Evolution of Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive revolution in the 1950s rejected behaviorism. Computers provided metaphors. Focus shifted to mental processes and information processing.
June 2025
April 2025
The History of Psychology: From Philosophy to Science
Psychology became a science in 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt opened the first experimental laboratory. Trace the discipline from ancient Greek philosophy through Freud, behaviorism, the cognitive revolution, and today's replication crisis.
January 2025
Operant Conditioning: How Consequences Shape Behavior — and the Limits of That Power
In 1930, B.F. Skinner placed a rat in a box with a lever. When the rat pressed the lever, a food pellet dropped. The rat pressed more. When pressing the lever produced a mild electric shock, the rat pressed less. Skinner spent the next four decades mapping the relationship between consequences and behavior with a precision that transformed psychology, education, and animal training — and provoked a backlash that permanently changed how we understand learning.