The rhetoric of experimental social psychology, 1930-1960: from caution to enthusiasm

Between 1930 and 1960, experimentation became the premier form of knowledge generation in social psychology. In journals, texts, and handbooks, experiment was now conceived as the active manipulation of an independent variable, and the sole method for the discovery of "causes." Understanding this change requires further investigation of the fine-grained discursive strategies used to promote experimentation during the 1930s and 1940s. In this paper we use discourse analysis to contrast the cautious rhetoric used by Gardner Murphy and Lois Murphy and the more enthusiastic, unhedged arguments for experimentation employed by Kurt Lewin. We argue that analysis of changes in discourse justifying experimentation can illuminate the processes by which methodological consensus was constructed.     

Academic professionalization and protestant reconstruction, 1890-1902: George Albert Coe's psychology of religion

This paper examines the relationship between the New Psychology and American Protestantism in the late nineteenth century through a consideration of the early career of George Albert Coe. Coe originally aspired to become a Methodist minister but after several years studying evolutionary biology and the New Theology his professional interests came to rest on the New Psychology. His decision to pursue a career in psychology and his subsequent research program is discussed in relation to the religious and institutional context of the period. For Coe, the New Psychology was not an ideologically secular initiative but a methodologically secular means of advancing a religious agenda. His experience suggests that the field's growth in the 1890s is partly attributable to the perception that psychology could help bring Protestantism into line with modern experience.     

Physics, ballistics, and psychology: a history of the chronoscope in/as context, 1845-1890

In Wilhelm Wundt's (1832-1920) Leipzig laboratory and at numerous other research sites, the chronoscope was used to conduct reaction time experiments. The author argues that the history of the chronoscope is the history not of an instrument but of an experimental setup. This setup was initially devised by the English physicist and instrument maker Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875) in the early 1840s. Shortly thereafter, it was improved by the German clockmaker and mechanic Matth?us Hipp (1813-1893). In the 1850s, the chronoscope was introduced to ballistic research. In the early 1860s, Neuchatel astronomer Adolphe Hirsch (1830-1901) applied it to the problem of physiological time. The extensions and variations of chronoscope use within the contexts of ballistics, physiology, and psychology presented special challenges. These challenges were met with specific attempts to reduce the errors in chronoscopic experiments on shooting stands and in the psychological laboratory.     

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.     

Re-visioning antebellum American psychology: the dissemination of mesmerism, 1836-1854

Mesmerism, the French method of treating illness and inducing trance, was introduced to the United States in 1836. A cohort of Americans took to the practice enthusiastically, publishing materials, presenting lectures attended by thousands, conducting empirical investigations, and treating untold numbers of ill people. These practitioners understood their profession addressed the mind, and they often referred to their work as "psychology." The mesmerists speculated about mind-brain links and investigated "interior states," "mental healing," and the controversial "higher mind powers" such as clairvoyance. Antebellum culture is the backdrop for this study of the rise, fall, and dispersion of mesmerism in the United States. Evidence provided warrants a reappraisal of mesmerism's significance for 19th-century psychology.     

The critical role of conflict resolution in teams: a close look at the links between conflict type, conflict management strategies, and team outcomes

This article explores the linkages between strategies for managing different types of conflict and group performance and satisfaction. Results from a qualitative study of 57 autonomous teams suggest that groups that improve or maintain top performance over time share 3 conflict resolution tendencies: (a) focusing on the content of interpersonal interactions rather than delivery style, (b) explicitly discussing reasons behind any decisions reached in accepting and distributing work assignments, and (c) assigning work to members who have the relevant task expertise rather than assigning by other common means such as volunteering, default, or convenience. The authors' results also suggest that teams that are successful over time are likely to be both proactive in anticipating the need for conflict resolution and pluralistic in developing conflict resolution strategies that apply to all group members.     

