History of psychology

Course objectives

Main objective of this course is to inform students about the development of psychology throughout history. Additionally, other objectives are to understand the basis for different areas of psychology in the context of their development with special emphasis on the development of methodology, area of research and methods used in psychology.

Learning outcomes

After the completion of the course students will be able to:

1. Explain various concepts in the development of psychology, its timeframe and the area of research
2. Compare the developmental context of various areas of psychology
3. Explain the occurrence of methodology in psychology and the metalanguage of psychology
4. Analyse classical and contemporary approaches to psychology
5. Explain the development of different approaches to psychology with regards to cultural differences

Literature (colloquium I)

Introduction to History of psychology: (Why History of Psychology, Roots of Psychology, Problems in historiography, Discipline methods, Critical issues in historical studies, Can history be objective…) - Chapter 1 in King, Viney & Woody (2006)

Philosophical Issues (Epistemology, The Problem of Causality, Free Will and Determinism, The Mind-Body Problem, The Problem of Explanation) - Chapter 2 in King, Viney & Woody (2006)

Early Psychological Thought (Ancient Psychological Thought, The Roman Period and the Middle Ages) - Chapter 3 and 4 in King, Viney & Woody (2006)

Touchstones: The Origins of Psychological Thought (from Plato, Aristotle to St Thomas Aquinas) - Chapter 2 in Benjafield (2015)

Lost Millenium (Misunderstanding the Middle Ages) - Henley & Thorne (2005).

Chapter II: The First Use of the Term Psychology from the book Tracing the Emergence of Psychology, 1520–⁠1750: A Sophisticated Intruder to Philosophy, Klempe (2020)

Chapter II: Psychology in the Sixteenth Century: A Project in the Making? from the book The sciences of the soul: the early modern origins of psychology. (Vidal, 2011)

Lectures

Introduction to History of psychology

Origins of psychological theory: antiquity

Antiquity and Roman period

Antiquity, Christianity, Medieval psychology

From 1520, 16. century

16. and 17. centuries

17. to 19. centuries

Person and personality

Normal and abnormal

Course content with literature broken down in detail by weekly class schedule (colloquium II)

Interactions between Theology and Psychology (pages 1697-1705) from the Springer Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences, Jalobeanu & Wolfe (2022)

Literature

Benjafield, J. G. (2015). A History of Psychology (4th ed.). Oxford University Press Canada.

Brett, G. S. (2013). A history of psychology. Ancient and Patristic (Vol. I). London & New York: Routledge.

Brett, G. S. (2013). A history of psychology. Mediaeval and Early Modern Period (Vol. II). London & New York: Routledge.

Brett, G. S. (2013). A history of psychology. Modern Psychology (Vol. III). London & New York: Routledge.

Jalobeanu, D., & Wolfe, C. T. (2022). Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences. Springer.

King, D. B., Viney, W., & Woody, W. D. (2016). A history of psychology: Ideas and context (Fifth edition.). Psychology Press.

Klempe, S. H. (2020). Tracing the Emergence of Psychology, 1520–⁠1750: A Sophisticated Intruder to Philosophy. Springer International.

Klempe, S. H., & Smith (eds.), R. (2016). Centrality of History for Theory Construction in Psychology (1st ed.). Springer International Publishing.

Henley, T. B., & Thorne, B. M. (2005). The Lost Millennium: Psychology During the Middle Ages. The Psychological Record, 55(1), 103–113. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03395500

Luccio, R. (2013). Psychologia: The birth of a new scientific context. Review of Psychology, 20(1–2), 5–14.

Pickren, W.E. & Rutherford, A. (2010). A history of modern psychology in context. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Schultz, D. P., & Schultz, S. E. (2011). A History of Modern Psychology (10th ed.). Wadsworth Publishing, Wadsworth, CA, USA.

Valsiner, J. & Brinkmann, S. (2016). Beyond the “Variables”: Developing Metalanguage for Psychology. In S. H. Klempe & R. Smith (ed.), Centrality of History for Theory Construction in Psychology. Springer International Publishing.

Vidal, F. (2011). The sciences of the soul: the early modern origins of psychology. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA.