ISPP History and Systems

History and Systems of Psychology

During the summer of 2012, I taught History and Systems at Illinois School of Professional Psychology/Argosy University Chicago. I have taught a combined undergraduate/graduate course in History of Psychology at California State University, Fullerton, where the focus of the course was much more on late 19th and 20th century psychology (with a few weeks spent on psychology from Ancient Greece to Wilhelm Wundt). The course at Argosy focused more on philosophical and theoretical issued with which psychologically minded individuals have perennially, especially relating to philosophy science and psychology. Additionally, because of my passion for statistics, I included a section on measurement and what has constituted measurement over time (though time did not allow for coverage in class).


Syllabus


You might also be interested in looking at Will Grove's (July 26, 1953 - September 1, 2017) Philosophical Psychology syllabus, or the videos of Paul Meehl teaching this course available here. I make no claims that this class is at all like Meehl's...I estimate Grove has about 30 IQ points on me (I met him once at a conference and have read numerous papers) and he claims Meehl had about 30 IQ points on him, so I couldn't possibly do it justice. However, I have learned an awful lot from reading many of the items on the syllabus and watching many of the videos, and hope that you will, too. Much of my thinking in this history and systems class is informed by that information.

  • TRADITIONAL HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY TOPICS

    • Introduction, and Why Study Philosophy of Science?

      • Rychlak, J. F. (2000). A psychotherapist’s lessons from the philosophy of science. American Psychologist, 55(10), 1126-1132 (pdf)

      • Mahrer, A. R. (2000). Philosophy of science and the foundations of psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 55(10), 1117-1125.(pdf)

      • Meehl, P. E. (1993) Philosophy of science: Help or hindrance? Psychological Reports, 72, 707-733. (pdf)

      • Gontovnick, H. (2007). Previews of a paradigm shift in psychotherapy: An interview with Alvin Mahrer. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 37, 103-109. (pdf).

    • Problems In and With Philosophy of Science

      • Kuhn, T. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapter 2 (pdf). Full text here.

      • Lightman, A., & Gingerich, O. (1991). When do anomalies begin? Science, 255, 690-695. (pdf)

      • Stolorow, R., & Atwood, G. (1979). Faces In A Cloud: Subjectivity In Personality Theory. New York: Jason Aronson. Chapter 1 (pdf)

      • Wolff, L. (1988). Postcards from the End of the World: Child Abuse in Freud’s Vienna. New York: Atheneum. Introduction (pdf)

      • O'Donohue, W. (1993). The spell of Kuhn on psychology: An exegetical elixer. Philosophical Psychology, 6(3), 267-288. (pdf)

      • Coleman, S. R., & Salamon, R. (1988). Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions in the psychological journal literature, 1969-1983: A Descriptive Study. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 9(4), 415-446. (pdf).

      • Weinberger, D. (2012). Shift happens. The Chronicle of Higher Education: Chronicle Review, April 22, 2012. (pdf)

      • Rees, M. C. (2012). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions at fifty. 37, 71-86. (pdf).

      • Popper, K. R. (1968). A survey of some fundamental problems. In Logic of Scientific Discoveries (Ch. 1, pp. 27-34). New York: Basic Books, Inc. (pdf)

      • Lakatos, I. (1968-1969). Criticism and the methodology of scientific research programmes. Proceedings of the Aristotlian Society, New Series. 69, 149-186. (pdf).

      • Feyerabend, P. (1975). How to defend society against science. Radical Philosophy, 11. (link)

    • Classical Origins and the Beginning of Questions about Truth/Reality

      • Arendt, H. (1971). (pdf)

      • Plato -- The Republic. Book VI. (pdf)

      • Artistotle -- De Anima. (Links to Book 1 & Book 2)

      • Dostoevsky. The Grand Inquisitor. (The Brothers Karamazov - Chapter 5: link)

    • Functionalism and American Pragmatism

      • Wundt, Wilhelm. 1897/1902. Excerpt from "Outlines of Psychology."

