William of Occam (ca. 1285- 1349) early Psychologist who denied the contention of the realists that what people experience are but manifestations of abstract principles. William of Occam sided with the Nominalists, instead who said that so-called abstract principles, or universals, were nothing more than verbal labels that people use to describe classes of experiences. For William of Occam, there is no need to assume a "higher" reality beyond our senses, reality is what we experience directly