Psychology used to be seen as an art subject; it is only recently that it has been placed into the sciences. Learning about psychology now is a mixture of maths, science and theory. But this is new, as previously it was seen as part of philosophy.

We can see the mixture of intellect and the meaning of life in the teachings of Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, Aristotle and Plato. When looking into cognitive psychology we investigate the underlying beliefs and thought processes of people. Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates spoke about questioning thoughts which could be seen as a very ancient prelude to cognitive behavioural therapy, even though we have no written work directly from him it was all passed from his students such as Plato, the ideas we have today about cognition are similar.

The ancient Roman philosophers such as Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Cicero have also emphasised the importance of controlling emotions and critical thinking about certain situations. This can all tie into mindfulness and cognition, especially the idea of understanding what is in our control and what is not. Let’s all remember what Marcus Aurelius said: “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thought.” This today can be used when discussing not only CBT and mindfulness but also neuroplasticity. The idea that one can change their thought process gradually by changing their thoughts.

Seneca, one of the main figures of the Stoics gave a very famous quote: “We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” This can be tied into health psychology especially the biopsychosocial model where emotions and thoughts are linked to physical illness. When discussing stressors and hassles and the ways to increase resilience Seneca focused on amor fati, which means accepting fate which can link to positive psychology and various stress coping strategies.

Plato looked at the distinction between the sensory world and ideas which demonstrate the realities behind the shadows. While the idea of anamnesis which means remembering the soul’s memories from previous forms would be considered a pseudoscience today, he does have some ideas that link to cognition. Logos meaning reason is part of his idea on the tripartite of the soul can be linked to executive control and emotional reasoning which all play a part in cognition. Plato believed the soul had three parts reason, spirit and appetite and reason like the central executive in the working memory governs the other two for true knowledge. Plato laid the foundation with his ideas that rational insight leading to truth which can be said to be linked to both rationalism and dualism.

Before psychology became the science, we know it is today the questions about mind, behaviour, consciousness was taken from the philosophers. When thinking about epistemology about how we know what we know, we can link that to cognitions idea that the mind is like a computer where we process and remember information.

Ethics both in psychology and philosophy plays a part in explaining values whether it is to be virtuous in philosophy or the motivation of behaviour in psychology. Both ask what conscientiousness is and look at the links between body and mind. Psychologists such as Wundt originally started as philosophers and philosophers such as Descartes helped set the scene for dualism.

Western philosophy in which we look at Ancient Greece and Rome, flourished because they started in melting pots where there were different ideas, opportunities and diversity. This is when civilisations become intellectually curious because they absorb different cultures and languages and these lead to diverse opinions to life and the universe. They ask the questions that still get asked today such as, ‘What is a human?’ by Aristotle. These are questions that shape psychology today and that still get asked and lead to way for a new hypothesis demonstrating the relevance of these philosophers in the psychology sphere today.

Philosophy is the garden which planted seeds for psychology to bloom. It set the questions about the nature of humankind for psychology to answer with experiments and evidence. Both walk hand in hand to clarify behaviour.

Ayten Nevzat is a psychology lecturer with an MSc whose academic interests include cognition, neurodiversity, and health psychology. She promotes critical thinking through a humanistic teaching style and is planning to pursue a PhD in psychology.