Constructing the Subject: Historical Origins of Psychological ResearchConstructing the Subject traces the history of psychological research methodology from the nineteenth century to the emergence of currently favored styles of research in the second quarter of the twentieth century. Kurt Danziger considers methodology to be a kind of social practice rather than simply a matter of technique. Therefore his historical analysis is primarily concerned with such topics as the development of the social structure of the research relationship between experimenters and their subjects, as well as the role of the methodology in the relationship of investigators to each other in a wider social context. The book begins with a historical discussion of introspection as a research practice and proceeds to an analysis of diverging styles of psychological investigation. There is an extensive exploration of the role of quantification and statistics in the historical development of psychological research. The influence of the social context on research practice is illustrated by a comparison of American and German developments, especially in the field of personality research. In this analysis, psychology is treated less as a body of facts or theories than a particular set of social activities intended to produce something that counts as psychological knowledge under certain historical conditions. This perspective means that the historical analysis has important consequences for a critical understanding of psychological methodology in general. |
Contents
Historical roots of the psychological laboratory | 17 |
The repudiation | 34 |
The social structure of psychological experimentation | 49 |
The triumph of the aggregate | 68 |
Investigative practice as a professional project | 118 |
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Constructing the Subject: Historical Origins of Psychological Research Kurt Danziger No preview available - 1990 |
Common terms and phrases
academic Alfred Binet American Journal American psychology analysis Applied Psychology attributed basis behavior causality century chapter chological Clark University constituted construction Danziger defined depended discipline E. G. Boring E. L. Thorndike Educational Psychology established experimental psychology experimental situation experimental subjects experimenter and subject Francis Galton function fundamental Galton Galtonian German goals Graphology group data History of Psychology identity institutional interaction interest introspection investigative practice investigative situation involved Journal of Educational Journal of Psychology kind of knowledge knowledge claims knowledge product laboratory Leipzig measurement mental testing method methodological modern psychology nature object of investigation observations participants particular perimental period personality philosophy phrenology physiology problems psychological experimentation psychological experiments psychological investigation psychological knowledge psychological research psychophysical quantitative relationship relevant reports research practice role scientific psychology significance social practice social psychology specific statistical Titchener traditional University Press Wilhelm Wundt Wundt York