Freud's "Project" and its relationship to psychoanalytic theory

Sigmund Freud wrote the "Project for a Scientific Psychology" in 1895. Although the "Project" is essential a neurological model of mind, it will be shown that major concepts in psychoanalytic theory can be traced to this work. These include libido, primary process and the pleasure principle, secondary process and the reality principle, wish fulfillment, the ego, consciousness, and repression. The "Project" signifies a transition in Freud's thinking from a neurological to a psychological realm of discourse.     

William James and Sigmund Freud: "The Future of Psychology Belongs to Your Work"

Although James and Freud are generally not considered scientific by experimental psychologists, both wrote about their view of what a scientific psychology should look like. Their radically different philosophical epistemologies and historical origins are reviewed, to provide an understanding of their respective visions for psychology. James took his stand on a new metaphysical foundation for the way experiments should be conducted with his formulation of radical empiricism. Freud attempted a neurological explanation of the unconscious in his "Project for a Scientific Psychology." Remarkably, their definitions of psychology as a science had a similar ring. Likely, this is because both took a phenomenological position with regard to how they defined science, which is also probably the primary reason their ideas on the subject have always been rejected by experimentalists. The humanistic implications of the neuroscience revolution, however, have caused a reassessment of their respective positions, as philosophical questions about the nature of consciousness have brought both Freud and James back into vogue, but in new and unexpected ways.     

Personal Agency across Generations: Evolutionary Psychology or Religious Belief?

Sophia - Although the authors of modern scientific psychology agreed on precious little, Freud and Jung both insisted that any complete science of psychology requires some way to explain the...     

熊十力心理学思想初探——从熊氏由佛入儒的心理学思想路径谈起

熊十力早期研究佛教心理学,他采用弗洛伊德精神分析学对佛家唯识学进行诠释,首次提出“阿赖耶识”及所含藏种子相当于精神分析学所说的“潜意识”。不过他认为佛家的“阿赖耶识”有宗教“神我”观念,而儒家的“本心”更能够洞彻心源。在对佛家唯识论的心理学思想扬弃和抛却后,熊十力回归到儒家心学体系中构建其“哲学心理学”。熊氏心理学思想虽然在中国现代心理学史上没有什么地位,不过放在当时特定的时代背景来看,也会绽放出与众不同的心理学思维火花。     

Perception of students in the south of Brazil of status of psychology as a science

73 university students (M age=20.5 yr., SD=4.8; range 17-44 yr.) from the southern state of Paraná took the Psychology as Science scale to assess whether they view psychology as a rigorous science. Analysis showed the students considered psychology to be a science, agreed study of psychology should be part of a university curriculum, not many believed that psychological research may contribute to the solution of psychological problems, and few believed obtaining a Bachelors of Science degree in Psychology was useful in obtaining employment. Data were compared with a previous study conducted on a northeastern sample.     

Towards Understanding the Psychology of the Filipino

This article describes the development of a new consciousness in Philippine psychology called "Sikolohiyang Pilipino" (Filipino Psychology). It attempts to give national form and substance to the scientific discipline of psychology by critically examining the strong influence of American psychological models in Philippine psychology and explains how the practical implications of "Sikolohiyang Pilipino" in therapy differ from Western methods. It presents an alternative framework of looking at human behavior particularly in the context of non-Western cultures and identifies key concepts in understanding the Filipino's mind, personality, and behavior. It elaborates on indigenous research methods that are more relevant and appropriate to Philippine realities.     

从跨文化心理学到文化建构主义心理学——心理学中文化意识的衍变

心理学中的文化意识在跨文化心理学、文化心理学、文化建构主义心理学中经历了3次重大衍变。跨文化心理学视文化为心理规律的干扰因素,认为理论研究应力求“去文化”;文化心理学认为心理是文化的“投射”,寻求理论的“文化敏感”;文化建构主义心理学则认为心理与文化是相互灌注、相互建构的关系,因而更加关注“心理”、“意义”与“现实”的双向建构过程。本文详细分析了上述几种不同的文化意识形态的主要特点,并结合历史背景,对其各自的意义、问题做了简要讨论。     

The fish: A lost symbol of sexual liberation?

This essay explores the sexual symbolism of the fish and its associations with the ministry of Jesus. His unconventional relationships with women, as well as the traditional accounts of his physical healings, are viewed from a perspective of intrapsychic psychology. These activities are then compared to the work of Freud and some vocational similarities between the two men are posited. The symbolic connotations of the fish and its reflection of unconscious processes are seen as mythological vehicles of liberation from sexual repression and concomitant social oppression.For his assistance, the author wishes to thank Dr. David M. Moss of the Coventry Association for Pastoral Psychology in Atlanta, Georgia.     

