History of Psychology

br Origins of American Psychology 1

The Origins of American Psychology

A brief look into the origins and early development of psychology in America Origins of American Psychology 2 The mind-brain relationship was becoming increasingly sought with the progress of the 19th century . The general interest on the subject was evident from the fact that almost all relevant text written after 1860 did not fail to discuss this issue Philosophers and psychologists were engaged in this mind-brain association due to the prevailing notion that brain is the functioning unit

of the mind . Studies had also begun emphasizing that mental state like psychic traumas , beliefs and mesmerism can radically change the body state , which evoked considerable public interest . An English philosopher , Shadworth Holloway Hodgson published his two volumes `The Theory of Practice , which is perhaps the first modern expression of `epiphenomenalism . Hodgson compared mental states and neural events to the surface colours of stone mosaic and supporting stones respectively . According to Hodgson , functions of the nervous system is independent of the associated mental states just as stones are held in place by one another and not by the surface colours of the stones . This idea was incorporated by Thomas Henry Huxley in his 1874 address to the British Association for Advancement of Science in Belfast . His `On the hypothesis that animals are automata , and its history , is one of the most widely read and cited s of the period

Wilhelm Wundt and William James are generally regarded by many as founding fathers of psychology . There are several common factors among them like being founders of two greatest psychology schools and claims of establishing first psychological labs . William James was born in New York on January 11 , 1842 to the religious philosopher James Sr . He enrolled at Harvard for chemistry and then changed to Origins of American Psychology 3

medicine . In 1867 , James went to Germany to study psychology under Helmholtz where he is said to have suffered depression . He returned to the U .S in 1869 to finish his M .D . James was appointed as an instructor of psychology at Harvard in 1872 , which was changed to assistant professor of philosophy and then to professor of psychology in 1889 . He published his two volumes of `The principles of Psychology ' in 1890 and later brought out a shorter version `The Briefer Course . Both are masterpieces and are of interest to psychology students as well as the common man . Thanks to his father , James had an interest in mysticism and to consider himself a philosopher . James progressed in his thinking of mind-body relationships in 1902 and explored transcendent experiences in putting back shattered lives through his `Varieties of Religious Experience . In fact today , James is considered as America 's greatest philosopher apart from being the father of American psychology . The developments in the field of American psychology prior to William James are very important and have a direct bearing on the current advanced state of American psychology . Several philosophers and psychologists contributed...