Showing papers in "Journal of The History of The Behavioral Sciences in 1978"
TL;DR: In 1920, most psychologists believed in the existence of mental differences between races; by 1940, they were searching for the sources of “irrational prejudice,” a dramatic reversal of the dominant paradigm for the study of groups and group relations.
Abstract: In 1920, most psychologists believed in the existence of mental differences between races; by 1940, they were searching for the sources of “irrational prejudice.” In a few decades, a dramatic reversal of the dominant paradigm for the study of groups and group relations had occurred. Although this shift can be seen as a victory of objective-empirical research, there were other contributing factors: passage of the Immigration Restriction Law of 1924, which shifted the political problem from justification of differential exclusion to conflict resolution in this country; the influx of ethnics into the originally rather lily-white profession of psychology; the Great Depression and the leftward shift among psychologists; and finally, the need to unite the country against a dangerous enemy proclaiming racial superiority.
100 citations
TL;DR: It is noted that psychological revolutions based upon a transformation of the subject-object relation could go on indefinitely in a vicious, circular manner, and a revolution to end revolutions is called for in order to liberate psychologists from partialist, encapsulated, or limiting views of thesubject- object relation.
Abstract: Four major revolutions within psychology (i.e., the behavioristic, cognitive, psychoanalytic, and humanistic) are briefly examined in an attempt to unearth their formal structures. The view put forth is that it is a transformation of the subject-object relation — an insight gleaned by an application of Ludwig Feuerbach's transformative method — which underlies major paradigmatic shifts within psychology. It is noted that psychological revolutions based upon a transformation of the subject-object relation could go on indefinitely in a vicious, circular manner. Thus, a revolution to end revolutions is called for (a dialectical revolution) in order to liberate psychologists from partialist, encapsulated, or limiting views of the subject-object relation.
79 citations
TL;DR: It is proposed that Immanuel Kant's criticism of the psychological tradition and his articulation of a specific philosophy of science provided the negative and positive foundations upon which Jakob Friedrich Fries, Johann Friedrich Herbart, and Friedrich Eduard Beneke developed the conceptualization of scientific psychology.
Abstract: Although it is generally acknowledged that the modern science of psychology was produced in the mid-nineteenth century by the cross-fertilization of philosophy and physiology, few historians have tried to specify the exact role of philosophers in the evolution of modern psychology. The purpose of this article is to identify one important line of development from within early-nineteenth-century German philosophy toward the conception of psychology as an independent, experimental, and mathematical science. The thesis it proposes is that Immanuel Kant's criticism of the psychological tradition and his articulation of a specific philosophy of science provided the negative and positive foundations upon which Jakob Friedrich Fries, Johann Friedrich Herbart, and Friedrich Eduard Beneke developed the conceptualization of scientific psychology.
53 citations
TL;DR: The relations between Gestalt psychology and gestalt therapy, as presented in the writings of Fritz Perls, are examined, concluding that the two approaches have nothing in common.
Abstract: This paper examines the relations between Gestalt psychology and gestalt therapy, as presented in the writings of Fritz Perls, who claims that his perspective derives from Gestalt psychology. Intellectual traditions, philosophical assumptions, and specific theories and concepts are considered. It is concluded that the two approaches have nothing in common.
49 citations
TL;DR: English legal records from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century, generated by the Crown's jurisdiction over the mentally disabled, produce a radically different picture that casts doubt on the accuracy of traditional accounts of psychiatric history based on printed sources and on the validity of restricting historical research to published materials.
Abstract: Conventional histories of psychiatry depict the medieval and early modern period as dominated by demonological ideas about mental illness and treatment of the insane as cruel and inhumane. English legal records from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century, generated by the Crown's jurisdiction over the mentally disabled, produce a radically different picture. When royal officials examined allegedly disturbed persons before local juries, they measured mental status with common sense criteria based on psychological and physiological notions of etiology. For established cases of disability, the Crown appointed supervised guardians. In the course of these centuries, the responsibility of guardians for the care and protection of the disabled underwent increasing expansion. The records of this jurisdiction exist largely in manuscript form, a documentary source which psychiatric historians have been slow to appreciate. These records cast doubt on the accuracy of traditional accounts of psychiatric history based on printed sources and on the validity of restricting historical research to published materials.
