History and Systems Psychology

Catalog description

This course offers an historical survey of the evolution and systematic approaches to the discipline and practice of psychology that have arisen throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Theoretical and systematic viewpoints such as psychodynamic, Gestalt, behavioral, and cognitive psychology are examined in terms of their scientific antecedents, philosophical foundations, and sociocultural determinants. Advances in understanding the contributions of women and other previously underrepresented voices to psychology will be explored. This course seeks to understand from the disciplinary research traditions of both history and psychology the intellectual and social contexts within which the discipline of psychology has been constructed over the past century and a half.