An Introduction to the History of Psychology (with Infotrac) [With Infotrac]

Not a bad read of a dry subject. Very well assembled with great attention.

I read this book for a senior undergrad level History of Psychology course. The book begins by explaining with excellent clarity the definitions and importance of the -isms (eg. dualism, monism, determinism) and uses these basic characteristics to categorize the various approaches to Psychology described throughout the text. I also appreciate that the text frames the history of Psychology in terms of a bigger scientific picture by discussing in Ch 1 Kuhn and Popper and the idea of paradigmatic shifts and then by showing how Psychology is subject to the same cycles and biases as any other scientific discipline. The book does go into great detail about the more influential persons in Psychology's history, but I found that this really reinforces their human-ness and serves as evidence for the basis for the shifts between dominant philosophies. In my opinion, Hergenhahn does not describe Psychology's personalities to the point of neglecting of their ideas. He seems to me to do a wonderful and readable job of integrating the two. Yes, there are an incredible number of details thoughout the text. These details served to enhance my appreciation of both persons and their ideas. The details also served to greatly enhance my GRE scores, thank Goodness! The details follow each other well and do serve to give a broader picture of the history of Psychology. This text is one of the best I've read because it both gives an overall picture AND includes the details to back up and reinforce this picture. I enjoyed reading this text and found it fascinating as well as educational.

This is an clearly written and informative textbook with excellent coverage and depth. Although this book was generally fair in its treatment of various viewpoints, its discussion of clinical psychology (one chapter) was terribly misrepresented and biased. Other than that, this is one of the best psychology textbooks I've encountered and I thoroughly recommend it.

Hergenhahn's third edition serves as an excellent text for an undergraduate course in History of Psychology. It reads well and is actually interesting. Psychology is populated with some very interesting characters. This text does a fine job of presenting the significant historical details as well as the ideosyncracies of the characters. Anyone interested in historical foundations of psychology will find this a good pick.