42 citations
TL;DR: G. H. Mead, the eminent social psychologist, had an active civic life and his work in social reform was directly influenced by and derived from his philosophy of man and society.
Abstract: G. H. Mead, the eminent social psychologist, had an active civic life. His work in social reform was directly influenced by and derived from his philosophy of man and society. This facet of his life is relatively unexamined today, although most of his publications during his lifetime were concerned with the application of science for the good of the community.
31 citations
20 citations
TL;DR: Kulpe's shift in the late 1890s from Machian phenomenalism to realism led to his interest in the psychology of thinking and may be seen as part of the “revolt against positivism” of that decade.
Abstract: This article is based on research in the Kulpe archives in Munich, as well as on analysis of his published works. It addresses itself to some of the unresolved questions regarding Kulpe's relation to the Wurzburg School and seeks to explain this relation in terms of Kulpe's changing philosophical views. Kulpe's shift in the late 1890s from Machian phenomenalism to realism led to his interest in the psychology of thinking and may be seen as part of the “revolt against positivism” of that decade.
17 citations
TL;DR: An examination of medieval Church proclamations indicates that during the early part of the Middle Ages, the Church denied the reality of witchcraft and was relatively tolerant towards alleged or self-proclaimed witches.
Abstract: Many writers have inaccurately attributed the rise of demonology and the witchhunts to the Middle Ages and have associated the decline of these activities with the Renaissance and the period of the scientific revolution (1500–1700). An examination of medieval Church proclamations indicates that during the early part of the Middle Ages, the Church denied the reality of witchcraft and was relatively tolerant towards alleged or self-proclaimed witches. More credulous views were developed during the Renaissance, and the height of the witch mania did not occur until the mid-seventeenth century. This misperception of the data is seen as related to a more general “Whig” myth concerning the historical relationship between science and superstition.
17 citations
TL;DR: In particular, it is argued that several important features of diffusionism, especially the concepts of Lebensraum, of "colonization" as a natural process, and of the primacy of agriculture in cultural development, in part developed out of conservative political ideologies and reflected the social origins of the early diffusionists in preindustrial segments of the German middle class as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Diffusionism, an ethnological theory particularly dominant in Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, can be shown to have had roots in the politics and major trends of social development of nineteenth-century Germany as well as in a variety of intellectual tendencies. In particular, it is argued that several important features of diffusionism, especially the concepts of Lebensraum, of “colonization” as a natural process, and of the primacy of agriculture in cultural development, in part developed out of conservative political ideologies and reflected the social origins of the early diffusionists in preindustrial segments of the German middle class.
16 citations
TL;DR: The sociopolitical context of the controversy and features of the Army Report as well as the public reception of this report are described and the critique of Walter Lippmann and its development by Frank N. Freeman are set forth.
Abstract: This article, based on a 1975 address, is concerned with aspects of the controversy in the immediate post-World War One period in this country in the interpretation of the results of intelligence testing of soldiers in the United States Army during World War One. It describes the sociopolitical context of the controversy and features of the Army Report as well as the public reception of this report. Also, it analytically describes the popular utilization of this report by Henry H. Goddard and Lewis M. Terman. Finally, as a principal focus, the critique of Walter Lippmann and its development by Frank N. Freeman is set forth.
TL;DR: It is argued in this paper that these attempts to characterize the methodological and philosophical particularity of social science and history as against natural science must not primarily be interpreted as postulating differences in the logic of explanation.
Abstract: The conception of Verstehen (understanding) has frequently been used in attempts to characterize the methodological and philosophical particularity of social science and history as against natural science. It is argued in this paper that these attempts must not primarily be interpreted as postulating differences in the logic of explanation. Rather, the notion of Verstehen has been employed mainly with the intention to emphasize the practical nature of historical (and social-scientific) knowledge in contrast to the theoretical-contemplative nature of natural-scientific knowledge. This argument is put forward in the context of an analysis of J. G. Droysen's writings on the theory of history. Droysen introduced the idea of Verstehen into the methodological discussion, and in its main intent his reasoning can be treated as representative of the central concerns of the advocates of Verstehen. An outline of his philosophy of history is presented as well as an interpretation of his claims (1) that Verstehen is a special method, and (2) that Verstehen must replace explanation. The paper concludes with a critique of the attempt to contrast the (alleged) practical knowledge of history with the (alleged) purely theoretical knowledge of natural science.
