History of Psychology (History) Research Papers (original) (raw)

Dr. Simarro published in 1879 an article in the magazine El Liceo. Semanario Hispano-Americano entitled
“The vulgar opinion on madness”. In it he analyzes the origins of popular conceptions about madness,
identifying their mythical and literary roots. Simarro warns against the possibility that these popular
conceptions contaminate opinions in the courts of justice and proposes that physicians and jurists
collaborate with a double focus: physicians in courts should focus on the evaluation of the diseases
that are producing the symptoms of mental alienation, while it is up to judges to assess whether such
processes of mental alienation affect the legal responsibility of the accused. Simarro admits, however,
that the psychological experience of madness escapes both the field of law and medicine and expresses
his hope that the progress of psychology may someday shed light on this complex problem.

- by Javier Bandres
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- History of Psychology (History)

Resumo O texto procura traçar, em linhas gerais, os caminhos percorridos pela Psicologia no Brasil do século XIX ao XXI, articulando esses percursos com as condições concretas, econômicas, culturais, políticas, que o país vivia nos diferentes momentos. Procura-se apontar as mudanças no interior da disciplina em termos de perspectivas teóricas e na prática psicológica, salientando o processo de autonomização (de sua anterior inserção principalmente nos campos da Medicina e da Educação) e a regulamentação da profissão, bem como as mudanças no final do século XX e no começo do século XXI. Utiliza-se para isso de diferentes pesquisas e trabalhos já publicados pela autora. Palavras-chave: História da Psicologia; contexto; prática psicológica.

- by Ana Jacó-Vilela
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- History of Psychology (History)

Magyarországon először 1929 decemberében, a szegedi egyetem bölcsészkarán jött létre tartósan működő, az egyetemi rendszerbe formálisan beépülő, korszerű lélektani intézet. Ugyanezen az egyetemen, ennek az intézetnek az utódintézményében, a Szegedi Tudományegyetem bölcsészkarának Pszichológiai Tanszékén utolsóként indult pszichológus szak a nagy vidéki egyetemek sorában, 1997-ben. Mi okozta ezt a furcsa ellentmondást? Hogyan alakulhatott úgy, hogy Szeged „az elsőből az utolsó” lett? A szegedi intézet élén az 1930-as és 40-es években magyar mércével mérve két jelentős pszichológus követte egymást: Várkonyi Hildebrand Dezső, majd Bognár Cecil Pál. Alattuk az intézet jelentős, produktív intézet volt, emlékezete a II. világháborút követő években mégis erősen elhalványult. Miért nem nyerte el a Várkonyi intézet azt a helyet a történeti emlékezetben, amit megérdemelt? Fontos-e egyáltalán a múlt emlékezetének ébrentartása? Ha igen, miért? Írásomban ezekre a kérdésekre igyekszem választ találni, a szakirodalom feldolgozása mellett saját tapasztalataimra és válaszkeresésemre támaszkodva.

El propósito del presente artículo es criticar los fundamentos de la categorización geopolítica que sugiere la existencia de las tradiciones anglonorteamericana, centroeuropea y soviética en psicología. Se analizan las circunstancias históricas del surgimiento de las ciencias sociales, y se definen los conceptos de estado-nación y civilización, que legitiman la categorización mencionada. Estos conceptos son revisados a la luz de tres procesos históricos: el ocaso del eurocentrismo, el surgimiento de los Estados Unidos como potencia económica y militar, y la decolonización de los territorios del Tercer Mundo. Asimismo, se describen los efectos de dichos procesos históricos en la producción del conocimiento psicológico, y se delimita el rol de la globalización y del pensamiento poscolonial en la conformación de una nueva visión geopolítica de la psicología. Finalmente, se sugiere una prospectiva de la disciplina psicológica. Son consideradas tres líneas de desarrollo futuro de la psicología: el surgimiento de los discursos perféricos, la crisis de confianza en las organizaciones multinacionales, y la heteroglosia de las disciplinas sociales.

