History of Psychological Thought

Catalog description

This course provides a survey of the history of Psychology with emphasis on the philosophical, scientific, sociopolitical, and cultural background of each psychological era/movement. The manifestation of the innate vs. environmentalist approaches throughout history will serve as the frame of reference to the analysis of theories and school of thought. Specific philosophical and scientific issues related to clinical practice will be discussed including the history of mind-body dualism. Principles of the Philosophy of Science as they apply to psychological thought, theory building, and psychometrics will be presented. The course will end with an overview of the systems that have most impacted the field of psychology during the last few decades including humanism, cognitive, systems theory, cybernetics, constructivism, etc.