This paper discusses the need for contextualization and reflection of psychological theorizing within its respective cultural and historical context. By acknowledging the anthropological assumptions which form a key part of every psychological theory and connect psychological thinking with broader cultural values, norms, ideals and meanings, psychologists can gain a deeper understanding of the limits of their own theories. It is argued that the prolonged debate within academic psychology concerning its status and methodology which became famous as "psychology's crisis" is an effect of the neglect of these implicit anthropological assumptions. Especially as cultural and cultural-historical psychologists, we should avoid the improper universalization of particular models of what defines a human being.
In 1965, at an institution that officially never existed, a Chair was established that only the secret service was supposed to know about. At the Juridical Academy in Potsdam near Berlin, "Operative Psychology" (OP) was taught for almost 25 years to over 13.300 trainees of the Secret Service (Stasi) in East Germany. An increasing number of academically trained psychologists taught concepts and techniques of OP, designed to systematize and support intelligence work:Starting out with only four members, the number of employees working at the institute for OP continually grew until it peaked at 10 in 1989. Besides holding lectures and seminars, members of the institute provided an extensive corpus of teaching material and training documents and supervised more than 200 diploma and doctoral theses (Richter, 2015).Their research focused on how to apply "silent" psychological techniques of persuasion and repression (e.g., how to urge citizens to cooperate and give private information to the secret service), how to interrogate dissidents without leaving physical marks, and how to "disintegrate" opposition groups and dissidents (Förster, 1996, p. 10). Although archival documents reveal a process of professionalization and academization of OP from the 1960s onward, the J Hist Behav Sci. 2018;54:43-61.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jhbs
It is argued that Frederic Bartlett's views on the social and cultural determinants of remembering and recognition provide a useful background for analyzing the transformations of psychological concepts and images when they are introduced into new academic collectives. An example of a "Bartlettian" view on the history of psychology is given by reconstructing and contextualizing the transformation of the "lens," a model of human perception that was invented by Fritz Heider in the 1920s and adopted by Egon Brunswik from the 1930s onwards. Heider's early work suggested a new perspective on the epistemological relation between subject, media, and object that was devised to create a new conceptual foundation for academic psychology. Brunswik, on the other hand, transformed Heider's "lens" into a clear-cut experimental framework that was based on the physicalist and operationalist demands of logical empiricism, the movement for the "unity of science," and, after his migration to Berkeley, neobehaviorism. This episode provides many similarities with Bartlett's theory of the social determinants of knowledge and the shaping power of collective presuppositions, norms, and ideals.
What epistemic use and function do images and graphs fulfill in scientific practice? Whilst this question is nowadays broadly discussed in the history of science, the history of psychology usually ignores the iconic material presented in textbooks, papers, and essays of the discipline’s past. Such a habit of logo-centrism in the popular history of psychology seems all the more surprising as contemporary psychology heavily relies on flow charts, statistic diagrams, tables, and other iconic elements. Following arguments of the science historian Ludwik Fleck, this paper aims to sharpen the awareness for the specific attributes and performative capacities of iconic media in the history of psychology. We start out discussing general aspects and specifics of graphical objects and their relation to scientific texts and then analyze some popular diagrams in the history of psychology accordingly. Altogether, we argue for an icon-informed history of science to gain a deeper understanding of the discipline’s past and present.
While numerous historiographical works have been written to shed light on Freud's early theoretical education in biology, physiology, and medicine and on the influence of that education on psychoanalysis, this paper approaches Freud's basic comprehension of science and methodology by focusing on his early research practice in physiology and neuranatomy. This practice, taking place in the specific context of Ernst Brücke's physiological laboratory in Vienna, was deeply concerned with problems of visuality and the revelation of hidden organic structures by use of proper preparation techniques and optical instruments. The paper explores the connection between such visualizing practices, shaped by a physiological context as they were, and Freud's later convictions of the scientific status of psychoanalysis and the function of its method as means to unveil the concealed structure of the "psychical apparatus".
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.