        • Section 1 - Problems of Psychology (link)

        • Section 3 - Methods of Psychology (link)

      • William James . 1892. "The Stream of Consciousness." Excerpts from "Psychology". (link)

      • John Dewey. 1896. "The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology." (link)

    • The Unconscious and Psychoanalysis

      • Ricoeur (1977). The Question of proof in Freud's psychoanalytic writings (pdf)

      • Ellenberger, Henri F. 1981. The Discovery of the Unconscious. New York: Basic Books. (pp. 489-500) (pdf)

      • Shevrin, H. & Dickman, S. 1980. The psychological unconscious: A necessary assumption for all psychological theory? American Psychologist, 35(5), 421-434. (pdf)

      • Williams, L. M. (1994). Recall of childhood trauma: A prospective study of women’s memories of child sex abuse. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62 (6), 1167-1176. (pdf)

      • Loftus, E. F., Garry, M., & Feldman, J.. (1994). Forgetting sexual trauma: What does it mean when 38% forget? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62 (6), 1177-1181. (pdf)

    • Dualism and the Mind/Body Problem, The Self, and The Creation of Consciousness

      • Descartes. Meditations (see text) (full text)

      • Hume. Personal Identity (see text)

      • Berkeley. Subjective Idealism (see text)

      • Parfit “Divided Minds and the‘Bundle’ Theory of Self (see text)

      • Frondizi “Dynamic Unity of the Self” (see text)

      • Zohar, D. (1990). The Quantum Self. New York: Morrow (Chapter 7). (pdf)

      • M. Weston (2002). Kierkegaard and the origins of the post–modern self. European Journal of Philosophy, 10(3), 398-412. (pdf)

      • Kendler, K. S. (2005). Toward a philosophical structure of psychiatry. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162(3), 433-440. (pdf)

    • Behaviorism, Free Will, and Determinism

      • Skinner, B.F. (1990). Can psychology be a science of mind? American Psychologist, 45 (11), 1206-1211. (pdf)

      • Skinner, B. F.(1963). Behaviorism at 50. Science. 140. 951-958.(pdf)

      • Ledoux, S. F. (2012). Behaviorism at 100. American Scientist, 100(1), 60-65. (pdf)

      • Chomsky, N. (1968). Linguistic contributions to the study of mind. In Language and Mind. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. (link)

      • Sappington, A. A. (1990). Recent psychological approaches to the free will versus determinism issue. Psychological Bulletin, 108(1), 19-29. (pdf)

      • Gruba-McCallister, F. P. (1991). Behaviorism and existentialism revisited: Further reflections. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 31(1), 75-85. (pdf)

    • The Enlightenment, Utilitarianism, Human Nature, and the Concept of the Person

      • Rychlak, J. F. 1969. Lockean vs. Kantian modern self in the Theoretical Models and the ‘Cause’ of post-modern therapeutic change. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. 6(4), 214-222. (pdf)

      • Gergen, K. J. (1992). The decline and fall of personality. Psychology Today, 25(6), 58-64. (pdf)

      • Cushman, P. (1990). Why the self is empty: Toward a historically situated psychology. American Psychologist, 45(5), 599-611. (pdf)

      • Shoda, Y., & Mischel, W. (1998). Personality as a stable cognitive-affective activation network: Characteristic patterns of behavior variation emerge from a stable personality structure. In S. J. Read & L. C. Miller (Eds.), Connectionist and PDP Models of Social Reasoning and Behavior. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. pp. 175-208. (pdf)

      • Shoda, Y., & Smith, R. E. (2004). Conceptualizing personality as a cognitive-affective processing system: A framework for models of maladaptive behavior patterns and change. Behavior Therapy, 35(1), 147-165. (pdf)

      • Sankey, D. (2007). Minds, Brains, and Difference in Personal Understandings. Educational Philosophy & Theory, 39(5), 543-558. (pdf)

    • Gestalt Psychology, Consciousness, and the problem of the present

      • Köhler, W. (1959). Gestalt psychology today. American Psychologist, 14, 727-734.(pdf)

      • Searle, J. R. (1980). Minds, brains, and programs. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3(3), 414-457. (pdf)

      • Searle, J. R. (2000). Consciousness. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 23, 557-578. (pdf)

      • Rychlak, J. R. 1986. The logic of consciousness. British Journal of Psychology, 77, 257-267. (pdf)

    • Epistemology and ways of knowing in clinical psychology

      • Baker, T., McFall, R.M., & Shoham, V. (2008). Current Status and Future Prospects of Clinical Psychology: Toward a Scientifically Principled Approach to Mental and Behavioral Health Care. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(2), 67-103. (pdf)

      • Shedler, J. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65, 2, 98-109. (pdf)

      • Anestis, M. O., Anestis, J. C., & Liliendfeld, S. O. (2011). When it comes to evaluating psychodynamic therapy, the devil is in the details. American Psychologist, 66(2), 149-151. (pdf)

      • Lilienfeld, S.O. (2007). Psychological treatments that cause harm. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 53-70. (pdf)

      • Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J. (1999). Toward an evolutionary taxonomy of treatable conditions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108 (3), 453-464. (pdf)

    • Humanism, Existentialism, Phenomenology, The Problems of Evil & Suffering, and Ethics

      • Jennings, J. (1986). Husserl revisited: The forgotten distinction between psychology and phenomenology. American Psychologist, 41, 1231-1240. (pdf)

      • Rogers, C. (1982). Notes on Rollo May. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 22(3), 1-9. (pdf).

