The 19th century was when psychology was established as an empirical accepted science while measures would change within that 100 year span the model of research and evaluation would begin to take shape 1878 g stanley hall becomes the first american to earn a phd in psychology. Psychologys history can be traced back to aristotles considerations of happiness and descartes discussion of mind brain dualism benjamin 2007 from which much of this section is drawn. Benjamin traces the history of american psychology from its mid nineteenth century beginnings in germany to the so called cognitive revolution of the 1950s and 1960s because the focus is on modern psychology the philosophical roots of the discipline are bypassed with the exception of a few pages devoted to mental philosophy. In a brief history of modern psychology ludy t benjamin jr leading historian in the field discusses the history of both the science and the practice of psychology since the establishment of the first experimental psychology laboratory in 1879