History of Modern Psychology

C. James Goodwin is Professor of Psychology at Western Carolina University and Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Wheeling Jesuit University, where he taught for 30 years. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the author of two undergraduate textbooks.

• Preface xiAcknowledgments xvChapter 1 Introducing Psychology’s History 1Why Take This Course? 2Why Study History? 2Why Study Psychology’s History? 4Key Issues in Psychology’s History 6Presentism versus Historicism 7Internal versus External History 9Personalistic versus Naturalistic History 10Close-Up: Edwin G. Boring (1886–1968) 11This Book’s Point of View 14Historiography: Doing and Writing History 14Sources of Historical Data 15From the Miles Papers: Miles Meets His Academic Grandfather 17Problems with the Writing of History 18Data Selection Problems 18Interpretation Problems 20Digital History 21Approaching Historical Truth 22Summary 23Chapter 2 The Philosophical Context 25A Long Past 26René Descartes (1596–1650): The Beginnings of Modern Philosophy and Science 26Descartes and the Rationalist Argument 28The Cartesian System 29Descartes on the Reflex and Mind–Body Interaction 30The British Empiricist Argument and the Associationists 33John Locke (1632–1704): The Origins of British Empiricism 33Locke on Human Understanding 33Locke on Education 35George Berkeley (1685–1753): Applying Empiricism to Vision and Attacking Materialism 36British Associationism 38David Hume (1711–1776): The Rules of Association 38David Hartley (1705–1757): A Physiological Associationism 40Close-Up: Raising a Philosopher 42John Stuart Mill (1806–1873): The Pinnacle of British Empiricism/Associationism 43Mill’s Psychology 44Mill’s Logic 45Alexander Bain (1818–1903): On the Verge of Psychological Science 46Rationalist Responses to British Empiricism/Associationism 48Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) 48Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) 49In Perspective: Philosophical Foundations 50Summary 51Chapter 3 the Scientific Context 53Heroic Science in the Age of Enlightenment 54Functioning of the Nervous System 55Reflex Action 56The Bell–Magendie Law 58The Specific Energies of Nerves 59Helmholtz: The Physiologist’s Physiologist 60Measuring the Speed of Neural Impulses 62Helmholtz on Vision and Audition 63Helmholtz and the Problem of Perception 64Localization of Brain Function 65The Phrenology of Gall and Spurzheim 65Close-Up: The Marketing of Phrenology 69Flourens and the Method of Ablation 72The Clinical Method 73The Remarkable Phineas Gage 73Broca and the Speech Center 74Mapping the Brain: Electrical Stimulation 76Nervous System Structure 77Neuron Theory 78Sir Charles Sherrington: The Synapse 79From the Miles Papers: Miles Visits Sherrington in Oxford 81In Perspective: The Nervous System and Behavior 81Summary 82Chapter 4 Wundt and German Psychology 84An Education in Germany 85On the Threshold of Experimental Psychology: Psychophysics 86Johann Herbart (1776–1841) 87Ernst Weber (1795–1878) 88Two-Point Thresholds 88Weber’s Law 88Gustav Fechner (1801–1889) 89Fechner’s Elements of Psychophysics 90Wundt Establishes a New Psychology at Leipzig 91Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920): Creating a New Science 92Wundt’s Conception of the New Psychology 93Studying Immediate Conscious Experience 94Studying Higher Mental Processes 95Inside Wundt’s Laboratory 96Sensation and Perception 96Mental Chronometry 96Close-Up: An American in Leipzig 98Rewriting History: The New and Improved Wundt 100The Source of the Problem 100The Rediscovery of Wundt 101The Real Wundt 101The Wundtian Legacy 102The New Psychology Spreads 103Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909): The