Review of The History of Psychology

Abstract

Reviews the book, The History of Psychology by W. B. Pillsbury (1929). The work begins quite traditionally with the early classical Greek psychology, unraveling the thread of psychology from the fabric of philosophy down through the later Greek and medieval periods until the time of Descartes, in whom the beginnings of the modern attitude are to be traced, however dimly. This long period occupies but two chapters. Chapters three to fourteen deal with the main trends and the more important figures in the German, French and English development of the subject. Chapter fourteen summarizes the development of psychology in America beginning with McCosh and ending with the group whose activity was at its height near the turn of the century. Then comes a chapter on abnormal psychology, followed by a treatment of the more important schools of our own day: structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, hormic psychology, the Gestalt school, and intuitionism. It would be difficult to give any relative evaluation to the various parts of the book. While the reviewer found the treatment of Fechner and Wundt especially interesting, perhaps because they were given more space than many others, other readers would be interested in different parts. Many will regret that the French group did not find a larger place in the treatment. The last part of the book, the treatment of modern schools, will be found especially valuable by most readers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)