A concise and accessible survey of the significant figures, concepts, and schools of thought that have shaped modern psychology

A Brief History of Modern Psychology is a clear and engaging account of scientific psychology’s origins, evolution, and related professional practice. With a reader-friendly narrative style, author Ludy Benjamin provides the historical and disciplinary context needed to appreciate the richness and complexity of contemporary psychology. Concise chapters apply biographical and historical context to individual psychologists while exploring pre-scientific psychology, physiology and psychophysics, early schools of German and American psychology, applied psychology, behaviorism, psychoanalysis, cognitive psychology, and more.

Thoroughly revised and updated to reflect current scholarship in the field, the fourth edition of A Brief History of Modern Psychology contains new examinations of the connections between phrenology and modern neuroscience, the dangers and proliferation of bogus therapies, industrial psychology, eugenics, intelligence testing, sport psychology, and more. Expanded coverage includes Hermann von Helmholtz’s research on the speed of nerve conductance, Christine Ladd-Franklin’s theory of color vision, Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection and its widespread influence on psychology, Sigmund Freud’s impact in America, Charles Henry Turner’s pioneering work in comparative psychology, and Evelyn Hooker’s work that led to the removal of “homosexuality” as a mental disorder from the DSM.

Integrating knowledge of contemporary psychology with historical perspective, A Brief History of Modern Psychology:



Presents biographical information on Wilhelm Wundt, William James, G. Stanley Hall, E. B. Titchener, Mary Whiton Calkins, Sigmund Freud, Leta Hollingworth, B.F. Skinner, Frederic Bartlett, and many other eminent figures
Examines important events, organizations, and landmarks in the history of psychology, such as the growth of psychological laboratories around the world, the role of psychologists in World Wars I and II, Kurt Lewin’s social action research, the role of psychologists in the Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision and the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the development of the modern profession of psychology
Discusses conceptual, experimental, applied, and popular culture aspects of modern psychology, including the role of psychology in social change
Addresses significant twentieth-century and contemporary developments, including the emergence of clinical and cognitive psychology
Features an extensive reading list of primary sources, and online resources, and an Instructor’s Test Bank with identification, multiple-choice, matching, and essay questions

A streamlined, easy-to-use alternative to encyclopedic texts, and perfect for courses that encourage students to read the many primary sources available online, A Brief History of Modern Psychology, Fourth Edition, is a must-have for undergraduate and graduate students in history of psychology courses and an invaluable resource for general readers interested in understanding psychology’s past.