Acknowledgments xv

Chapter 1 Introducing Psychology’s History 1

Why Take This Course? 2

Why Study History? 2

Why Study Psychology’s History? 4

Key Issues in Psychology’s History 6

Presentism versus Historicism 7

Internal versus External History 9

Personalistic versus Naturalistic History 10

Close-Up: Edwin G. Boring (1886–1968) 11

This Book’s Point of View 14

Historiography: Doing and Writing History 14

Sources of Historical Data 15

From the Miles Papers: Miles Meets His Academic Grandfather 17

Problems with the Writing of History 18

Data Selection Problems 18

Interpretation Problems 20

Digital History 21

Approaching Historical Truth 22

Summary 23

Chapter 2 The Philosophical Context 25

A Long Past 26

René Descartes (1596–1650): The Beginnings of Modern Philosophy and Science 26

Descartes and the Rationalist Argument 28

The Cartesian System 29

Descartes on the Reflex and Mind–Body Interaction 30

The British Empiricist Argument and the Associationists 33

John Locke (1632–1704): The Origins of British Empiricism 33

Locke on Human Understanding 33

Locke on Education 35

George Berkeley (1685–1753): Applying Empiricism to Vision and Attacking Materialism 36

British Associationism 38

David Hume (1711–1776): The Rules of Association 38

David Hartley (1705–1757): A Physiological Associationism 40

Close-Up: Raising a Philosopher 42

John Stuart Mill (1806–1873): The Pinnacle of British Empiricism/Associationism 43

Mill’s Psychology 44

Mill’s Logic 45

Alexander Bain (1818–1903): On the Verge of Psychological Science 46

Rationalist Responses to British Empiricism/Associationism 48

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) 48

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) 49

In Perspective: Philosophical Foundations 50

Summary 51

Chapter 3 the Scientific Context 53

Heroic Science in the Age of Enlightenment 54

Functioning of the Nervous System 55

Reflex Action 56

The Bell–Magendie Law 58

The Specific Energies of Nerves 59

Helmholtz: The Physiologist’s Physiologist 60

Measuring the Speed of Neural Impulses 62

Helmholtz on Vision and Audition 63

Helmholtz and the Problem of Perception 64

Localization of Brain Function 65

The Phrenology of Gall and Spurzheim 65

Close-Up: The Marketing of Phrenology 69

Flourens and the Method of Ablation 72

The Clinical Method 73

The Remarkable Phineas Gage 73

Broca and the Speech Center 74

Mapping the Brain: Electrical Stimulation 76

Nervous System Structure 77

Neuron Theory 78

Sir Charles Sherrington: The Synapse 79

From the Miles Papers: Miles Visits Sherrington in Oxford 81

In Perspective: The Nervous System and Behavior 81

Summary 82

Chapter 4 Wundt and German Psychology 84

An Education in Germany 85

On the Threshold of Experimental Psychology: Psychophysics 86

Johann Herbart (1776–1841) 87

Ernst Weber (1795–1878) 88

Two-Point Thresholds 88

Weber’s Law 88

Gustav Fechner (1801–1889) 89

Fechner’s Elements of Psychophysics 90

Wundt Establishes a New Psychology at Leipzig 91

Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920): Creating a New Science 92

Wundt’s Conception of the New Psychology 93

Studying Immediate Conscious Experience 94

Studying Higher Mental Processes 95

Inside Wundt’s Laboratory 96

Sensation and Perception 96

Mental Chronometry 96

Close-Up: An American in Leipzig 98

Rewriting History: The New and Improved Wundt 100

The Source of the Problem 100

The Rediscovery of Wundt 101

The Real Wundt 101

The Wundtian Legacy 102

The New Psychology Spreads 103

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850–1909): The Experimental Study of Memory 103

The Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve 106

Other Contributions by Ebbinghaus 107

G. E. Müller (1850–1934): The Experimentalist Prototype 107

Oswald Külpe (1862–1915): The Würzburg School 108

Mental Sets and Imageless Thoughts 110

In Perspective: A New Science 111

Summary 112

Chapter 5 Darwin’s Century: Evolutionary Thinking 113

The Species Problem 114

Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and the Theory of Evolution 115

