Description
Psychology, the study of mind and behaviour, has developed as a unique discipline in its brief history. Whether as it currently takes place, or how it has been conducted over the past 140 years or so since it became recognized as a separate field of study, there has been constant debate on its identity as a science.
Psychology in Historical Context: Theories and Debates examines this debate by tracing the emergence of Psychology from parent disciplines, such as philosophy and physiology, and analyzes key topics such as:
- the nature of science, itself a much misunderstood human activity often equated with natural science;
- the nature of the scientific method, and the relationship between data gathering and generalization;
- the nature of certainty and objectivity, and their relevance to understanding the kind of scientific discipline Psychology is today.
This engaging overview, written by renowned author Richard Gross, is an accessible account of the main conceptual themes and historical developments. Covering the core fields of individual differences, cognitive, social, and developmental psychology, as well as evolutionary and biopsychology, it will enable readers to understand how key ideas and theories have had impacts across a range of topics. This is the only concise textbook to give students a thorough grounding in the major conceptual ideas within the field, as well as the key figures whose ideas have helped to shape it.
Table of Contents
1. Historical perspectives: Psychology as the study of…what? 2. Scientific perspectives: Psychology as the study of…how? 3. Challenging the mainstream: new paradigms for old 4. People as Psychologists: common sense Psychology 5. People as organisms: Biopsychology 6. People as environmentally controlled organisms: Behaviourism 7. People as information processors: Cognitive Psychology 8. Humans as an evolved species: Evolutionary Psychology 9. Individuals as driven by unconscious forces: Psychodynamic Psychology 10. People as self-determining organisms: Humanistic-phenomenological and Positive Psychology 11. People as diverse: group and individual differences 12. People as selves: subjectivity, individuality and social construction of identity 13. People as deviant: psychiatry and the construction of madness