TL;DR: The application of a new broader and interdisciplinary methodological approach to the study of the mind-body issue has led to a reassessment of a narrow view of medieval psychology as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The application of a new broader and interdisciplinary methodological approach to the study of the mind-body issue has led to a reassessment of a narrow view of medieval psychology. Although deeply rooted in the classical tradition, the emerging Judeo-Christian personalistic emphasis resulted in a novel mystical and symbolic view of man. The succeeding spread of the Islamic culture had the effect of reinserting naturalistic themes on such a view and, eventually, of culminating in the great theological syntheses of the thirteenth century. Although the mentally ill were largely ignored in the Middle Ages, some of the basic attitudes related to the later treatment of mental illness can be traced to medieval times.
TL;DR: In this paper, it is claimed that there is much more interaction between Konrad Lorenz's ethological writings of 1938 to 1943 and Nazi ideology than is implied by Alec Nisbett.
Abstract: It is claimed that there is much more interaction between Konrad Lorenz's ethological writings of 1938 to 1943 and Nazi ideology than is implied by Alec Nisbett in Konrad Lorenz: A Biography. This claim is supported by a list of all of Lorenz's papers written during this time, together with excerpts, brief descriptions, and related commentary.
TL;DR: The following account reports about the positions that Robert E. Park held in the last two years of his life, about research, the teaching of sociology, human ecology, and especially about various aspects of race and intercultural relations.
Abstract: Nothing is known about Robert E. Park's last years at Fisk University. He retired to Fisk University in 1935. The following account reports about the positions that Park held in the last two years of his life, about research, the teaching of sociology, human ecology, and especially about various aspects of race and intercultural relations. In the conclusion, Park's theoretical notions are evaluated.
Abstract: Herbert Blumer's appraisal of William Thomas and Florian Znaniecki's Polish Peasant study and the panel discussion of Blumer's critique, sponsored by the Social Science Research Council in 1938, occasioned a discussion of the value of personal documents in social research which is indicative of the controversy surrounding their use in the interwar period. It is suggested that most sociologists writing in the 1930s were skeptical of the value of personal document research, because such research could not be conducted along the lines of experimental procedure in physical science. Personal document research was in decline by 1938. The critique and conference constituted a post mortem examination of this approach to social analysis.
TL;DR: Although his analysis of the situation of minority groups was applicable to American blacks, his role as social engineer stood in the way of his implementing some of his own insights, and his ideas for altering the character structure of a whole culture by means of political change together with the use of small groups deserve to be examined in the light of major cultural transformations.
Abstract: In this brief comment. Lewin is viewed as a thinker about social change, and the political dimension of some of his recommendations for social change is noted. Although his analysis of the situation of minority groups was applicable to American blacks, his role as social engineer stood in the way of his implementing some of his own insights. Lewin's ideas for altering the character structure of a whole culture by means of political change together with the use of small groups, deserve to be examined in the light of major cultural transformations that are historically documented.
TL;DR: The internal chaos of the Nazi state and the precedence taken by mobilization over reform allowed the growth of psychotherapy from the status of a method to that of a profession.
Abstract: This study seeks to examine and illuminate some aspects of the history of psychotherapy in Germany during the twentieth century. The specific focus encompasses the profession's development between the two world wars and within that time frame centers on the National Socialist era. Psychotherapy existed for a long time on the margins of the academic medical establishment, accused by the holders of the powerful nosological tradition in German psychiatry of romantic and unscientific “dilettantism,” on the one hand, and of a materialistic “dismemberment of the soul,” on the other. The internal chaos of the Nazi state and the precedence taken by mobilization over reform allowed the growth of psychotherapy from the status of a method to that of a profession.
TL;DR: It is argued that Locke's philosophy was a construction of reality and that it had a much longer and more complex history than previous interpretations have supposed.
Abstract: In a group of political tracts and philosophical essays written just following the English Revolution and some three decades before the publication of the Treatises and Essay (1690), Locke already assumed the basic propositions of British liberalism and empiricism: that the individual has within himself the power to act in his own right, and to know the world for himself through experience. Since one of the functions of these otherwise abstract pieces was to come to terms with the disruptive thoughts and behavior of men in revolution against their government, it is argued that Locke's philosophy was a construction of reality. Furthermore, because it extends back to the early 1660s at least, it had a much longer and more complex history than previous interpretations have supposed.