[AMAZON LINK BELOW TO BOOK ITSELF -- TOC and book intro in downloadable .pdf]
Once thought pure entertainment akin to magic acts, hypnosis is now a growing field being practiced by psychologists, psychiatrists, and medical doctors. Across all ages—from children to adults and the elderly—patients are finding professional, therapeutic hypnosis can help them recover from mental maladies ranging from addiction to depression and psychosis, and from physical illnesses from chronic pain to obesity and skin disorders. Studies show hypnosis can even speed healing from broken bones, burns, and surgery. These unprecedented volumes, including some of the best-known experts in the field hailing from Harvard, Stanford and other top universities, cover the newest research and practice in this intriguing arena. Edited by a psychologist at Harvard Medical School, this set explains developments in hypnosis, from its colorful if misguided inception with Anton Mesmer, across clinical techniques developed for health care in the 20th century, to emerging research showing new potential applications to aide mental and physical health. Chapters also highlight what psychologists, neurologists, physicians, and scientists have discovered about how personality, cognition, and brain functions affect, and are affected by, hypnosis. An appendix explains how to tell the difference between an entertainer or charlatan and a practitioner who is trained, credentialed, and practicing research-backed hypnosis. Universities with hypnotherapy programs and courses are also included.

Pre-modern, modern, and postmodern frames of reference have all helped shape important contemporary psychological theories and issues. In this reflection paper, I attempt to walk through and revisit areas covered in a psychology course,... more

- by Aron Blesch
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- History, Sociology, Psychology, Clinical Psychology

The religious, theological and philosophical discourse in Late Antiquity concerning the human soul, the Greek psuchē, reveals a sophisticated and complex psychological language that was aimed at conceptualizing and articulating the act of conversion. The analysis of Gnostic, Orthodox Christian, and Neoplatonic writings in relation to the psuchē shows the cardinal role that this term played in formulating individual processes of mental transformation. Attributing active agency, mutability and relational aspect to the individual psuchē turned it into a unique conceptual device, necessary to define anew the human condition.

1929-ben alakult meg a szegedi egyetem bölcsészkarán a Neveléslélektani Intézet Várkonyi Hildebrand Dezső vezetésével. Ez az intézet tekinthető az első tartósan működő, az egyetemi rendszerbe formálisan beépülő, korszerű lélektani képző- és kutatóintézetnek Magyarországon. A Várkonyi intézet megalakulásának 90. évfordulója alkalmával, 2019. november 14-én pszichológiatörténti konferenciát rendeztünk a Szegedi Tudományegyetemen. A konferencián kötetünk szerzői beszéltek a magyarországi pszichológia vidéki fejlődéséről a kezdetektől egészen a rendszerváltozást követő időszakig terjedően. A jelen bevezető tanulmány a kötethez nyújt átfogó történeti keretet, felvázolva a magyar pszichológi útját a vidéki egyetemeken a kezdetektől a rendszerváltást követő évekig.

Eric Wittkower founded McGill University’s transcultural psychiatry unit in 1955. One year later, he started the first international newsletter in this academic field, which became (and remains) the main journal today: Transcultural Psychiatry. However, at the beginning of his career Wittkower gave no signs that he would be interested in social sciences and psychiatry; he originally trained as a specialist in internal medicine in Berlin. This paper describes the historical context of the post-war period, when Wittkower founded a research unit at McGill University with an American anthropologist, Jacob Fried. Using archival material from McGill, I focus on the history of scientific networks and the circulation of knowledge, particularly on the exchanges between the French- and English-speaking academic cultures in North America and Europe. Because the history of transcultural psychiatry is a transnational history par excellence, but also a literature of exile, this leads necessarily to the important question of the reception of this academic field abroad.

- by Emmanuel Delille
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- History, Cultural History, Cultural Studies, Psychology

We are beginning today a series of talks on dynamic psychiatry, its origin, developments and achievements. As you no doubt know, dynamic psychiatry is a relatively new psychiatric movement, originating at about the end of the 19th century. It meant a complete revolution in our ways of understanding mental conditions and of treating patients. Before we enter into this vast subject, we must briefly consider three problems: 1. What is dynamic psychiatry? 2. What is its place among other psychiatric trends? 3. Why do we think it necessary to discuss its historical development?

