Books in the Path in Psychology series

In considering an alternative history of psychology in autobiography, the editor invited contributors whose research and writings have pushed the discipline in other directions, pushed its limits, and whose scholarship finds its philosophical framework outside the discipline altogether.

This book focuses on what other volumes have only touched on, that is the factors that contribute to the rise of certain persons and ideas in the field of psychology.

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, ethnonationalism has left its indelible mark on Europe and every other continent.

Toward the Psychology of Malefaction This is a book about human wickedness. This view is often expressed in a paradigm that regards human conduct as the "dependent variable," while anything that impinges on the human being is considered the "independent variable."

Although many books are written about bereavement, very few are written about the fear of one's own death and most of these focus chiefly on terminal illness.

THE FORMATIVE TENDENCY I have often pointed out that in my work with individuals in therapy, and in my experience in encounter groups, I have been led to the con viction that human nature is essentially constructive.

This book seeks to deepen our understanding of the cultural aspects of human psychology. These are aspects of psychology that originate in, are formed by, reflect, perpetuate, and modify social processes and factors outside the individual mind. My motivation in pursuing cultural psychol­ ogy is both scientific and political. I believe that construing psychology as a cultural phenomenon is the scientifically correct way to understand psychology; a cultural analysis of psychology can also provide crucial insights for political action to improve human life. The scientific and political aspects of cultural psychology are inter­ dependent and reciprocally reinforcing. The scientific identification and explanation of cultural aspects of psychology can identify societal changes that will enhance human psychology-to help people become more intel­ ligent, far-sighted, logical, harmonious, helpful, moral, and secure, and less stressful, disturbed, prejudiced, competitive, aggressive, lonely, insecure, depressed, mystified, and irrational. Conversely, the political orientation of cultural psychology to enhance psychological functioning through comprehending and improving the social fabric advances the scientific understanding of psychology as a cultural phenomenon. Social goals direct cultural psychology to devise special theories and methods that investigate cultural origins, formation, characteristics, and functions of psychology. Traditional theories and methods are not necessarily appli­ cable because they are informed by a vision of psychology as individual, biological, or universal. The scientific study of cultural psychology is a check on political analyses.

In this new millenium it may be fair to ask, "Why look at Wundt?" Over the years, many authors have taken fairly detailed looks at the work and accomplishments of Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920).

Qualitative methodologies in cultural psychology often lack the objective and verifiable character of quantitative analysis. Ratner argues that "complex psychological phenomena are expressed through extended responses" and hence are best studied by new, more regularized qualitative methods that go beyond measuring simple, overt responses.

In considering an alternative history of psychology in autobiography, the editor invited contributors whose research and writings have pushed the discipline in other directions, pushed its limits, and whose scholarship finds its philosophical framework outside the discipline altogether.

Although many books are written about bereavement, very few are written about the fear of one's own death and most of these focus chiefly on terminal illness.

Much to the chagrin of the develop mental psychologist, the term development still connotes-to the world at large as well as the general community of publishers, librarians, and computer archivists-the modernization of nation states.

Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, ethnonationalism has left its indelible mark on Europe and every other continent.

This book focuses on what other volumes have only touched on, that is the factors that contribute to the rise of certain persons and ideas in the field of psychology.

In this new millenium it may be fair to ask, "Why look at Wundt?" Over the years, many authors have taken fairly detailed looks at the work and accomplishments of Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920).

Qualitative methodologies in cultural psychology often lack the objective and verifiable character of quantitative analysis. Ratner argues that "complex psychological phenomena are expressed through extended responses" and hence are best studied by new, more regularized qualitative methods that go beyond measuring simple, overt responses.

In this book, a number of these pioneers in the field of psychology of religion account for their development in this area, depicting the diverse contexts of their work, the difficulties they had to deal with, and the increasing contemporary possibilities.

Freud on Interpretation offers new insight into Freud's famous "discovery" of the unconscious and the subsequent development of psychoanalytic theories. The authors explore the original context in which these ideas arose and the central debate about the mind as matter, or something that transcends matter.

Smith and his colleagues at Lund University are part of a small insurgency in psychology that has worked gamely and in relative obscurity to document the presence of subjective phases in the process leading to a perceptual object and the infrastructure of this process in the person ality.

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Provides qualitative methods such as interview techniques and content analysis as empirical tools for exploring the cultural aspects of psychology, and specific guidelines for formulating, conducting, and analyzing interviews on cultural aspects of psychology.

Inspired by Howard Gruber's Evolving Systems Approach, these studies explore creativity in several domains.

Toward the Psychology of Malefaction This is a book about human wickedness. This view is often expressed in a paradigm that regards human conduct as the "dependent variable," while anything that impinges on the human being is considered the "independent variable."

Smith and his colleagues at Lund University are part of a small insurgency in psychology that has worked gamely and in relative obscurity to document the presence of subjective phases in the process leading to a perceptual object and the infrastructure of this process in the person ality.