Medicine/Behavioral Science

There are many well known accounts of the history of visual science (some references are given below) but it seems hard to find a simple chronological listing of major events. Sometimes such a list can be helpful in gaining a quick historical perspective. This note presents a chronology listing 133 significant events between 1600 and 1960. In addition, for completeness sake, there is a brief preliminary section that sketches the history of visual science before 1600. All of this material is based on standard secondary sources: the author is not a specialist in the history of science, and the object here is not to contribute anything new to the history of vision research but rather simply to collate material already scattered throughout the literature--though of course the choice of "significant" events is idiosyncratic.

Street, W. R. (1994). A Chronology of Noteworthy Events in American Psychology. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
Addenda
23 Oct 1247 The priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem, later to become Bethlehem Hospital, was founded on land donated by Simon FitzMary at Bishopsgate Without, London. This original site is now located under the the Liverpool Street railway station. Bethlehem Hospital, or "Bedlam," later became notorious for its neglectful care of people with mental illness. The priory was first used to house "distracted persons" in around the year 1377.
15 Oct 1346 The impoverished priory and order of St. Mary of Bethlehem, later to become Bethlehem Hospital ("Bedlam"), was taken under the patronage and protection of Richard Lacer, mayor of London, and the citizens of London. The act brought to an end a century of "disaster, poverty, and failure."

Emotional Deprivation Disorder is a syndrome which results from a lack of authentic affirmation and emotional strengthening in one's life. A person may have been criticized, ignored, neglected, abused, or emotionally rejected by primary caregivers early in life, resulting in that individual’s stunted emotional growth. Unaffirmed persons are incapable of developing into emotionally mature adults until they receive authentic affirmation from another person. Maturity is reached when there is a harmonious relationship between a person’s body, mind, emotions and spiritual soul under the guidance of their reason and will.1

ESHHS is the successor organization to Cheiron-Europe, which was founded in 1982, and aims to provide a forum for international and cross-disciplinary study of the history of the human sciences.

The scholarly journal History of Psychology began quarterly publication in February 1998. It is published by the American Psychological Association for the Society for the History of Psychology (APA Division 26), and is edited (through the year 2005) by Michael M. Sokal, Professor of History at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. History of Psychology's editorial office operates under the direction of Gina M. Patterson, Editorial Coordinator, with support from WPI, the American Psychological Association, and the Society for the History of Psychology.

Few figures have had so decisive and fundamental an influence on the course of modern cultural history as Sigmund Freud. Yet few figures also have inspired such sustained controversy and intense debate. Freud's legacy continues to be hotly contested, as demonstrated by the controversy attracted by this exhibition even before its opening. Our notions of identity, memory, childhood, sexuality, and, most generally, of meaning have been shaped in relation to--and often in opposition to--Freud's work. The exhibition examines Freud's life and his key ideas and their effect upon the twentieth century.

Bedlam: Custody Care and Cure 1247-1997 at the Museum of London until 15 March 1998. This exhibition tells the fascinating 750-year-old story of Bethlem Royal Hospital, popularly known as 'Bedlam'.

Bethlem is the world's oldest institution caring for people with mental disorders. It has been a part of London since 1247 and many people, rich and poor, have played a part in its history

Cheiron, named after the wise centaur of Greek myth, was formed in October 1968 to promote international cooperation and multidisciplinary studies in the history of the social and behavioral sciences. The society's aims are to:
(a) provide a broad perspective on contemporary scientific activities in order to counteract the narrow views of various disciplines and their interactions.
(b) broaden scientific perspective by close cooperation with scholars in other countries.
(c) strengthen and increase professionalism of scholarly research in the history of the behavioral and social sciences.

SOCIAL psychology has, as a rule, dealt with various phases of social experience from the psychological standpoint of individual experience. The point of approach which I wish to suggest is that of dealing with experience from the standpoint of society, at least from the standpoint of communication as essential to the social order. Social psychology, on this view, presupposes an approach to experience from the standpoint of the individual, but undertakes to determine in particular that which belongs to this experience because the individual himself belongs to a social structure, a social order.
-- from Mind, Self and Society from the Perspective of a Social Behaviorist