- by Emmanuel Delille and +1
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- American History, Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Psychoanalysis

The effort to locate the origin and follow the historical development of mental tests comes as no surprise, given the success the technique enjoyed throughout the 20th century. It is a controversial, yet also essential, professional tool that characterizes the work of the psychologist in contemporary society. Why write more on this subject? In this introductory article, Mülberger will argue that although we have a great number of publications at our disposal, new contributions are needed to reinterpret this crucial episode in the history of psychology from different angles. Although unable to cover the huge number of publications, she will first comment briefly on some contributions that marked historical research in the second half of the 20th century. In doing so, she will focus on works that aim to explain the origin and historical development of mental testing. Mülberger will thereby leave aside the debate regarding the reliability of some empirical data gathered by certain psychologists and the social consequences of intelligence testing. She will then move on to evaluate the status quo by considering Carson’s (2007) ambitious research and the historiographical idea guiding this monographic issue.

- by Annette Mülberger
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- Psychometry, Psychometrics, Historiography, History of Psychology (History)

During the Spanish Civil War, Antonio Vallejo Ngera, Chief Psychiatrist of FrancoÕs army, directed a psychological
research team to study the personality of concentration camp prisoners. Vallejo reported that the prisoners were
characterised by a high rate of degenerative temperament, mediocre intelligence and innately revolutionary social
personalities. He considered such personality traits to be typical of followers of anti-fascist and leftist ideologies.
Vallejo stated that these traits were enhanced in female prisoners due to the psychological inferiority of their sex.
He concluded that the probability of obtaining a change in the political attitude of such individuals was very low.

- by Javier Bandres
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- History of Psychology (History)

Luis Simarro gave a lecture entitled “The Scholars’ Salary” in the premises of the Ateneo Mercantil de
Madrid in 1879. The text was published on two occasions (1879 and 1881). In this work Simarro outlined
his vision of the best alternatives to get an effective institutionalization of the work of intellectuals. From
his point of view, neither State institutions nor private sponsorship can offer the researcher working
conditions that do not compromise his or her independence. The only viable alternative in the long run,
according to Simarro, is to do a comprehensive job of communication in civil society, that generates
a social awareness of the importance of scientific work. At that point, there will be social initiatives,
such as the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, which will provide appropriate working conditions to the
intellectual. The text is best explained by the biographical circumstances of Simarro, after his experiences
at the Casa de Dementes de Leganés and the Hospital de la Princesa.

- by Javier Bandres
- •
- History of Psychology (History)

C. S. Peirce is often credited as a forerunner of the verificationist theory of meaning. In his early pragmatist papers, Peirce did say that if we want to make our ideas clear(er), then we should look downstream to their actual and future effects. For many who work in philosophy of mind, this is enough to endorse functionalism and dismiss the whole topic of qualia. It complexifies matters, however, to consider that the term qualia was introduced by the founder of pragmatism himself. Peirce was adamant that only triadic relations can support language and cognition. Even so, he insisted on purely logical grounds that, when we analyze triadic signs all the way, we are left with a qualitative residue he called Firstness. Such an isolated relatum could never be studied experimentally. Yet, given that this primitive state can be confirmed by means of a formal or prescissive distinction, I believe the Peircean account can do justice to many of the intuitions that generate the so-called hard problem of consciousness. My goal, then, is to show that Peirce's semiotic commitment to qualia is compatible with his foundational statements about pragmatism.

- by Marc Champagne
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- Semiotics, Buddhism, History, Intellectual History

[AMAZON LINK BELOW TO BOOK ITSELF -- TOC and book intro in downloadable .pdf] Encyclopedia of Sleep and Dreams: The Evolution, Function, Nature, and Mysteries of Slumber explores the evolution, nature, and functions of sleep and dreams. The encyclopedia is divided into two volumes and is arranged alphabetically by entry. Topics include nightmares and their treatment, how sleep and dreams change across the lifetime, and the new field of evolution of sleep and dream. While this book includes ample material on the science of sleep and dreams, content is drawn from a broad range of disciplinary contexts, including history and anthropology.