Quantitative and Qualitative Research: Beyond the Debate

Psychology has been a highly quantitative field since its conception as a science. However, a qualitative approach to psychological research has gained increasing importance in the last decades, and an enduring debate between quantitative and qualitative approaches has arisen. The recently developed Mixed Methods Research (MMR) addresses this debate by aiming to integrate quantitative and qualitative approaches. This article outlines and discusses quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research approaches with specific reference to their (1) philosophical foundations (i.e. basic sets of beliefs that ground inquiry), (2) methodological assumptions (i.e. principles and formal conditions which guide scientific investigation), and (3) research methods (i.e. concrete procedures for data collection, analysis and interpretation). We conclude that MMR may reasonably overcome the limitation of purely quantitative and purely qualitative approaches at each of these levels, providing a fruitful context for a more comprehensive psychological research.

Vygotsky's Theory of Creativity

In Educational Psychology (1997/1926), Vygotsky pleaded for a realistic approach to children's literature. He is, among other things, critical of Chukovsky's story "Crocodile" and maintains that this story deals with nonsense and gibberish, without social relevance. This approach Vygotsky would leave soon, and, in Psychology of Art (1971/1925), in which he develops his theory of art, he talks about connections between nursery rhymes and children's play, exactly as the story of Chukovsky had done with the following argument: By dragging a child into a topsy-turvy world, we help his intellect work and his perception of reality. In his book Imagination and Creativity in Childhood (1995/1930), Vygotsky goes further and develops his theory of creativity. The book describes how Vygotsky regards the creative process of the human consciousness, the link between emotion and thought, and the role of the imagination. To Vygotsky, this brings to the fore the issue of the link between reality and imagination, and he discusses the issue of reproduction and creativity, both of which relate to the entire scope of human activity. Interpretations of Vygotsky in the 1990s have stressed the role of literature and the development of a cultural approach to psychology and education. It has been overlooked that Vygotsky started his career with work on the psychology of art.     

Freud's psychology and its organic foundation: sexuality and mind-body interactionism

Although Freud's neurological education had a great impact on his thinking, a review of Freud's early writings reveals that: (1) Freud adhered to a mind-body interactionist position that was not in accord with the mechanistic neurology of his medical school education; (2) Freud saw psychical processes as intentional, not completely determined by mechanical brain processes--but interactive with them; (3) Freud made functional and psychological interpretations freely without accepting a need to "neurologize" his psychological insights by providing specific neuroanatomical or neurophysiological correlates for such interpretations; and (4) Freud sought the organic base for his evolving psychology in sexual physiology, not neuroanatomy or neurophysiology.     

Psychology in the Czech lands: Bohemia,Czechoslovakia, and the Czech Republic

The article provides a comprehensive review of Czech psychology—its history and its current state. It enumerates significant psychologists who were Czech, born in Bohemia or who were instrumental for the development of psychology in the region. The article also enumerates Czech psychological associations along with their main representatives, journals, and academic facilities involved in education and research in psychology. It is pointed out that the origins of psychology as a science are in the Central Europe—the first laboratory of W. Wundt was in Leipzig, Germany; S. Freud was born in Bohemia, in the Moravian city of Příbor and he practiced in Vienna, Austria. The Czech capital Prague will also become the capital of the psychological science in 2020 when it will be hosting the 32nd International Congress of Psychology (ICP 2020).     

German philosophy, Freud, and the riddle of the woman

After Kant's critique of empiricism, subjectivist epistemologies cropped up in 19th-century German philosophy. Schopenhauer argued that the true essence of every object was an irrational and sexual will. This underlying will distorted a subject's knowledge of the world. Schopenhauer's notion of this true essence was analogous to his portrayal of women; they too were natural, irrational, and instinctual. Nietzsche postulated a will-to-power that structured and hence distorted a chaotic world. That structureless "real" world Nietzsche symbolized as the essential "truth of a woman," a truth which for Nietzsche was unknowable to the desirous male philosopher. Freud, while maintaining belief in empirical truth, developed a psychology of mis-knowledge which had much in common with Schopenhauer's epistemology. His theory of transference grew from a need to explain how female patients libidinally distorted the reality of their male analysts. Conversely, Freud's later writings on women are hampered by the author's realization of his own precarious and subjective position as man trying to know woman. These counter-transferential concerns ultimately made the woman's psychological essence an unknowable riddle for Freud.     