Experimental Study of Memory 103The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve 106Other Contributions by Ebbinghaus 107G. E. Müller (1850–1934): The Experimentalist Prototype 107Oswald Külpe (1862–1915): The Würzburg School 108Mental Sets and Imageless Thoughts 110In Perspective: A New Science 111Summary 112Chapter 5 Darwin’s Century: Evolutionary Thinking 113The Species Problem 114Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and the Theory of Evolution 115The Shaping of a Naturalist 115The Voyage of the Beagle 117Darwin the Geologist 118Darwin the Zoologist 118The Galapagos Islands 119The Evolution of Darwin’s Theory 119Darwin’s Delay 121Elements of the Theory of Evolution 123After the Origin of Species 124Darwin and Psychology’s History 125The Origins of Comparative Psychology 126Darwin on the Evolution of Emotional Expressions 126Close-Up: Douglas Spalding and the Experimental Study of Instinct 129George Romanes (1848–1894) and the Anecdotal Method 130Conwy Lloyd Morgan (1852–1936) and his “Canon” 132Comparative Psychology in America 134Studying Individual Differences 134Francis Galton (1822–1911): Jack of All Sciences 134The Nature of Intelligence 135The Anthropometric Laboratory 138Investigating Imagery and Association 138In Perspective: Darwin’s Century 140Summary 140Chapter 6 American Pioneers 142Psychology in 19th-Century America 143Faculty Psychology 143American Psychology’s First Textbook 144The Modern University 145Education for Women and Minorities 145William James (1842–1910): The First of the “New” Psychologists in America 148The Formative Years 149A Life at Harvard 150Creating American Psychology’s Most Famous Textbook 151On Methodology 152Consciousness 152Habit 153Emotion 153James’s Later Years 154Spiritualism and Mind Cures 155Summing Up William James 156G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924): Professionalizing the New Psychology 157Hall’s Early Life and Education 157From Johns Hopkins to Clark 158Psychology at Clark 159Close-Up: Creating Maze Learning 160Hall and Developmental Psychology 162Hall and Psychoanalysis 163From the Miles Papers: Miles and the Invention of the Stylus Maze 165Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930): Challenging the Male Monopoly 166Calkins’s Life and Work 166Graduate Education for Females 167Calkins’s Research on Association 167From Psychology to Philosophy 168Other Female Pioneers: Untold Lives 169Christine Ladd-Franklin (1847–1930) 169Margaret Floy Washburn (1871–1939) 170Ethel Puffer (1872–1950) 171Other Pioneers: Ladd, Baldwin, and Jastrow 172George Trumbull Ladd (1842–1921) 172James Mark Baldwin (1861–1934) 173Joseph Jastrow (1863–1944) 175In Perspective: The New Psychology at the Millennium 175Summary 176Chapter 7 Structural and Functional Psychologies 179Titchener’s Psychology: Structuralism 180From Oxford to Leipzig to Ithaca 180Promoting Experimental Psychology at Cornell 181The Manuals 183The Experimentalists 185Close-Up: Titchener and the Status of Women in Experimental Psychology 186Titchener’s Structuralist System 187The Introspective Habit 187The Structural Elements of Human Conscious Experience 189Evaluating Titchener’s Contributions to Psychology 189From the Miles Papers: Miles and the Carlisle Conference 191America’s Psychology: Functionalism 192The Chicago Functionalists 193John Dewey (1859–1952): The Reflex Arc 194James Angell (1869–1949): The Province of Functional Psychology 196Harvey Carr (1873–1954): The Maturing of Functionalism 198The Columbia Functionalists 199James McKeen Cattell (1860–1944): An American Galton 199Edward L. Thorndike (1874–1949): Cats in Puzzle Boxes 201Robert S. Woodworth (1869–1962): A Dynamic Psychology 206In Perspective: Structural and Functional