- by Deirdre Barrett
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- Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Applied Psychology, Biological Psychology

The new scientific Psychology of Wundt arrived in Spain in the decade of 1871-1881 from the hand of a
group of Spanish intellectuals led by José del Perojo y Figueras. The group was composed of del Perojo,
Enrique José Varona, Rafael Montoro (all of them from Cuba) and Manuel de la Revilla. They tried to
promote a renewal of Spanish Philosophy and Science on the basis of the thought of the neo-Kantian
school of Heidelberg and the Physiological Psychology of Wundt. For the dissemination of their ideas,
they had two prestigious media: the Revista Contemporánea, in Madrid and the Revista de Cuba, in Havana.
The Spanish neo-Catholic sector received the project with crude hostility, and the Krausopositivist
intelligentsia did so with suspicion and prevention, aware of the difficulty of integrating the Wundtian
project into Krausist-inspired psychology.

- by Javier Bandres
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- History of Psychology (History)

""Solinas’ Studie untersucht den Einfluss von Platons Anschauungen von Traum, Wunsch und Wahn auf den jungen Freud. Anhand der Untersuchung einiger zeitgenössischer kulturwissenschaftlicher Arbeiten, die bereits in die ersten Ausgabe der Traumdeutung Eingang fanden, wird Freuds nachhaltige Vertrautheit mit den platonischen Lehren erläutert und seine damit einhergehende direkte Textkenntnis der thematisch relevanten Stellen aus Platons Staat aufgezeigt.
Die strukturelle Analogie von Freud’schem und platonischem Seelenbegriff wird inhaltlich am Traum als »Königsweg zum Unbewussten«, in dem von Freud selbst angesprochenen Verhältnis von Eros und Libido sowie an den ethischen und moralischen Dimensionen von Traum und Wahn erkennbar.""

- by Marco Solinas
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- Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Social Psychology, Emotion

Emilio Mira y Lopez (1896–1964) was among the most influential Spanish Psychiatrists and Psychologists
of the 20th century. In this paper the references to his work, as they appeared at La Vanguardia
between 1913 and his exile in 1939, are discussed. Data show that Mira was a significant presence in La
Vanguardia since 1927, when he was named Head of the Instituto de Orientación Profesional. They also
show how Psychotecnics, main source of references about Mira between 1927 and 1931, gave way to
Psychopedagogy as main theme between 1931 and 1936. Finally, we discuss Mira’s republican political
conviction, as it is shown in La Vanguardia during the Spanish Civil War.

- by Javier Bandres
- •
- History of Psychology (History)

In his book, Consciousness and the Philosophy of Signs, Marc Champagne argues that current philosophical puzzlement about the qualitative dimension of consciousness stems, historically and logically, from a failure to properly handle the fine-grained distinctions found in the semiotic theory of the American polymath, Charles Sanders Peirce. The aim of this symposium is to reflect on what that might mean for the other body of ideas Peirce is known for, pragmatism.

- by Marc Champagne and +3
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- Semiotics, History, American History, Intellectual History

After World War I, members of the teaching profession in Spain were interested in appropriating psychological measurement and bringing it within the expertise of their occupational field, with the intention of up-grading their profession. As professionals devoted to the child, educators attempted to explore the infantile psyche using intelligence tests, with the intention of making scientific contributions to the field of psychology.
In the present paper we take as a key event one particular application enacted by a Catalan teacher, and insert that case study into the complex local scientific and educational context. It was a context in which the professional interests of teachers competed with those of school physicians, psychologists and pedologists, at a time when important changes in pedagogical methods and school systems were under way. In the hand of teachers, intelligence testing was mainly seen as a malleable method on which to base daily educational practice on a more individualized and scientific basis. The historical analysis of the case turned out to be instrumental in the identification of common features and particularities due to specific local needs. In a society where public schooling competed with private schools, the results of mental testing were used to demonstrate publicly the excellent intellectual level of children attending a public graded primary school in Barcelona.