向整合的超个人心理学

超个人心理学是20世纪60年代末在美国兴起的一种心理学流派。它认为个体能够通过对自我潜能的发掘,通过对意识状态的扩充,达到超越自我,超越时空的所谓超个人状态。本文追溯了超个人心理学产生的历史渊源,阐释了其基本理论框架和研究特点,从历史与现实、理论与实验相结合的角度探讨了这一学派的一些最新研究成果,如转换的意识状态,意识谱理论,沉思的研究与训练,揭示了当代西方心理学正在走向整合的新趋向。     

荆其诚的国际心理学思想与实践

荆其诚先生是当代中国著名的心理学家, 是改革开放后中国心理学界在国际上的代言人。他视野开阔, 是颇具造诣的实验心理学家, 也是功底深厚的理论心理学家。文章没有涉及他在认知与发展心理学方面所做的贡献, 只从理论方面分析他的国际心理学思想及实践, 找寻他对心理学研究所持的基本态度与价值追求。文章认为荆其诚在宏观把握心理学的发展逻辑后, 以“两个阵营的心理学”来界定心理学的现状, 坚信心理学的未来是一种国际的心理学。为了达成这一学术理想, 荆其诚不仅撰文将国外心理学介绍到中国、将中国心理学推介到国外, 还积极投身于国际心理学组织与实践, 长期担任国际心联的领导职务, 组织并主持召开了2004年第28届国际心理学大会。荆其诚的一生为彰显心理学的国际维度、促进国际心理学交流、将中国心理学推上世界舞台作出了巨大贡献。     

Three pioneers of comparative psychology in America, 1843-1890: Lewis H. Morgan,John Bascom,and Joseph LeConte

Scientific comparative psychology in America dates from the mid-1890s, but there is a body of earlier literature on the topic, written during a period of theistic debates over Darwinian evolution. The anthropologist Lewis H. Morgan rejected instinct as an explanation of animal behavior in 1843 and defended the mental similarities between animals and humans, although he was not an evolutionist. John Bascom's textbook Comparative Psychology (1878) is the earliest American work to use that title, and its theistic approach anticipates some arguments found in much later evolutionary works. Beginning in 1860, the geologist Joseph LeConte, who is well known for defending the compatibility of evolution and religion, wrote several articles in which he outlined a comparative evolutionary approach to psychological problems. However, these writers did not establish a coherent research tradition and were ignored by the "New Psychologists" of the 1880s.     

Of faculties, fallacies, and freedom: dilemma and irony in the secularization of American psychology

In The Principles of Psychology, William James (1890) articulated an influential, boundary-setting argument against faculty psychology, subsequently dubbed the Fallacy of the Faculty Psychology. This argument was reiterated in American psychology textbooks for the next several decades, arguably solidifying and simplifying American perceptions of the "old" faculty psychology and establishing belief in the superiority of the "New Psychology." When placed in the context of American theological and philosophical history, however, the New Psychology argument appears unoriginal, somewhat unfair, and deeply (and even tragically) ironic. Despite their best intentions, a fallacy did emerge in the old psychology as they sought psychological foundations for libertarian free will. For those members of the New Psychology still committed to free will, then, the Fallacy argument cut both ways - refuting the fallacy also meant tearing down a long-standing foundation for free will in American psychology. Offering no viable alternative to fill the moral void, the New Psychology appeared at times conflicted with its new deterministic identity.     

文化心理学与跨文化心理学的比较与整合

文化心理学和跨文化心理学都是心理学的文化转向之产物,二者都重视对文化的研究,要求把文化纳入心理学的研究范围,因而有很多方面相似,但也存在着一些本质的不同。跨文化心理学是在不改变科学主义心理学的基本原则或假设的前提下对其加以修正,而文化则与之相反,它要从根本上否定科学主义心理学的硬核。不过,二者各有优劣,在心理学研究中应把二者整合起来,以便相互取长补短,共同发展     

The imagination: cognitive, pre-cognitive, and meta-cognitive aspects

This article is an attempt to situate imagination within consciousness complete with its own pre-cognitive, cognitive, and meta-cognitive domains. In the first sections we briefly review traditional philosophical and psychological conceptions of the imagination. The majority have viewed perception and imagination as separate faculties, performing distinct functions. A return to a phenomenological account of the imagination suggests that divisions between perception and imagination are transcended by precognitive factors of sense of reality and non-reality where perception and imagination play an indivisible role. In fact, both imagination and perception define sense of reality jointly according to what is possible and not possible. Absorption in a possible world depends on the strengths of alternative possibilities, and the relationship between core and marginal consciousness. The model may offer a parsimonious account of different states and levels of imaginal consciousness, and of how "believed-in imaginings" develop and become under some circumstances "lived-in experiences."