Title: Principles of psychology
First published: 1924
Description: Originally published in 1924, this book--as the title suggests--provides an overview of the principles of psychology. Written at a time when psychology was a "youthful" science and the debate over the field's status as a natural science (or even as a science at all) was relatively fresh, Principles of Psychology represents a stock-taking of sorts--a survey of the ends achieved and the newer trends of development in psychological research. The author's aim is to present and study psychological phenomena as actual, observable events consisting of the responses of psychological organisms on the one hand, and the stimulus objects or conditions which interact with them on the other. By dispensing with animatistic conceptions and intangible psychic phenomena that previously dominated the field, the author hopes to bolster psychology's position as a member of the family of natural sciences.^

According to the author, only by avoiding meticulously all powers or functions--whether considered as psychic or biological--which do not represent actual observable phenomena or interpretations derived from such observations, can psychology as a science be erected upon a firm foundation.^

It is to this end that the author presents 15 chapters on a wide range of topics that represent the core concepts and principles of psychology: The Domain, Method, and Development of Psychology; The Primary Data of Psychology; The Psychological Individual or Personality; The Psychological Organism or Personality in Action; The Simpler or Foundation Behavior Segments; The Nature of Basic Conduct and How it is Developed; The Development and Operation of Complex Human or Societal Conduct; Attention Behavior as the Actualization of Stimuli; The Nature of Sensing and Perceiving; Implicit Action as Responses to Absent Stimuli Objects; Association as a Fundamental Type of Psychological Activity; The Primary Internal Character of Feeling Reactions; Knowing as Determining and Orientating Conduct; The Nature of Volitional Conduct; and, finally, The Integrative Nature of Habit Reactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved).
Subjects: Psychology
LC classification: BF121 .K3