Psychologies 209Summary 210Chapter 8 Applying the New Psychology 212The Push for Application 213From the Miles Papers: Miles and Stanford Football 214The Mental Testing Movement 216Alfred Binet (1857–1911): The Birth of Modern Intelligence Testing 217The Binet–Simon Scales 219Henry Goddard (1866–1957): Binet’s Test Comes to America 220The Kallikaks 221Goddard and the Immigrants 224Lewis Terman (1877–1956): Institutionalizing IQ 226The Stanford–Binet IQ Test 227Terman Studies the Gifted 228Close-Up: Leta Hollingworth: Advocating for Gifted Children and Debunking Myths about Women 229Robert M. Yerkes (1876–1956): The Army Testing Program 231Army Alpha and Army Beta 232The Controversy over Intelligence 235Psychology Applied to Business 238Hugo Münsterberg (1863–1916): The Diversity of Applied Psychology 238Münsterberg and Employee Selection 240Other Leading Industrial Psychologists in America 243Walter Van Dyke Bingham (1880–1952) 243Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878–1972) 244Harry Hollingworth (1880–1956) 245Applied Psychology in Europe—Psychotechnics 246In Perspective: Applied Psychology 247Summary 248Chapter 9 Gestalt Psychology 250The Origins and Early Development of Gestalt Psychology 251Max Wertheimer (1880–1943): Founding Gestalt Psychology 252Koffka (1886–1941) and Köhler (1887–1967): Cofounders 255Close-Up: A Case of Espionage? 256Gestalt Psychology and Perception 258Principles of Perceptual Organization 258Behavioral versus Geographic Environments 261The Gestalt Approach to Cognition and Learning 261Köhler on Insight in Apes 262Wertheimer on Productive Thinking 263Other Gestalt Research on Cognition 264Kurt Lewin (1890–1947): Expanding the Gestalt Vision 266Early Life and Career 267From the Miles Papers: Miles Learns about the Nazi Version of Academic Freedom 268Field Theory 269The Zeigarnik Effect 270Lewin as Developmental Psychologist 271Lewin as Social Psychologist 272Action Research 273Evaluating Lewin 274In Perspective: Gestalt Psychology in America 275Summary 276Chapter 10 the Origins of Behaviorism 278Behaviorism’s Antecedents 279Ivan Pavlov’s Life and Work 281The Development of a Physiologist 281Working in Pavlov’s Laboratory—The Physiology Factory 282Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning Research 284Conditioning and Extinction 285Generalization and Differentiation 285Experimental Neurosis 286A Program of Research 286Pavlov and the Soviets 287Pavlov and the Americans 288Close-Up: Misportraying Pavlov’s Apparatus 289From the Miles Papers: Miles Entertains Pavlov 290John B. Watson and the Founding of Behaviorism 292The Young Functionalist at Chicago 292The Watson–Carr Maze Studies 293Opportunity Knocks at Johns Hopkins 294Watson and Animal Behavior 296Watson’s Behaviorist Manifesto 296Watson’s APA Presidential Address 298Studying Emotional Development 298The Zenith and the Nadir of a Career: Little Albert 299A New Life in Advertising 302Popularizing Behaviorism 303Evaluating Watsonian Behaviorism 304Beyond the Schools of Psychology 306In Perspective: Behaviorism’s Origins 307Summary 308Chapter 11 From Neobehaviorism To Cognitive Psychology 310Post-Watsonian Behaviorism 311Operationism and Positivism 312Neobehaviorism 313Edward C. Tolman (1886–1959): A Purposive Behaviorism 314Tolman’s System 315Molar versus Molecular Behavior 316Goal-Directedness 316Intervening Variables 316From the Miles Papers: Miles and the Old Boys Network 318Tolman’s Research Program 319Latent Learning 319Cognitive Maps 320Evaluating Edward Tolman 321Clark Hull (1884–1952): A Hypothetico-Deductive System 321Hull’s System 324Postulate 4: Habit Strength 324Reaction Potential 325Evaluating Clark Hull 326B. F. Skinner (1904–1990): A Radical Behaviorism 327The Experimental Analysis of Behavior 329Operant Conditioning: A Primer 330Skinner and Theory 332Skinner and the Problem of Explanation 332A Technology of Behavior 333Evaluating B. F. Skinner 335Cognitive Psychology Arrives (Again) 336The Roots of Modern Cognitive Psychology 337Jean Piaget (1896–1980): A Genetic Epistemology 337Frederick C. Bartlett (1886–1969): Constructing Memory 339A Convergence of Influences 340Influences within Psychology 340Influences External to Psychology 341Close-Up: What Revolution? 