapid growth of the natural sciences. Chemistry, physics, then physiology in the 18th century, which made it possible to get closer to understanding how information is transmitted in the human body, contributed to the formation and formation of scientific psychology. Finally, in the 19th century, sociology and the first experimental laboratories appeared, which made it possible to observe human reactions and actions. Starting from this time, new stages in the development of psychology as a science of behavior are being formed. This began with the German scientist W. Wundt, who opened in 1879 the first laboratory to study the content and structure of consciousness. Later, a similar laboratory was organized in Russia by the scientist-naturalist V. M. Bekhterev.
Modern psychology begins its development in the twentieth century as a combination of various branches of knowledge, including scientific areas and disciplines that study the diverse objective manifestations of the psyche and its mechanisms. From the middle of the twentieth century to the present day, the stages of development of psychology are the emergence and development of many areas and schools (behaviorism, cognitive, analytical, humanistic psychology , etc.) that have their own ideas about a person and the mechanisms of his behavior, often contradicting each other to a friend. However, with the deepening of psychological knowledge, the contradictions between different directions are smoothed out, an eclectic approach arises that selects from existing theories those concepts that more help to understand certain phenomena and develop effective mechanisms to help a person improve and harmonize his life.