Customer Reviews

A Brief History of Psychology

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I was assigned this book for a graduate class on the history of psychology I took a few years ago at the University of Southern California. I've moved on to my next degree in clinical psychology and have read many more lengthy books since then. Whertheimer's book presented itself once again to me when my father recently asked if I could recommend one book to define what psychology is all about.

The discipline of psychology receives many false reprehensive parading from the outlook of pop-culture, which have misled the lay person. Despite differing views, the history of any subject provides a solid, undisputable source to comprehend it. That is why among all the other books I've read on psychology this one stands out as being the most definitive. Even among other books concerning the history of psychology, this one summarizes the complex philosophical, theoretical, experimental, political, and biographical constituents of the enterprise so concisely that it can be read in one sitting. You can't ask for a much better little book to accomplish such an overbearing task. For its meager size this book offers immense knowledge.

My students enjoy hearing about the personal lives of people in psychology. It helps them to recall the theories. This was a well done book, but not what I had hoped. There was almost no personal information. One short paragraph about Jung? And I missed putting the person into his/her place in time. The anti-semitic, Victorian era for Freud and so on. (This information helps the student to see the theorist in a context). I also thought short shrift was given to Piaget. One sentence... Overall? A dissapointment.

Starts with "Preexperimental Psychology" and runs through Wundt, James, and the 20th century schools of psychology to end with cognitive and humanistic approaches.

I used this book to fill in gaps in my knowledge while studying for a Psychology GRE. I've used it since then to brush up when I teach introductory psychology. It's excellent for these purposes. A concise overview, just what the title advertises.