A Pictorial History of Psychology.Wolfgang G. Bringmann, et al., Editors. Chicago: Quintessence quin·tes·sence n. 1. The pure, highly concentrated essence of a thing. 2. The purest or most typical instance: the quintessence of evil. 3. , 1997. In 107 articles by 109 authors from 15 different countries, this volume covers the history of psychology from Greek antiquity to recent developments in American cognitive psychology cognitive psychology, school of psychology that examines internal mental processes such as problem solving, memory, and language. It had its foundations in the Gestalt psychology of Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka, and in the work of Jean . It is copiously illustrated with more that 650 illustrations and tables on 615 pages of text. With its combination of pictures and verbal descriptions it has the character of a family album of academic psychology and is so clearly written that it can be easily appreciated even by those unfamiliar with the subject. Hermann Ebinghaus noted that psychology has a long past but a short history. The history began about a century ago in a broad movement that emphasized scientific method, the rise of psychological research centers and the creation of journals and graduate programs. But psychology's roots go further back and in this book you will encounter articles on "Aristotle and Psychology," "A Medieval Theory of Cognitive Functioning cognitive function Neurology Any mental process that involves symbolic operations–eg, perception, memory, creation of imagery, and thinking; CFs encompasses awareness and capacity for judgment ," and "Goethe as an Early Behavior Therapist." Of course, the stars of the field, including Freud, Adler, Jung, Wundt, Skinner, Binet, and Piaget, are also provided separate articles. And pioneer psychological investigations are described in such essays as "Clever Hans Clever Hans (in German, der Kluge Hans) was a horse that was claimed to have been able to perform arithmetic and other intellectual tasks. After formal investigation in 1907, psychologist Oskar Pfungst demonstrated that the horse was not actually performing : Fact or Fiction?" which tells how a student of psychology debunked the supposed ability of a horse to spell and do mathematics. Among the features that make this book especially interesting are its insights into psychology's social and cultural contexts, including its relationship to other disciplines such as literature, art, and music. I was particularly taken with an article titled "Gertrude Stein, William Stein, William (Howard) (1911–80) biochemist; born in New York City. Beginning in 1938 at the Rockefeller Institute, he and Stanford Moore set about analyzing the amino acids in proteins; by 1960 they had determined the amino acid sequence of ribonuclease. James, and Pablo Picasso" by Marianne L. Teuber which demonstrates how Stein and Picasso both made use of important ideas derived from the teachings of America's premier psychologist William James Noun 1. William James - United States pragmatic philosopher and psychologist (1842-1910) James . The reader will discover many other fascinating articles on topics that are not covered not covered Health care adjective Referring to a procedure, test or other health service to which a policy holder or insurance beneficiary is not entitled under the terms of the policy or payment system–eg, Medicare. Cf Covered. in any other reference book. If you wish to learn more about psychology's past (and want to see what the giants of the discipline looked like) I think this volume may be just what the doctor ordered. All Reviews by Martin H. Levinson, Ph.D. |
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