Learn about some of the first textbooks that motivated and introduced students to the new discipline of psychology.

Textbooks are books that cover detailed information about a specific subject for people studying that subject. Willhelm Wundt and William James helped kickstart the field not only through their research and scientific publications, but also by writing some of the first textbooks that would help shape the ideas of a first generation of psychology students.

Textbooks as a Time Machine

Textbooks can be used as a time machine to obtain an overview of how a particular field was taught, including which (and how) central topics, theories, or empirical findings were portrayed to upcoming students of a discipline.

In this regard, it may be helpful to consider a couple of textbooks by two of the pioneers discussed earlier, Wilhelm Wundt and William James.

William James took 12 years to write his “Principles of Psychology” which is widely considered to be a central English-language text in the history of psychology. James published the work in 1890, and it was largely based on the psychology course he taught at Harvard and a number of papers he published in those years.

When James published his textbook, Wundt had already written a few foundational books on the topic of psychology, most prominently his “Principles of physiological psychology” (“Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie”) from 1873, which according to Edward Boring, an experimental psychologist and one of the first historians of psychology, was “the most important book in the history of modern psychology” because it represented Wundt’s “metamorphosis from physiologist to psychologist”. However, it was only in 1896 that Wundt wrote a more general psychology textbook, “Outlines of Psychology” (“Grundriss der Psychologie”). Wundt seems to have been motivated to write and publish this book after one of his students, Oswald Külpe, had written his own textbook in 1893. Külpe and Wundt disagreed on a number of central points, so Wundt felt the need to write a general piece that advanced his own views, including a stronger distinction between psychology and natural science by suggesting that psychology and psychological principles may not be reduced to biology, and exposing readers to a wider range of phenomena beyond sensation and perception, such as thought processes, and developmental or cultural phenomena.

Questions on the text

Take some time to read through James’ “Principles of Psychology” and Wundt’s “Outlines of Psychology”. Although you do not need to read the entire book, read through the introductory sections and then skim through the tables of contents, giving a diagonal read-through of any chapter that seems most interesting to you. (core reading)

After taking a look at James’ and Wundt’s textbooks, try to answer some of the following questions:

1. What are the main similarities (or differences) between James’ and Wundt’s textbooks?
2. What are the most important approaches or methods introduced?
3. Are there topics or questions you think are missing given your current knowledge or interests in psychology?

Textbooks, like the Delorean pictured above, can be used as time machines to help us learn about the early attempts to educate and persuade a new generation of psychology students.
(CC BY-SA 4.0; Justin Morton & Oto Godfrey)

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References

James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology. Henry Holt and Co. http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/James/Principles/index.htm

Wundt, W. M. (1897). Outlines of psychology (C. H. Judd, Trans.). W. Engelmann. (Original work published 1896) http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Wundt/Outlines/

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