343Magical Numbers and Selective Filters 345Neisser and the “Naming” of Cognitive Psychology 347The Evolution of Cognitive Psychology 348Evaluating Cognitive Psychology 349In Perspective: Neobehaviorism and Cognitive Psychology 349Summary 350Chapter 12 Mental Illness and Its Treatment 353Early Treatment of the Mentally Ill 354“Enlightened” Reform: Pinel, Tuke, Rush 354The 19th-Century Asylum Movement 356Reforming Asylums: Dix and Beers 359Close-Up: Diagnosing Mental Illness 360Mesmerism and Hypnosis 361Mesmerism and Animal Magnetism 362From Mesmerism to Hypnosis 363The Hypnotism Controversies 364Sigmund Freud (1856–1939): Founding Psychoanalysis 366Early Life and Education 367Breuer and the Catharsis Method 368Creating Psychoanalysis 370The Importance of Sex 371Psychoanalysis Enters the 20th Century 372The Evolution of Psychoanalytic Theory 373Freud’s Followers: Loyalty and Dissent 375Psychoanalysis in America 376Evaluating Freud 378On the Plus Side. 378On the Other Hand. 378In Perspective: Treating Mental Illness 379Summary 380Chapter 13 Psychology’s Practitioners 382The Medical Approach to Mental Illness 383A Shock to the System: Fever, Insulin, Metrazol, and Electricity 384Close-Up: Shell Shock 385No Reversal: Lobotomy, Transorbital and Otherwise 387Clinical Psychology Before World War II 389Lightner Witmer (1867–1956): Creating Psychology’s First Clinic 390Clinical Psychology Between the World Wars 392The Emergence of Modern Clinical Psychology 394The Boulder Model 394The Eysenck Study: Problems for Psychotherapy 395Behavior Therapy 396The Humanistic Approach to Psychotherapy 397Abraham Maslow and the Goal of Self-Actualization 398Carl Rogers and Client-Centered Therapy 399Evaluating Humanistic Psychology 401The Vail Conference and the PsyD Degree 402Clinical Diagnosis 403Diagnostic Tests: From the Rorschach to the Mmpi 404Psychology and the World of Business and Industry 405The Hawthorne Studies 408In Perspective: Psychology’s Practitioners 410Summary 410Chapter 14 Psychology’s Academic Subdisciplines 413Academic Psychology After World War II 414Close-Up: The Uneasy Relationship Between Research and Practice 415The Brain and Behavior 416From the Miles Papers: Miles Visits Lashley 416Donald O. Hebb (1904–1985): Cell Assemblies and Their Implications 417Roger Sperry (1913–1994): Splitting the Brain 419The Psychology of Perception 421James J. Gibson (1904–1979): Ecological Perception 421Eleanor Gibson (1910–2002): Perceptual Development 423Social Psychology 424Leon Festinger (1919–1989): Cognitive Dissonance Theory 425Stanley Milgram (1933–1984): Obedience to Authority 427Personality Psychology 430Gordon Allport (1897–1967): Inventing Personality 430Walter Mischel (1930–2018): Marshmallows and Delay of Gratification 433Developmental Psychology 435Mary Ainsworth (1913–1999): Varieties of Attachment 435Albert Bandura (1925–2021): Observational Learning 437In Perspective: Academic Psychology’s Subdisciplines 440Summary 440Chapter 15 Psychology in the 21st Century 441The Growth and Diversity of Psychology 441Women in Psychology’s History 442Minorities in Psychology’s History 443Trends in Modern Psychology 445The Future: Psychology or Psychologies? 446Summary 448References R-1Glossary G-1Index I-1Timelines T-1