| Abstract: | Discusses whether American psychology has flourished in substance as it has in popularity during its century of existence. If one uses William James's Talks to Teachers as a reference point, one finds that contemporary psychology can be more specific about the boundary conditions within which traditional principles of learning are valid. The increasing dominance of cognitive behaviorism in the study of learning and memory is paralleled by cognitive emphases in other areas of psychology, so that the various subspecialties of psychology are once again approaching psychology with concepts that offer hope not only of communication and integration of psychology, but also of understanding the whole person as a cognitive, conative, affective, biological, and social individual. In essence, psychologists now are coming to share a view of human nature that, as compared with earlier stimulus-response views, is more compatible with that of Jefferson and the founders of our republic. (11/2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