      • May, R. (1982). The problem of evil: An open letter to Carl Rogers. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 22(3), 10-21. (pdf)

      • Walker, J.( 2000). Choosing biases, using power and practicing resistance: Moral development in a world without certainty. Human Development, 43(3), 135-156.(pdf)

    • Spiritual, Religious and Secular: Ways of Interpreting Meaning

      • Freud, S. (1933). “A Philosophy of Life.” In New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-analysis. Hogarth Press.(see text). (link)

      • Marx & Engels “Critique of Religion” (see text). Also, see works of Marx here.

      • AC. Ewing Proofs of God’s Existence, (see text) (pdf of full article)

      • Miller, W. R. & Thoresen C. E. (1999). Spirituality and health. In W. R. Miller (Ed.) Integrating Spirituality into Treatment, Washington, D.C.: APA (3- 18). (pdf)

      • Geertz, C. (1973). Religion as a cultural system. In The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York: Basic Books. (pdf).

    • Postmodernism and Anti-Postmodernism

      • Faulconer, J., & Williams, R. (1985). Temporality in Human Action: An alternative to positivism and historicism. American Psychologist, 40, 1179- 88. (pdf)

      • Martin, J. & Sugarman, J. (2000). Between the modern and the postmodern: The possibility of self and progressive understanding in psychology. American Psychologist, 55(4), 397-406. (pdf)

      • Smith, M. B. (1994). Selfhood at risk: Postmodern perils and the perils of postmodernism. American Psychologist, 49(5), 405-411. (pdf)

      • Gergen, K. (2001). Psychological science in a postmodern context. American Psychologist, 56(10), 803-813.(pdf)

      • Kruger, D. J. (2002). The deconstruction of constructivism. American Psychologist, 57, 456-457. (pdf)

      • Maher, W. B., & Maher, B. (1982). The ship of fools: Stultifera Navis or ignis fatuus. American Psychologist, 37(7), 756-761. (pdf)

      • Lyddon, R. W., & Weill, R. (1997). Cognitive psychotherapy and postmodernism: Emerging themes and challenges. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 11(2), 75-90. (pdf)

      • Russell, R. L., & Reppmann, A. D. (1997). Cognitive therapy on the brink of erasure: Notes from the postmodern underground. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 11(2), 113-118. (pdf).

      • Honey, M. (1987). The interview as text: Hermeneutics considered as a model for analyzing the clinically informed research interview. Human Development, 30, 69-82. (pdf)

      • Howard, G. (1985). The role of values in the science of psychology. American Psychologist, 40(3), 255-265.(pdf)

      • Badiou, A. (2009). Theory of the subject. Bruno Bosteels, Translator. New York: Continuum. Chapter 1: “The Place of the Subjective” (pp. 1 – 50). (pdf)

      • Latour, B. (2004). Why has critique run out of steam? From matters of fact to matters of concern. Critical Inquiry, 30(2), 225-248. (pdf)

  • SPECIAL TOPICS IN HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY

    • History of Statistics in Psychology

      • Mulaik, S. A. (1987). A brief history of the philosophical foundations of exploratory factor analysis. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 22, 267-305. (pdf)

      • Stigler, S. M. (1992). A historical view of statistical concepts in psychology and educational research, American Journal of Education, 101(1), 60-70. (pdf)

      • Traub, R. E. (1997). Classical test theory in historical perspective. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 16(4), 8-14. (pdf)

      • Brennan, R. (1997). A perspective on the history of generalizability theory. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 16(4), 14-20. (pdf)

      • Bock, R. D. (1997). A brief history of item response theory. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 16(4), 21-32. (pdf)

      • Wright, B. D (1997). A history of social science measurement. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 16(4), 33-45. (pdf)

  • Psychometrics and Psychology

    • Borsboom, D. (2006). The attack of the psychometricians. Psychometrika, 71, 425-440. (pdf)

    • Responses to Borsboom:

    • Borsboom's response to commentaries

      • Borsboom, D. (2006). Can we bring about a velvet revolution in psychological measurement? A rejoinder to commentaries. Psychometrika, 71, 463-467. (pdf)

