Using History to Teach Contemporary Psychology

Beins, Bernard C.

doi:10.1177/0098628311421338

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In fact, it seems to me that the History and Systems course could be the perfect vehicle for teaching this valuable and necessary “cultural sensitivity.” Indeed, the kind of pluralistic thinking that is encouraged when this course is done well—encapsulated in the broader epistemic sensitivity required to engage and understand ideas that are hard to see and understand from the present perspective—ought to generalize easily to other areas of the discipline (e.g., Ball et al, 2013; Beins, 2011; Yanchar & Slife, 2004). Another benefit is the much-reduced ethical burden in history, as most of the human subjects involved are already in the ground.…”

Section: Hurt and Remedymentioning

confidence: 99%

Neglect of the foreign invisible: Historiography and the navigation of conflicting sensibilities.

Burman

2015

History of Psychology

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This essay is intended first as a contribution to historiography, and only second as a contribution to the history of developmental psychology. It is therefore a discussion--primarily--of the doing of the history of psychology, rather than of its content. Briefly put: American psychology, including its associated approaches to the history of psychology, is not adequately equipped to benefit fully from the contributions of foreign scholars. To make the resulting argument clear, two archive-driven microhistories are reviewed, contrasted, augmented with new archival research, and synthesized: Yeh Hsueh's (2004) examination of the nomination process at Harvard University that led to the awarding of an honorary doctorate to Jean Piaget in 1936, and Marc Ratcliff and Paloma Borella's (2013) examination-just recently published in French-of a similar process that resulted in Piaget's hiring at Geneva in 1929 and his eventual promotion in 1940. Comparing the authors' different approaches to similar content then affords this article's larger argument: we need to broaden our sensibilities so we can see high-quality foreign contributions for what they are. Several interesting insights result if we do. Among them: although Piaget's theory is today mistakenly criticized for being asocial, and this serves as justification for countering his early works with Vygotsky's posthumous critique, it emerges from these archival studies that Piaget may have in fact chosen to present himself and his work as nonsociological (when this was not the case) for reasons unrelated to his intellectual project. Such examples then broaden the discussion of "neglect of the foreign invisible" to include suppression--even censorship (by self or other)--which in turn reflects the primary problem afforded by internationalization: by what standards are we to judge the contributions of "foreigners" into "our" discipline?

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Section: Hurt and Remedymentioning

confidence: 99%

Neglect of the foreign invisible: Historiography and the navigation of conflicting sensibilities.

Burman

2015

History of Psychology

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“…3 Given the foregoing considerations, it might be taught in a stand-alone historical and conceptual foundations course that meets the BCaBA requirements and ABAI standards. Indeed, students might better understand the field’s foundations if they—the foundations—are taught in the context of the field’s history (and vice versa; see Beins, 2011 ; Mauskopf & Schmaltz, 2012 ; R. Watson, 1966 ). It might be taught in stand-alone courses on the histories of the field’s discipline and subdisciplines and its practice (e.g., history of the experimental analysis of behavior).…”

Section: Structural Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Undergraduate Curriculamentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching a Course on the History of Behavior Analysis

Morris

2022

Perspect Behav Sci

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Teaching the history of behavior analysis can be approached in many ways. One is to embed history in courses on the field’s discipline and subdisciplines (e.g., its basic and applied sciences and their conceptual foundations) and practice. Another is to teach courses on the histories of the discipline and subdisciplines and practice. Still another is to teach a stand-alone course that includes these approaches and more (e.g., their integration, relations with other sciences, the influence of U.S. history and culture). The purpose of this article is to foster teaching the stand-alone course. It has four sections. The first addresses structural considerations: course titles, catalog descriptions, curricula, certification, and accreditation. The second addresses contextual considerations: purposes of teaching history; distinctions between history and historiography; and starting points in selecting textbooks. The third addresses functional considerations: course content organized by topics and their required and recommended readings. The fourth discusses how the course might be revised by eliminating topics (e.g., the Middle Ages), expanding topics and subtopics (e.g., the behaviorisms, philosophy of science) and adding topics and subtopics (e.g., institutional history; diversity, inclusion, and equity). Given the field’s continuing development as a science, system, and practice and the rapid growth in its number and variety of its members, its history is becoming its common core—and a means of teaching it. The course elucidates the field’s integrity; incorporates the entirety of its community of students, scientists, scholars, and practitioners; and advance its coherence as a cultural practice.

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“…Students often enter the course expecting a story of psychology's greatest achievements, from mythic origins to triumphant endings. Students expect traditional histories that are based entirely on schools or primarily on the contributions of the so-called "great White men" (Ball, 2012;Beins, 2011). Although these do reflect a certain standpoint, it has come to be recognized as a standpoint that is partial, privileged, and incomplete.…”

Section: Uncovering History Through Active Critical Inquirymentioning

confidence: 99%

Teaching critical, multivocal histories of psychology: Uncovering diversity.

Vaughn-Johnson

Rutherford

2019

Integrating Multiculturalism and Intersectionality Into the Psychology Curriculum: Strategies for Instructors.

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Yet, the purposeful inclusion of multiple voices and diverse origins has not become a staple in the standard classroom. History of psychology courses continue to vary only minimally from traditional Western male celebratory centered perspectives about the development of psychology, without acknowledging that these narratives are the products of particular viewpoints and privileged voices.We argue that the History of Psychology course can be an exciting opportunity for students to critically engage with the ways both history and psychology are constructed. Historians of psychology analyze how psychology has developed over time in particular contexts, including whose voices get heard, whose remain muted, and how these dynamics shape the construction of psychological knowledge (see Rutherford, 2014). This requires addressing gender, race and ethnicity, sociocultural and political contexts, and other factors that have affected the field's disciplinary practices, knowledge production, and social impact. A critical historical perspective requires, in part, asking, "Who made the knowledge, for what purpose, and to what ends?" (Rutherford & Pickren, 2015, p. 523). Injecting these kinds of questions and encouraging historical thinking as a method in the course can increase capacities for critical reflection on psychology as a whole. To facilitate this process, in this chapter we curate a selection of resources and provide guidance for their use, but we emphasize

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Using History to Teach Contemporary Psychology

Cited by 5 publications

References 29 publications

Neglect of the foreign invisible: Historiography and the navigation of conflicting sensibilities.

Neglect of the foreign invisible: Historiography and the navigation of conflicting sensibilities.

Teaching a Course on the History of Behavior Analysis

Teaching critical, multivocal histories of psychology: Uncovering diversity.

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