The Shaping of a Naturalist 115

The Voyage of the Beagle 117

Darwin the Geologist 118

Darwin the Zoologist 118

The Galapagos Islands 119

The Evolution of Darwin’s Theory 119

Darwin’s Delay 121

Elements of the Theory of Evolution 123

After the Origin of Species 124

Darwin and Psychology’s History 125

The Origins of Comparative Psychology 126

Darwin on the Evolution of Emotional Expressions 126

Close-Up: Douglas Spalding and the Experimental Study of Instinct 129

George Romanes (1848–1894) and the Anecdotal Method 130

Conwy Lloyd Morgan (1852–1936) and his “Canon” 132

Comparative Psychology in America 134

Studying Individual Differences 134

Francis Galton (1822–1911): Jack of All Sciences 134

The Nature of Intelligence 135

The Anthropometric Laboratory 138

Investigating Imagery and Association 138

In Perspective: Darwin’s Century 140

Summary 140

Chapter 6 American Pioneers 142

Psychology in 19th-Century America 143

Faculty Psychology 143

American Psychology’s First Textbook 144

The Modern University 145

Education for Women and Minorities 145

William James (1842–1910): The First of the “New” Psychologists in America 148

The Formative Years 149

A Life at Harvard 150

Creating American Psychology’s Most Famous Textbook 151

On Methodology 152

Consciousness 152

Habit 153

Emotion 153

James’s Later Years 154

Spiritualism and Mind Cures 155

Summing Up William James 156

G. Stanley Hall (1844–1924): Professionalizing the New Psychology 157

Hall’s Early Life and Education 157

From Johns Hopkins to Clark 158

Psychology at Clark 159

Close-Up: Creating Maze Learning 160

Hall and Developmental Psychology 162

Hall and Psychoanalysis 163

From the Miles Papers: Miles and the Invention of the Stylus Maze 165

Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930): Challenging the Male Monopoly 166

Calkins’s Life and Work 166

Graduate Education for Females 167

Calkins’s Research on Association 167

From Psychology to Philosophy 168

Other Female Pioneers: Untold Lives 169

Christine Ladd-Franklin (1847–1930) 169

Margaret Floy Washburn (1871–1939) 170

Ethel Puffer (1872–1950) 171

Other Pioneers: Ladd, Baldwin, and Jastrow 172

George Trumbull Ladd (1842–1921) 172

James Mark Baldwin (1861–1934) 173

Joseph Jastrow (1863–1944) 175

In Perspective: The New Psychology at the Millennium 175

Summary 176

Chapter 7 Structural and Functional Psychologies 179

Titchener’s Psychology: Structuralism 180

From Oxford to Leipzig to Ithaca 180

Promoting Experimental Psychology at Cornell 181

The Manuals 183

The Experimentalists 185

Close-Up: Titchener and the Status of Women in Experimental Psychology 186

Titchener’s Structuralist System 187

The Introspective Habit 187

The Structural Elements of Human Conscious Experience 189

Evaluating Titchener’s Contributions to Psychology 189

From the Miles Papers: Miles and the Carlisle Conference 191

America’s Psychology: Functionalism 192

The Chicago Functionalists 193

John Dewey (1859–1952): The Reflex Arc 194

James Angell (1869–1949): The Province of Functional Psychology 196

Harvey Carr (1873–1954): The Maturing of Functionalism 198

The Columbia Functionalists 199

James McKeen Cattell (1860–1944): An American Galton 199

Edward L. Thorndike (1874–1949): Cats in Puzzle Boxes 201

Robert S. Woodworth (1869–1962): A Dynamic Psychology 206

In Perspective: Structural and Functional Psychologies 209

Summary 210

Chapter 8 Applying the New Psychology 212

The Push for Application 213

From the Miles Papers: Miles and Stanford Football 214

The Mental Testing Movement 216

Alfred Binet (1857–1911): The Birth of Modern Intelligence Testing 217

The Binet–Simon Scales 219

Henry Goddard (1866–1957): Binet’s Test Comes to America 220

The Kallikaks 221

Goddard and the Immigrants 224

Lewis Terman (1877–1956): Institutionalizing IQ 226

The Stanford–Binet IQ Test 227

Terman Studies the Gifted 228

Close-Up: Leta Hollingworth: Advocating for Gifted Children and Debunking Myths about Women 229