- by Andrea Graus and +2
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- Psychometry, History of Education, Psychometrics, History of Psychology (History)
- by Emmanuel Delille
- •
- History, Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Psychoanalysis

Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk’s famous visual cliff experiment is one of psychology’s classic studies, included in most introductory textbooks. Yet the famous version which centers on babies is actually a simplification, the result of disciplinary myth-making. In fact the visual cliff’s first subjects were rats, and a wide range of animals were tested on the cliff including chicks, turtles, lambs, kid goats, pigs, kittens, dogs, and monkeys. The visual cliff experiment was more accurately a series of experiments, employing varying methods and a changing apparatus, modified to test different species. This paper focuses on the initial, non-human subjects of the visual cliff, re-situating the study in its original experimental logic, connecting it to the history of comparative psychology, Gibson’s interest in comparative psychology, as well as gender-based discrimination. Recovering the visual cliff’s forgotten menagerie helps to counter the romanticization of experimentation by focusing on the role of extra-scientific factors, chance, complexity, and uncertainty in the experimental process.

Dream interpretation during early psychoanalysis elicited associations from the patient but also involved authoritarian interpretations focused on whatever the analyst believed to be the key human drives—sex, power, transcendence, etc. Modern dream interpretation relies on non-leading questions to help the dreamer through an associative process to discover their own meaning for the dream. Research finds that patients rate therapy sessions utilizing dreams more highly in terms of session quality, mastery, and insight gained.

- by Deirdre Barrett
- •
- Neuroscience, Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Applied Psychology
- by Andrea Jones
- •
- Medieval Literature, Medieval History, History of Medicine, Medieval Studies

Four short texts by Dr. Simarro, first Professor of Experimental Psychology in Spain, not previously
discussed in the historiographic literature, are presented. The first is a satire on the intellectual
atmosphere of the Ateneo de Madrid, published in 1880 in the newspaper El Imparcial. The second an
article about Daltonism, written during his stay in Paris and published in 1880 in the same journal.
The third a note prepared in 1913 with his disciple José María Villaverde on a new procedure of
neurohistological preparation. The fourth and last is the prologue to a brief satanic-erotic novel by
Antonio de Hoyos y Vinent, published in 1917.

- by Javier Bandres
- •
- History of Psychology (History)
- by Emmanuel Delille
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- History, Cultural History, Cultural Studies, History of Medicine

Daston & Galison’s recent book on the history of scientific objectivity showed that, over the course of the 19th century, natural scientists of many stripes became intensely concerned with the issue of the distorting influence that their own subjectivities might be having upon their observations and representations of nature. At very nearly the same time, experimental psychology arose specifically to investigate scientifically the nature and structure of subjective consciousness. Although Daston and Galison briefly discussed some basic psychological issues – especially the discovery of differences in human color perception – they did not strongly connect the widespread European concern with scientific objectivity to the rise of experimental psychology. This paper critically examines the theoretical and empirical activities of the experimental psychologist who most energetically strove to discover the structure of subjective conscious experience, Edward Bradford Titchener. Titchener’s efforts to produce an objective study of subjectivity reveal important tensions in early experimental psychology, and also serve to situate experimental psychology at the center of an important intellectual struggle that was being waged across the natural sciences in the decades surrounding the turn of the 20th century.

Gonzalo Rodríguez Lafora gave a Lecture in 1927 entitled “Miracle cures in modern religions” in which
he questioned the possibility of proving if miracles could be real. His lecture was harshly criticized by
the Church. The most academically sound response from the Catholic side came from Francisco Sureda,
Luis Urbano and the “Alejandro de Arcaya” group. We describe Lafora’s arguments and the answers
from his critics. The discussion is described in the context of the contrast, not between science versus
theology, but between the skeptical rational mind versus the mind open to transcendence.

- by Javier Bandres
- •
- History of Psychology (History)

Poster, 51st annual meeting of Cheiron

- by Emmanuel Delille
- •
- Cultural History, Psychology, Parapsychology, French Literature
- by Emmanuel Delille
- •
- Psychology, Parapsychology, French Literature, History of Medicine
- by Elisabetta Basso
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- Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, Epistemology, History of Psychiatry