Psychology 220:

The History of Psychology

Dr. Dean Keith Simonton, Distinguished Professor of Psychology

Course Goals: We will examine the history of psychology from two perspectives, namely, theory and application.  The core question from the theoretical perspective is the extent to which the key figures and events in the history of the field can be explicated in terms of empirical findings in the metasciences, with special emphasis on the psychology of science.  The central issue from the applied perspective is the degree that the history of psychology can provide guidance for (a) evaluating the scientific status of contemporary psychology and (b) helping researchers make high-impact contributions to some subdiscipline of psychological science.
 

Prerequisite: Graduate standing or consent of instructor.
 

The Details

Grading

Textbooks

Topics
 

GRADING
 

 Your grade will be based on the following:

I. Overall class participation (10%)

II. Three brief class presentations with discussion:

A. On a high-impact article or book in psychology based on a chapter chosen from The Anatomy of Impact (20%)
B. On a influential psychologist in the field based on a chapter chosen from Psychologists Defying the Crowd (20%)
C. On the subject of your term paper, providing an abstract of that analysis (20%)
III. Term paper in which a major figure in psychological science is analyzed in terms of the profile of the typical great psychologist (30%)
 

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TEXTBOOKS
 

 Primary text:
Dean Keith Simonton. Great Psychologists and Their Times: Scientific Insights into Psychology’s History (APA Books, 2002).
Secondary texts:
Robert J. Sternberg (Ed.). Psychologists defying the crowd: Stories of those who battled the establishment and won (APA Books, 2002).
Robert J. Sternberg (Ed.). The anatomy of impact: What has made the great works of psychology great (APA Books, 2003).


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    TOPICS
     

The topics covered will follow closely the organization of the primary text, namely:
 

I. The Scientific History of Psychology

A. Eminence in Psychology
B. History and Science
II. Lifetime Output of Psychologists and Their Impact on the Field
A. Individual Differences in Productivity and Eminence
B. Longitudinal Changes in Creativity
C. The Creative Product in Psychology
III. Personal Characteristics that Contribute to Greatness as a Psychologist
A. Cognition
B. Disposition
C. Worldview
IV. Life-Span Development of Great Psychologists
A. Family Background
B. Career Training
C. Maturity and Aging
D. Nature versus Nurture
V. Sociocultural Context of Psychological Science
A. Internal Milieu
B. External Milieu
C. Genius versus Zeitgeist
VI. Implications for the Field of Psychology
A. Research
B. Teaching
For a more complete synopsis of the above, go here.
 

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E-mail: dksimonton@ucdavis.edu

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Last Revised: May 19, 2004