Robert M. Yerkes (1876–1956): The Army Testing Program 231

Army Alpha and Army Beta 232

The Controversy over Intelligence 235

Psychology Applied to Business 238

Hugo Münsterberg (1863–1916): The Diversity of Applied Psychology 238

Münsterberg and Employee Selection 240

Other Leading Industrial Psychologists in America 243

Walter Van Dyke Bingham (1880–1952) 243

Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878–1972) 244

Harry Hollingworth (1880–1956) 245

Applied Psychology in Europe—Psychotechnics 246

In Perspective: Applied Psychology 247

Summary 248

Chapter 9 Gestalt Psychology 250

The Origins and Early Development of Gestalt Psychology 251

Max Wertheimer (1880–1943): Founding Gestalt Psychology 252

Koffka (1886–1941) and Köhler (1887–1967): Cofounders 255

Close-Up: A Case of Espionage? 256

Gestalt Psychology and Perception 258

Principles of Perceptual Organization 258

Behavioral versus Geographic Environments 261

The Gestalt Approach to Cognition and Learning 261

Köhler on Insight in Apes 262

Wertheimer on Productive Thinking 263

Other Gestalt Research on Cognition 264

Kurt Lewin (1890–1947): Expanding the Gestalt Vision 266

Early Life and Career 267

From the Miles Papers: Miles Learns about the Nazi Version of Academic Freedom 268

