Customer Reviews

A History of Psychology: Main Currents in Psychological (6th Edition)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Leaheys book is by far my preference of the history of psych textbooks (I've also examined Brennan's and Kendler's books). I use the book for personal reading and to give a sense of history and develppment to other courses. His book is especially notable for considering a wide variety of psychological ideas, and its consideration of the interaction of cultures, societies, and psychology. the only reason I give it four stars is because it's not quite as exciting as a novel and I want to see certain sections expanded - (eg. the intellectual-cultural roots of founding psychologists in Germany and Vienna) - but the bibliographies are especially meaty for a textbook.

Thomas Leahey's History of Psychology has long been the preferred text for the graduate-level history of psychology course at the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science at the New School University in New York. The reasons are its intellectual depth and challenge (appropriate for graduate students) that exceeds other texts; its unsurpassed attentiveness to a wide range of historical scholarship; its emphasis on a strong externalist (contextual) analysis of the history of psychology (especially appropriate here at The New School); and its suitability for separating the serious scholars among the graduate students from those who are not that committed to the intellectual life. The course this book serves plays a strong role in determining which students will continue on in the Ph.D. program. As with any history book for this huge and diverse field scholars will be able to argue about an emphasis or interpretation or omission here and there. But there is no more intellectually spirited writing at the high-end of the currently in press history-of-psychology texts than is found in this book. Some students cave in under the challenge of the book. The truly bright, interested, and motivated students, however, really shine when they study it.

This is the only major textbook that really tries to cover the undercurrent of ideas that gave rise to modern Psychology. Other books may be easier (not that this book is difficult) to read or even to claim to be more profund, but this one is the only one that does not simplify the ideas to the point of caricature and does not plunge too deeply into side-issues.

Also, this book has no flesh and blood heroes -- no one author is presented as such. The real protagonists are ideas, concepts and world views. Read in this light, the book is every bit as fascinating as a "who done it".

While the analysis of pre-20th Century and European Psychology could be developed and expanded, I consider the explanation of the origin of behaviorism and cognitivism really revealing and masterful.

Leahey links them to a single world view (and I think he is more right than wrong) and stresses that both perspectives derive from the North-American view of Science and Mind (or lack of it). Cognitivism is a new version of behaviorism, and not a revolutionary new view of Psychology.

The book is very well written, and the few redundant parts are unavoidable in such a large book and in such a large field of study.

As a suggestion for future development I would like to propose: Ethology (mainly Uexkull and Lorenz), Piaget, Gestalt and the overall more of less Kant-inspired European visions of Mind and Behavior.

For anyone who is considering to teach the 'History of Psychology' course, I think this book is a must read; for any psychologist that wants to know why he uses his methodology and his ideas, this is even a more important book.

Five stars, a really good book. Hearty congratulations and a very sincere 'thank you' to T.H. Leahey.

This book provides lots of good material and tends to cite people and terms previously mentioned in the book. However, the material can be difficult to understand at times as the descriptions are not always at their best.

I thought that the basic characters in research psychology got a decent biography, but the history of psychoTHERAPY was given short shrift. A good reference.

There's a lot at the beginning about pre-psychology philosophy, including our friends Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and many of the Renaissance thinkers as well as Enlightenment philosophers.

Interesting, but I'm not sure that I fully absorbed much of the material.

the seller said the book is in an acceptable condition, but when I got the book, the condition is really bad!
I have to buy another one for my class!!!!

This book did not have a logical set up and was very difficult to read.