A History of Modern Experimental Psychology

Modern psychology began with the adoption of experimental methods at the
end of the nineteenth century: Wilhelm Wundt established the first formal laboratory
in 1879; universities created independent chairs in psychology shortly thereafter;
and William James published the landmark work Principles of Psychology in 1890. In A
History of Modern Experimental Psychology, George Mandler traces the evolution of
modern experimental and theoretical psychology from these beginnings to the
"cognitive revolution" of the late twentieth century. Throughout, he emphasizes the
social and cultural context, showing how different theoretical developments reflect
the characteristics and values of the society in which they occurred. Thus, Gestalt
psychology can be seen to mirror the changes in visual and intellectual culture at
the turn of the century, behaviorism to embody the parochial and puritanical
concerns of early twentieth-century America, and contemporary cognitive psychology
as a product of the postwar revolution in information and communication.After
discussing the meaning and history of the concept of mind, Mandler treats the
history of the psychology of thought and memory from the late nineteenth century to
the end of the twentieth, exploring, among other topics, the discovery of the
unconscious, the destruction of psychology in Germany in the 1930s, and the
relocation of the field's "center of gravity" to the United States. He then examines
a more neglected part of the history of psychology--the emergence of a new and
robust cognitive psychology under the umbrella of cognitive science.