A History of Psychology

A History Of Psychology, 2nd Edition by John G. Benjafield (Oxford University Press) Excerpt: An important development for any historian of psychology is the appearance of a new journal, History of Psychology, which has provided an important forum for scholars in this area. The last few years have been especially fruitful for research in the history of psychology and I have tried to incorporate as much of this new material as I can while still preserving what continues to be relevant from the first edition. While important changes have been made to each chapter, some of these changes are more notable than others. Chapter 1 now contains a comparison of the similarity of Aristotle's theory of intelligence to a modern version. At the suggestion of reviewers, more material on associ¬ationism, particularly in regard to the Mills, has been added to Chapter 2. As pointed out above, there has been a great deal of recent research on nineteenth-century psychology, enriching Chapters 3 (nineteenth-century pioneers), 4 (Wundt and his contemporaries), and 5 (James). Freud and Jung (Chapter 6) continue to becontroversial figures. For example, Freud's 'seduc¬tion theory' is the focus of continuing investigation. The contemporary relevance of functional psychology is more clearly brought out in Chapter 7. Intriguing new research has also been brought to bear on Bekhterev, Lashley, and Skinner (Chapter 8). We now have a much fuller understanding of their psychology and its rela¬tion to their character and cultural context. Our understanding of Gestalt psychology (Chapter 9) as a movement and its relation to German culture has also benefited from new scholarship. Fisher and the null hypothesis (Chapter 10) have in recent years become a very rich and controversial story. Chapter 11 (Theories of Learning) now contains material on Roger Sperry, whose work had unfortunately been omitted from the first edition. Chapter 12 (The Developmental Point of View) now considers the history of the develop-mental approach at the University of Toronto, including a discussion of the treatment of the Dionne quintuplets. After being a somewhat dormant force in psychology, the humanistic approach (Chapter 13) shows signs of being appreciated anew. Cognitive psychology (Chapter 14), still one of the dominant orientations in contemporary psychology, has been the focus of much attention from historians, allowing us to appreciate its origins more deeply. All of the topics in Chapter 15, including the nature of paradigms, social constructionism, feminism, and postmodernism, have been intensely investigated recently. Taken as a whole, the new research in the history of psychology demonstrates its con¬tinuing relevance to the psychology curriculum. In addition to the foregoing, the following specific changes have been made to the new edition: * The bibliography has been made more useful to students. For example, the first edition con¬tained several references to conference papers, and these

This book provides the student with a thorough knowledge of the history of inquiry into the mind. Benjafield tells a story of the growth of ideas about mind and personhood, by focusing on the biography and work of eminent figures from Pythagoras to Darwin to Rogers. He places the plethora of modern psychological theories into a working historical context, allowing even the novice student to gain a good background in the nature of the discipline. I know that I still refer to this book regularly in order to enhance my knowledge in not only psychology, but history, and philosophy as well!