I will be teaching a lecture on the History of Psychology this semester so I’ve been reading up on the topic. One book I found really interesting and yet concise was Ludy Benjamin’s “A brief history of modern psychology.”

One aspect about the history of our field that is nicely captured in the book concerns the tension between the purists, that would like to see psychology tackle scientific questions without regard for application, and the transformers, that see psychology as an instrument for changing the world (mostly for the better!). It was quite interesting to see that this discussion has raged since the beginning of the field and in many ways, from discussions in the published literature, to the ebb and flow of major professional organisations, such as the American Psychological Association (APA). For example, it took over 50 years since the formation of APA (in 1892) to change the charter from “The American Psychological Association shall exist to advance psychology as a science” to (in 1945) “The American Psychological Association shall exist to advance psychology as a science, as a profession, and as a means of promoting human welfare” (emphasis added). However, this emphasis on applied work has partly been responsible for splits from APA and formation of new societies such as the Psychonomic Society (1959) and the Association for Psychological Science (1988). Let’s see what the next 50 years bring…