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A History of Modern Psychology PDF

423 Pages·1981·10.983 MB·English
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1& IHIll§1r(Q)~1f (Q)IF M(Q)ill)1E~W ]F§1f(CIHI(Q)IL(Q)CG1f ~®@o DUANE SCHULTZ University of South Florida ACADEMIC PRESS New York/London/Toronto/Sydney/San Francisco A Subsidiary ofHarcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers Cover Photo by Glen Heller Copyright © 1981, by Academic Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Academic Press, Inc. Ill Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10003 United Kingdom Edition published by Academic Press, Inc. (London) Ltd. 24/28 Oval Road, London NW1 7DX ISBN: 0-12-633060-3 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 80-616 Printed in the United States of America To My Parents IFAC This new edition retains the same overall format, scope, and focus as the earlier ones. Three premises continue to underlie and characterize its approach. First, our discussion of the history of psychology concentrates on the last century of development in the field. It does not attempt to cover earlier philosophical thought, except where such thought relates directly to the establishment of psychology as a separate discipline, as is the case with the British empiricists, for example. In short, the book is a history of modern psychology, not of psychology and all the work in philosophy that preceded it. The second premise is defined by one of the most striking and consistent characteristics of the century-old history of modern psychology: the contin uous development and decline of different systematic positions or schools of thought. A definite continuity of development can be seen from each of these schools of thought to the one that subsequently replaced it. This orderly and meaningful developmental pattern is, I believe, the most useful framework within which to understand the history of psychology. Our discussion will demonstrate how each system grew out of or revolted against the existing order, and how each, in turn, inspired a new point of view that opposed and eventually replaced, or at least supplemented, the older system. Outstanding figures in the history of psychology are discussed within the context of the systematic position they helped to formulate, advance, or destroy. Each systematic position is discussed in terms of three stages or levels of development: (1) historical antecedents or precursors, (2) formal founding and development, and (3) later influence. Contemporary influences on the various systems are discussed to demonstrate the continuity of development from the old to the new, i.e., how psychology as we know it today evolved from these earlier positions. The discussion of each school concludes with criticisms and contributions of the position, so that the student can see the weaknesses of each system as well as its importance in psychology's later development. The third premise is concerned with the determining influence of the Zeitgeist on each school of thought. The development and decline of each systematic position are discussed in terms of the general intellectual and xiii Preface social climate of the era or region in which it occurred. Using this approach, the student is able to understand that changes in psychological thinking were influenced and augmented by broader changes in our attitudes toward ourselves and the world around us. The style of writing and level of difficulty of this text are intended expressly for the undergraduate student's initial exposure to the history of the discipline. I want to tell the continuing story of psychology's develop ment and progress, rather than to provide a catalogue of dates, names, theories, and events. I have tried to present the history of psychology here as I do in the classroom. Having the opportunity to revise the book has been a stimulating, enjoyable, and rewarding task. Aside from the chance to correct errors, eliminate sexist language, and rephrase difficult concepts, a revision allows the time to incorporate the results of new scholarly work in the field and to reflect feedback from the instructors and students who have used the second edition. Changes range from the insertion of a clarifying word to the addition of new sections and the rewriting of chapters. Chapter 1 has been substantially rewritten to incorporate the following material: the role of history in understanding the diversity and divisiveness of contemporary psychology; the similarity between the history of psy chology and the case history of a patient, showing how both attempt to understand the present by examining the influences from the past; the similarity between the evolution of a discipline and the evolution of a living species, showing that both have to be responsive to the environment or context in which they function; and the relevance of Kuhn's work, showing that psychology is still in the preparadigmatic stage characterized by competing schools of thought. Chapter 15 has also been rewritten to focus on more recent developments in the two major forces in contemporary psychology—behaviorism and psychoanalysis—and the evolution of the third force, humanistic psychol ogy. Included are discussions of the cognitive revolution and the work of Bandura; the neo-Freudian theories of Allport, Murray, and Erikson; and the humanistic approaches of Maslow and Rogers. The impact of the "new" physics on the cognitive revolution and humanistic psychology are covered, and these developments are treated in historical perspective as outgrowths of earlier points of view. Other changes for the third edition include new material on the influence of mechanism on Descartes's thinking; the impact of astronomy on the new psychology; the changes Titchener began to make in his system toward the end of his life; the influence of Darwin in broadening the methodology of psychology; the influence of mentalism and introspection by analogy on the work of the early animal psychologists; the work of Spencer and its importance for American psychology; behavior modification; the impact of field physics on Gestalt psychology; the historical antecedents of Freudian psychoanalysis; and the scientific credibility of psychoanalysis. xiv Preface The four original source articles—by Titchener, Carr, Wertheimer, and Watson—have been retained. User reaction to these materials has been favorable. These statements by psychology's important figures seem to be of value to the student by presenting a position in the proponent's own words and illustrating what the psychology student of the day was reading. An instructor's handbook for the history of psychology, prepared by Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr., includes reference sources, teaching activities, lists of audiovisual materials, and test questions. I am grateful to the many instructors and students who have written to me over the years with valuable suggestions and comments. The book has also benefited from the rigorous and scholarly evaluation of Ludy Benjamin, Albert M. Prestrude, and Michael Wertheimer. At Academic Press, my editor, James D. Anker, has provided continuing encouragement and as sistance. My greatest debt remains to my wife, Sydney Ellen, for her expert research, cogent criticisms, enthusiasm, and patient handling of the myriad details that miraculously turned a messy sheaf of handwritten pages into a finished book. D. S. xv Preface The application of the experimental method to the problem of mind is the great outstanding event in the history of the study of the mind, an event to which no other is comparable. E.G. Boring 1 THE STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY INTRODUCTION Of all the scholarly disciplines in existence today, psychology is probably the oldest. Interest in the topic can be traced to the earliest inquiring minds. We have been forever fascinated by our own behavior, and ruminations on human nature and conduct fill many philosophical and theological volumes. As early as the fourth and fifth centuries B.C. Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek scholars were grappling with many of the same problems that concern psychologists today—memory, learning, motivation, perception, dreaming, and irrational behavior. The same kinds of questions now being asked about human nature were asked centuries ago, which shows a vital conti nuity between the present and the past. It would appear that since psychology began in antiquity, our study must also begin there, but there is another point to consider. Although psychol ogy is one of the older disciplines, it is also one of the newer! This is an interesting paradox, one that was described succinctly by the psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, who wrote, "Psychology has a long past, but only a short history." The intellectual precursors of psychology are ancient indeed, but the modern tradition and form of psychology are little more than 100 years old. The centennial of the birth of modern psychology was celebrated in 1979. The distinction between modern psychology and its antecedents has less to do with the kinds of questions asked about human nature than with the methods used to seek the answers. It is the approach taken, the techniques employed, that distinguish the older philosophy from modern psychology and denote the emergence of the latter as a separate discipline. Until the last quarter of the nineteenth century philosophers attempted to study human nature through speculation, intuition, and generalization based on their own limited experience. A major transformation occurred when they began to apply the tools and methods of science to questions about human nature, methods that had already proved successful in the 1 Introduction natural sciences. Only when researchers turned to carefully controlled observation and experimentation as the means for studying the human mind, did psychology begin to attain some degree of independence from its philosophical antecedents. To break with philosophy, the new psychology needed to develop a more precise and objective way of dealing with its subject matter. Thus, much of the history of psychology after its separation from philosophy is an account of the continual refinement of its tools, techniques, and methods of study to achieve increased precision and objectivity in both its answers and its questions. If we are to understand the complex issues that define and divide psychology today, the proper starting point for the history of the field is that time when it became a truly independent discipline, with unique methods of inquiry and theoretical rationales. We cannot deny that early scholars speculated on problems concerning the nature of the human species. Certainly they did. But their influence on the development of psychology as a separate and primarily experimental science is limited. Psychology is a product of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, because only in the last 100 years or so have psychologists defined its subject matter and established its foundation, confirming its independence from philoso phy. The early philosophers concerned themselves with problems that are still of general interest, but they approached these problems in a manner vastly different from that of today's psychologists. They were not psychol ogists by the contemporary definition of the term, and we will discuss their ideas only as they relate directly to the establishment of modern psychology. Psychology became an experimental science at a time when European thought was imbued with positivism, empiricism, and materialism (see Chapter 2). While the nineteenth-century philosophers were clearing the way for an experimental attack on the functioning of the mind, another group of scholars was independently approaching some of the same prob lems from a different direction. Nineteenth-century physiologists were making great strides toward understanding the bodily mechanisms under lying mental processes. The methods of study of the physiologists differed markedly from those of the philosophers, but the eventual union of these disparate disciplines produced a field of study in which, at least in the formative years, an attempt was made to preserve the conflicting traditions and beliefs of both. Fortunately, the new psychology quickly succeeded in attaining an identity and stature of its own. The idea that the methods of science could be applied to mental phenom ena is inherited from both the philosophical ideas and the physiological techniques of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, an exciting era that becomes the starting point for our discussion of the history of modern psychology. 2 The Study of the History of Psychology OVERVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY The first sign of a distinct field of inquiry known as psychology was the adoption, in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, of the scientific method as the means for attempting to solve its problems. During that period there were several formal indications that psychology was beginning to flourish. In 18791 in Leipzig, Germany, Wilhelm Wundt established what is generally considered to be the first psychological laboratory in the world. Wundt also established the journal Philosophische Studien, in 1881, which is considered to be the first journal of psychology to contain experimental reports. In 1888 the University of Pennsylvania appointed James McKeen Cattell professor of psychology, the first professorship in psychology in the world. Before that time psychologists had received appointments in depart ments of philosophy. With Cattell's appointment, psychology received formal recognition in academic circles as an independent discipline. In 1887 G. Stanley Hall established the American Journal of Psychology, the first American psychology journal. Between 1880 and 1895 dramatic and sweeping changes took place in psychology in the United States. During that time, 24 psychological labo ratories and three psychology journals were established. In 1892 the first scientific organization of psychologists, the American Psychological Asso ciation, was founded. In 1908 psychology was defined by William McDougall as the "science of behavior," apparently for the first time. Thus, by the early part of the twentieth century American psychology had succeeded in gaining its in dependence from philosophy, developing laboratories in which to apply the methods of science, establishing its own scientific organization, and giving itself a formal definition as a science—the science of behavior. The new discipline had been launched and grew rapidly, particularly in the United States, which quickly assumed a position of dominance in the psychological world, a position it still holds. Today more than half the 1 There is some dispute as to whether 1875 or 1879 was the founding year for the first experimental laboratory. Boring (1965) noted that Wundt was given space for experimental demonstrations in 1875, but it was not until 1879 that the space was used for independent research. R. I. Watson (1978) accorded the honor to 1875, while other sources (Chaplin & Krawiec, 1979; Flügel & West, 1964; Miller & Buckhout, 1973; Murphy & Kovach, 1972; Peters, 1965) agreed on 1879. In 1979 the American Psychological Association held the centennial celebration of the establishment of Wundfs laboratory. James McKeen Cattell (1928), who studied under Wundt, noted that the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the laboratory was celebrated in Leipzig in 1926. Boring, Watson, and others noted that 1875 also saw William James equipping a small laboratory at Harvard. The significance of the event, however, is far more important than the precise date when it occurred. 3 Overview of the Development of Modern Psychology

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