  • History of Measurement in Psychology

    • Cronbach & Meehl (1955) Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52, 281-302. (pdf)

    • Campbell, D.T., & Fiske, D.W. (1959) Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait multimethod matrix. Psychological Bulletin, 56, 81-105. (pdf)

    • Meehl, P. E. (1978). Theoretical risks and tabular asterisks: Sir Karl, Sir Ronald, and the slow progress of soft psychology. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46, 806–834.(pdf)

    • Cronbach, L. J. (1980). Validity on parole: How can we go straight. In W. B. Schrader (Ed.), New directions for testing and measurement: Measuring achievement over a decade. (pp. 99–108). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (pdf)

    • Messick, S. (1981). Constructs and their vicissitudes in educational and psychological measurement. Psychological Bulletin, 89, 575–588.(pdf)

    • Anastasi, A. (1986). Evolving concepts of test validation. Annual Review of Psychology, 37, 1-15.(pdf)

    • Meehl, P. E. (1986). Diagnostic taxa as open concepts: Metatheoretical and statistical questions about reliability and construct validity in the grand strategy of nosological revision. In T. Millon & G. L. Klerman (Eds.), Contemporary directions in psychopathology (pp. 215-231). New York: Guilford Press. (pdf)

    • Cronbach, L. J. (1988). Five perspectives on the validity argument. In H. Wainer & H. Braun (Eds.), Test validity (pp. 3–17). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. (pdf).

    • Cronbach, L.J. (1989). Construct validation after thirty years. In R.E. Linn (Ed.), Intelligence: Measurement, theory, and public policy (pp. 147–171). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. (pdf)

    • Messick, S. (1989). Validity. In R. L. Linn (Ed.), Educational measurement (pp. 13–103). Washington, DC: American Council on Education and National Council on Measurement in Education.(pdf)

    • Messick, S. (1995). Validity of psychological assessment: Validation of inference from person's responses as a scientific inquiry into score meaning. American Psychologist, 50, 741-749.(pdf)

    • Borsboom, D., Mellenbergh, G.J., & Van Heerden, J. (2004). The concept of validity. Psychological Review, 111, 1061-1071.(pdf)

    • Sherry, D. (2011). Thermoscopes, thermometers, and the foundations of measurement. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, 42, 509-524. (pdf)

  • The Discipline(s) of Scientific Psychology

    • Cervone, D. (1991). The two disciplines of personality psychology. Psychological Science, 2, 371-377. (pdf)

    • Cronbach, L. J. (1957). The two disciplines of scientific psychology. American Psychologist, 12, 671–684.(pdf)

    • Cronbach, L. J. (1975). Beyond the two disciplines of scientific psychology. American Psychologist, 30(2), 116-127. (pdf)

    • Rucci, A. J., & Tweney, R. D. (1980). Analysis of variance as the "second discipline" of scientific psychology: A historical account. Psychological Bulletin, 87(1), 166-184.(pdf)

    • Borsboom, D., Kievit, R.A., Cervone, D.P., & Hood, S.B. (2009). The two disciplines of scientific psychology, or: The disunity of psychology as a working hypothesis. In: Valsiner, J., Molenaar, P.C.M., Lyra, M.C.D.P., & Chaudary, N. (Eds.). Developmental process methodology in the social and developmental sciences. New York: Springer. (pdf)

    • Nesselroade, J. R. (2010). On an emerging third discipline of scientific psychology. In P. C. M. Molenaar & K. M. Newell (Eds.), Individual pathways of change: Statistical models for analyzing learning and development (pp. 209--218). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. (pdf)


I also found this series, A History of Psychology in Autobiography, to be very interesting. I also have hard copies of the series, A History of Clinical Psychology in Autobiography, which has two volumes.

I also have hard copies of the series, A History of Clinical Psychology in Autobiography, which has two volumes.

  • Volume I - C. Eugene Walker (Ed.), (1991)

    • Albert Ellis

    • Hans J. Eysenck

    • Sol L. Garfield

    • Molly Harrower

    • Margaret Ives

    • Alan O. Ross

    • Edwin Schneidman

    • Hans H. Strupp

  • Volume II - C. Eugene Walker (Ed.), (1993)

    • Theodora M. Abel

    • Anne Anastasi

    • Luise Bates Ames

    • Raymond B. Cattell

    • W. Grant Dahlstrom

    • Robert R. Hold

    • John Money

    • Julian B. Rotter


  • Also, see these volumes of The Teaching of Psychology in Autobiography.