The psychology of moderate prediction : II. Leniency and uncertainty

In this paper we demonstrate that intuitive numerical predictions can be somewhat regressive. This moderation of predictions is asymmetric: predictions are more regressive at low than at high values of the predictor. This pattern is analyzed in terms of the operation of multiple heuristics. The representativeness heuristic is responsible for predictions in which extremity of the predicted variable is matched to extremity of the predictor. Matching is modified by a variety of intuitions that promote moderation per se; we lump these together under the heading of weak regressiveness. Third is leniency, a heuristic suggesting that the higher the uncertainty, the more positive should be the predictions. The first experiment demonstrates leniency in isolation from the other heuristics: in multivariate prediction, inconsistent predictors yield more positive predictions. Experiment 2 demonstrates asymmetric regression in a situation where all three heuristics are assumed to have effects. The third experiment exhibits leniency in the context of explanation of regression phenomena (rather than in numerical prediction). The final experiment explores the relation between the three heuristics and experience with multiple determination (Ganzach & Krantz, in press). It demonstrates increased moderation of predictions when subjects are required to generate a predicted value of an intermediate variable, for example, when the prediction of GPA from Intelligence is made subsequent to a prediction of Motivation.     

The Hawthorne experiments and the introduction of Jean Piaget in American industrial psychology, 1929-1932

The Hawthorne interview program between 1929 and 1932 was one of the most significant industrial studies in the United States. The Hawthorne researchers applied Jean Piaget's clinical method in their extensive interviews with tens of thousands of workers. Chiefly responsible for the program's methodology was Elton Mayo, an Australian who saw interviewing as a means to promote social cooperation. Previous discussions of the Hawthorne experiments have ignored the influence of Piaget in the social sciences. This article provides an account of Mayo's and the Hawthorne researchers' efforts to fuse Piaget's innovation with burgeoning American industrial psychology. The endeavor was not an isolated event but rather drew on the theories and practice of Janet-Piaget psychology, on the support of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Foundation, and on the discourse among social scientists about Piaget's work.     

同胞冲突及其解决:家庭子系统的影响

同胞冲突是指在一个完整的家庭中, 具有相同生身父母的两个或多个人在行为、目标或活动上所表达出的不相容, 其通常表现为争吵和敌对情绪以及相互间的攻击行为。父母干预同胞冲突的方式分为孩子中心策略、控制策略和不干预策略。家庭系统理论指出, 家庭是一个有等级结构的、动态的系统, 这个系统中的子系统(包括父母婚姻关系、亲子关系和同胞关系)是相互联系、相互影响的。基于这一理论, 探讨家庭子系统对同胞冲突的影响, 整合建构同胞冲突的理论假设模型, 以便从多路径的角度去分析同胞冲突的产生机制。未来的研究需要对同胞冲突及其相关概念进行区分或整合, 关注父母干预同胞冲突的方式的影响因素, 并且以发展的眼光去看待同胞冲突。     

The senile mind: psychology and old age in the 1930s and 1940s

In the 1930s, some psychologists began to study and discuss the normal and pathological mental abilities of old age. This paper explores this research and its implications for an emerging definition of old age in the 1930s and 1940s. The argument is that these psychologists explained old age in terms of tests they had performed on children and young adults. In addition, these professionals projected their culturally bound assumptions onto their study of old age. In the process, psychologists helped to define old age as a problem that required a professional solution.     

Bowlby before Bowlby: The sources of an intellectual departure in psychoanalysis and psychology

John Bowlby's first scientific papers express a viewpoint of the etiology of childhood disorders that gradually developed during his university years and the first years of his professional life. As becomes clear from, among other things, Bowlby's private correspondence, it was the period spent as a student at Cambridge, his work as a teacher at two progressive schools, and his work at a child guidance clinic that allowed him to articulate a view on childhood deviancy that was at variance with the Kleinian variant of psychoanalysis. Bowlby's position as an ‘independent’ thinker in the British Psycho-Analytical Society can be understood against the background of these intellectual influences. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Orientations to conflict: Gender, attributions, resolution strategies, and self-monitoring

Gender differences in relationship quality, conflict perceptions, reported conflict strategy use, and self-monitoring orientations were examined in a sample of undergraduates. It was predicted that males and high self-monitoring individuals would see their relationships as less intimate, themselves as less committed, and would endorse more frequent use of uncooperative and avoidant strategies. Participants (n=124) completed the following: a measure of conflict perceptions; a Conflict Strategy Scale measuring frequency of Cooperative, Uncooperative, and Denial-Avoidant strategies; and Snyder’s Self-Monitoring Scale. Compared to females, males scored higher in self-monitoring, saw friendships as less intimate and stable, saw their conflicts as more stable, and endorsed more frequent use of Denial-Avoidant strategies. Masculine orientations to conflict reflected increased self-presentational concerns and perceptions that minimized the personal relevance of conflict.