Format:
Online-Ressource (xiv, 284 p.)
,
ill
,
20 cm
Content:
"The present work originated in lectures on physiological psychology that I have delivered at this university for several years. The doctrines herein presented deviate essentially from Wundt's theory, now dominant in Germany, and conform closely to the English psychology of association. Only Münsterberg in Germany has recently raised objections from the standpoint of physiological psychology to the doctrine of apperception, characteristic of the school of Wundt. By introducing an especial auxiliary function, the so-called apperception, for the explanation of certain psychical processes, Wundt evades, it is true, numerous difficulties in demonstration. Wherever a psychical process that is difficult to explain appears, it is ascribed to this apperception. At the same time, however, all psycho-physiological explanation is abandoned. This book is intended to show that such an "auxiliary function" is superfluous, and that all psychological phenomena can be explained without it. The work was originally designed for the psychiater, just as the study of morbid psychical phenomena gave the first impulse to the psychological studies of the author. But as the circle of hearers broadened, the character of the "Introduction" has changed. In its present form it is designed for the student of natural science, the same as for the physician. I have retained the extensive consideration of the psychical processes of the insane with good reason. Just as a caricature sets off a single trait of character more forcibly, so the mental disease reveals to us now this, now that feature of psychical life with especially instructive sharpness, and in a measure disentangled from the intrication of other psychical phenomena"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Note:
Includes index. - On cover: Introductory science text-books. - Electronic reproduction; Washington, D.C; American Psychological Association; 2011; Available via World Wide Web; Access limited by licensing agreement; s2011 dcunns
Language:
English
Author information:
Beyer, Otto W. 1844-1905
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