This essay will highlight the roots of psychology and how the different approaches emerged. According to Hothersall (2010), psychology dates back to the Ancient Greeks 700BC. Questions about the universe, our role in it, reasons and causes of all things brought about the roots of psychology. Rene Descartes, Plato and Socrates are among other Greek philosophers who tried to find answers to these questions. These philosophers believed in body-mind duality, that is, body and mind are two separate entities and mind could exist even after death (Raghunathan, 2012). On the other hand, Rene considered that there was uninterrupted transaction between body and mind, Plato was positive in that education brought change to the basic nature of mind and Aristotle thought that of each of these was the manifestation of the other and was pessimistic about the role of education in changing the fundamental nature of humans (Hothersall, 2010). In trying to understand behaviour, there have been an introduction and development of different approaches with different methods, hypothetical structures and notions, which gradually gave birth to psychology. .
In the late 19th century, William Wundt (1879) and William James (1890) were the main founders and contributors to early psychology and were labelled,' the fathers of psychology' (Cardwell, et al., 2004). William Wundt's study in sensory processes increased his interest in psychology such that he created the first psychological laboratory experiment (Cullis, et al., 2002). He wanted to take psychology out of philosophy and establish it as a science. Although he inspired many psychologists and was regarded as the founder of modern psychology, his structuralism approach has been substituted by other approaches in psychology (Raghunathan, 2012). William James was more fascinated by how the mind functioned, establishing it as the stream of consciousness. This functionalism approach has continued to be noticeable among cognitive psychologists (Brain, 2008).
