A History of Modern Psychology
Product Description
A market leader for over 30 years, A HISTORY OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY has been praised for its comprehensive coverage and biographical approach. Focusing on modern psychology, the text’s coverage begins with the late 19th century. The authors personalize the history of psychology not only by using biographical information on influential theorists, but also by showing how major events in those theorists’ lives have affected the authors’ own ideas, approaches, and methods. Substantial updates in this edition include discussions of evolutionary psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and positive psychology. The result is a text that is as timely and relevant today as it was when it was first introduced.
A History of Modern Psychology
Anonymous said,
Wrote on March 21, 2010 @ 3:18 pm
Schultz and Schultz offer a wonderful summation of the history of psychology. Many history of psychology texts are large and burdensome, but Schultz and Schultz sift out the waste and offer the facts. Interesting anecdotes about psychology’s pioneers are offered, and the social climate surrounding the perspectives of each school of thought is also mentioned. All in all, this is a great book to have in the collection for the average historian of psychology. The authors, unfortunately, do present the information in a rather bland display. More color and layout effect would be useful and appealing. Furthermore, the chapter on the impact of women and minorities in psychology should not just be thrown on the end of the book … it should be integrated throughout. Other than those two drawbacks, however, the book is wonderfully done.
Rating: 4 / 5
Craig Chalquist, PhD, author of TERRAPSYCHOLOGY and DEEP CALIFORNIA said,
Wrote on March 21, 2010 @ 5:33 pm
I teach an undergrad course on the history of psychology (Sonoma State), and I’ve found this book to be clear and readable. My students tend to like it and find the pleasantly informative tone and highlighted information to be useful. This book has gone through several editions as the authors build in updates. They do a fine job of making what is usually very dry material accessible to students. A recent inclusion discusses evolutionary psychology. InfoTrak allows students to look up information online, and the book is filled with useful web sites for further study. Some of the misconceptions about Freud have been corrected (e.g., the false story about Breuer running away from Anna O), although the role of Pierre Janet in the development of a fully dynamic psychology has remained largely unexplored since Ellenberger’s work in the seventies.
Two suggestions for future editions: 1. Include more from the therapy side of the psychological house. The book is heavily weighted toward the experimental side: the tradition from Wundt, Titchener, etc. onward, although it does include material about psychoanalysis. Wundt could use some filling out–he did much more than introspect. 2. The Jung section needs reworking. Jung’s theories about the collective unconscious have nothing to do with an ancestral inheritance, for example, and people have been calling him a “mystic” for a century despite all his hard empirical work and his being known early on as an experimental psychiatrist (physicians came to Switzerland from all over the world to learn his association test method). His attempts to study of sacred experience come out of a rich tradition that includes William James and Gustav Fechner.
Rating: 4 / 5
Marleah J. Augustine said,
Wrote on March 21, 2010 @ 8:07 pm
This book was used for one of my classes this past fall. It is very readable, and all of the names that you learn in psych classes actually become people, characters in the development of this ever-broadening field. I thought it was a great start to get psychology students more interested in the people who came before them.
Rating: 5 / 5
Tan Leng Huat David said,
Wrote on March 21, 2010 @ 9:34 pm
This book provides a clear and definitive background to Psychology. It not only enables the readers to appreciate the development of the subject, it also introduces them to the vast fundamentals comprising the subject. Although the emphasis therein may seem bent towards experimental psychology with the vast elaborations pertaining to Wundt’s voluntarism, and Titcherner’s qualitative approach;the last four chapters were however devoted to cognitive developments and psychoanalysis. Overall, it makes a good reading and is highly recommended for students and novice learners of psychology.
Rating: 5 / 5
Beymar Mendoza said,
Wrote on March 21, 2010 @ 11:04 pm
This text is a very easy reading. It is both very informative and to the point, one of the best textbooks I’ve had to read in a long time.
Rating: 4 / 5