Field Theory 269

The Zeigarnik Effect 270

Lewin as Developmental Psychologist 271

Lewin as Social Psychologist 272

Action Research 273

Evaluating Lewin 274

In Perspective: Gestalt Psychology in America 275

Summary 276

Chapter 10 the Origins of Behaviorism 278

Behaviorism’s Antecedents 279

Ivan Pavlov’s Life and Work 281

The Development of a Physiologist 281

Working in Pavlov’s Laboratory—The Physiology Factory 282

Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning Research 284

Conditioning and Extinction 285

Generalization and Differentiation 285

Experimental Neurosis 286

A Program of Research 286

Pavlov and the Soviets 287

Pavlov and the Americans 288

Close-Up: Misportraying Pavlov’s Apparatus 289

From the Miles Papers: Miles Entertains Pavlov 290

John B. Watson and the Founding of Behaviorism 292

The Young Functionalist at Chicago 292

The Watson–Carr Maze Studies 293

Opportunity Knocks at Johns Hopkins 294

Watson and Animal Behavior 296

Watson’s Behaviorist Manifesto 296

Watson’s APA Presidential Address 298

Studying Emotional Development 298

The Zenith and the Nadir of a Career: Little Albert 299

A New Life in Advertising 302

Popularizing Behaviorism 303

Evaluating Watsonian Behaviorism 304

Beyond the Schools of Psychology 306

In Perspective: Behaviorism’s Origins 307

Summary 308

Chapter 11 From Neobehaviorism To Cognitive Psychology 310

Post-Watsonian Behaviorism 311

Operationism and Positivism 312

Neobehaviorism 313

Edward C. Tolman (1886–1959): A Purposive Behaviorism 314

Tolman’s System 315

Molar versus Molecular Behavior 316

Goal-Directedness 316

Intervening Variables 316

From the Miles Papers: Miles and the Old Boys Network 318

Tolman’s Research Program 319

Latent Learning 319

Cognitive Maps 320

Evaluating Edward Tolman 321

Clark Hull (1884–1952): A Hypothetico-Deductive System 321

Hull’s System 324

Postulate 4: Habit Strength 324

Reaction Potential 325

Evaluating Clark Hull 326

B. F. Skinner (1904–1990): A Radical Behaviorism 327

The Experimental Analysis of Behavior 329

Operant Conditioning: A Primer 330

Skinner and Theory 332

Skinner and the Problem of Explanation 332

A Technology of Behavior 333

Evaluating B. F. Skinner 335

Cognitive Psychology Arrives (Again) 336

The Roots of Modern Cognitive Psychology 337

Jean Piaget (1896–1980): A Genetic Epistemology 337

Frederick C. Bartlett (1886–1969): Constructing Memory 339

A Convergence of Influences 340

Influences within Psychology 340

Influences External to Psychology 341

Close-Up: What Revolution? 343

Magical Numbers and Selective Filters 345

Neisser and the “Naming” of Cognitive Psychology 347

The Evolution of Cognitive Psychology 348

Evaluating Cognitive Psychology 349

In Perspective: Neobehaviorism and Cognitive Psychology 349

Summary 350

Chapter 12 Mental Illness and Its Treatment 353

Early Treatment of the Mentally Ill 354

“Enlightened” Reform: Pinel, Tuke, Rush 354

The 19th-Century Asylum Movement 356

Reforming Asylums: Dix and Beers 359

Close-Up: Diagnosing Mental Illness 360

Mesmerism and Hypnosis 361

Mesmerism and Animal Magnetism 362

From Mesmerism to Hypnosis 363

The Hypnotism Controversies 364

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939): Founding Psychoanalysis 366

Early Life and Education 367

Breuer and the Catharsis Method 368

Creating Psychoanalysis 370

The Importance of Sex 371

Psychoanalysis Enters the 20th Century 372

The Evolution of Psychoanalytic Theory 373

Freud’s Followers: Loyalty and Dissent 375

Psychoanalysis in America 376

Evaluating Freud 378

On the Plus Side. 378

On the Other Hand. 378

In Perspective: Treating Mental Illness 379

Summary 380

Chapter 13 Psychology’s Practitioners 382

The Medical Approach to Mental Illness 383

A Shock to the System: Fever, Insulin, Metrazol, and Electricity 384

Close-Up: Shell Shock 385

No Reversal: Lobotomy, Transorbital and Otherwise 387

Clinical Psychology Before World War II 389

Lightner Witmer (1867–1956): Creating Psychology’s First Clinic 390

Clinical Psychology Between the World Wars 392

The Emergence of Modern Clinical Psychology 394

The Boulder Model 394

The Eysenck Study: Problems for Psychotherapy 395

Behavior Therapy 396

The Humanistic Approach to Psychotherapy 397

Abraham Maslow and the Goal of Self-Actualization 398

Carl Rogers and Client-Centered Therapy 399

Evaluating Humanistic Psychology 401

The Vail Conference and the PsyD Degree 402

Clinical Diagnosis 403

Diagnostic Tests: From the Rorschach to the Mmpi 404

Psychology and the World of Business and Industry 405

The Hawthorne Studies 408

In Perspective: Psychology’s Practitioners 410

Summary 410

Chapter 14 Psychology’s Academic Subdisciplines 413

Academic Psychology After World War II 414

Close-Up: The Uneasy Relationship Between Research and Practice 415

The Brain and Behavior 416

From the Miles Papers: Miles Visits Lashley 416

Donald O. Hebb (1904–1985): Cell Assemblies and Their Implications 417

Roger Sperry (1913–1994): Splitting the Brain 419

The Psychology of Perception 421

James J. Gibson (1904–1979): Ecological Perception 421

Eleanor Gibson (1910–2002): Perceptual Development 423

Social Psychology 424

Leon Festinger (1919–1989): Cognitive Dissonance Theory 425

Stanley Milgram (1933–1984): Obedience to Authority 427

Personality Psychology 430

Gordon Allport (1897–1967): Inventing Personality 430

Walter Mischel (1930–2018): Marshmallows and Delay of Gratification 433

Developmental Psychology 435

Mary Ainsworth (1913–1999): Varieties of Attachment 435

Albert Bandura (1925–2021): Observational Learning 437

In Perspective: Academic Psychology’s Subdisciplines 440

Summary 440

Chapter 15 Psychology in the 21st Century 441

The Growth and Diversity of Psychology 441

Women in Psychology’s History 442

Minorities in Psychology’s History 443

Trends in Modern Psychology 445

The Future: Psychology or Psychologies? 446

Summary 448

References R-1

Glossary G-1

Index I-1

Timelines T-1