Making social psychology experimental: a conceptual history, 1920-1970

The historical emergence of a field devoted to the experimental investigation of effects identified as "social" required a radical break with traditional conceptions of the social. Psychological experimentation was limited to the investigation of effects that were proximal, local, short-term, and decomposable. A viable accommodation to these constraints occurred in the closely related programs of Moede's experimental crowd psychology and Floyd Allport's experimental social psychology. Later, Kurt Lewin attempted to provide a different conceptual foundation for the field by drawing on certain precepts of Gestalt psychology and the philosophy of scientific experimentation developed by Ernst Cassirer. These ideas were poorly understood and were soon replaced by a methodological regime in which a new generation of statistical procedures and experimental design shaped implicit conceptions of the social in social psychological experiments through such procedures as randomization and the additive combination of variables.     

The big picture: Writing psychology into the history of the human sciences

The grand narratives which once gave order and readability to histories, of science and of the human sciences are widely rejected in current historiography, and historians focus on detailed studies of scientific knowledge and activity in particular contexts. How, then, are synthetic general histories, accessible to the non-specialist, to be written? This paper, designed as an open-ended discussion, reflects on the business of writing about psychology in a general history of the human sciences. It considers three large topics: reflexivity, and the situation in the human sciences where “man” is both subject and object; the boundary-less identity of the human sciences and hence the need to express values in delimiting the content of the field; and the long-standing debate about what sort of “science” is appropriate for knowledge of human beings. The conclusion turns to “the quest” as a narrative form. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Alice in Wonderland,or psychology among the information sciences

Summary In this paper, psychology is considered as a biological science within the context of the information sciences. Connectionist arguments about the computational architecture of the brain based on biological and/or computational plausibility are rejected. Following Hebb (1958), it is argued that analyses based on biological and/or computational plausibility may serve to tune a psychological model, but that behavioural accuracy must be the main arbiter of any psychological model.     

Disciplining social psychology: a case study of boundary relations in the history of the human sciences

This paper explores the disciplinary status of social psychology through an analysis of the history of the boundary relations of psychology, sociology, and social psychology. After outlining some research on the nature of scientific disciplines, on the role of rhetoric in the constitution of disciplines, and on "boundary work," I consider the singular importance of social psychology as a discipline for the analysis of boundary relations, examining its units of analysis and its "disciplining." The boundaries of the disciplines of social psychology were seen as fluid, contingent, local, and contestable, reflecting the thematic preoccupations, disciplinary origins, and meta-theoretical commitments of social psychologists, of the parent disciplines, and of those who represent disciplinary practices.     

Psychology,behavioral sciences,and the challenge to medical education

It is generally agreed that the health care system is in crisis despite reform efforts over the past two decades. Evidence is presented which suggests that medical education has failed successfully to integrate medically relevant behavioral science research findings into medical school curricula or train physicians in the application of behaviorally based treatment technologies. Psychologists in medical education settings have the opportunity to impact medical education and foster psychology's role in health care. If psychology fails to respond to this opportunity, we cannot then complain of the inevitable consequences.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Medical Colleges, Washington, DC, November 1993.     

Building academic partnerships in psychology: the Psychology Partnerships Project

The increased number and mobility of psychology students, the need for a more coordinated curriculum and a more diverse student population in psychology programs, and the need to prepare students for a changing marketplace pose serious challenges for psychology educators. Partnerships among psychology teachers in high schools, community colleges, 4-year colleges and universities, and graduate programs in research universities can help teachers address these challenges effectively. This article outlines how academic partnerships across educational levels can help psychology teachers address educational challenges, examines factors that facilitate the formation and maintenance of these partnerships, and presents the American Psychological Association's successful Psychology Partnerships Project: Academic Partnerships to Meet the Teaching and Learning Needs of the 21st Century, describing the organizational features that enhanced its success.     

G. Stanley Hall and the institutional character of psychology at Clark 1889-1920

This paper identifies the institutional character of pre-1920 psychology at Clark University with founding President G. Stanley Hall's active "patronage" of "outsiders," argues that the origins of this institutional character can be found in Hall's own personal character and temperament, and traces the influence of this institutional character through much of the psychology done at Clark before 1920.     

Psychology,progress, and the problem of reflexivity: A study in the epistemological foundations of psychology

Buss's thesis that, throughout the history of psychology, psychological theories have alternated between two contradictory models of human nature is examined and supported. One model sees humans as actively constructing themselves; the other model sees humans as constructed from the outside. The thesis that the inherent reflexive quality of psychological inquiry is the cause of this alternation is then examined. Three different hypotheses as to how “reflexivity” might explain this alternation are offered. Finally, brief attention is given to the question of whether psychology can be seen as progressing if it is as philosophically indecisive as the analysis suggests.     

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.