The Philosophy of Psychology
- William O'Donohue - University of Nevada, Reno, USA
- Richard F Kitchener - Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA
With the cognitive revolution of the 1960s, there has been a resurgence of interest in the study of the philosophical assumptions and implications of psychology. Several significant themes, such as the foundations of knowledge, behaviourism, rationality, emotion and cognitive science span both philosophy and psychology, and are covered here along with a wide range of issues in the fields of folk psychology, clinical psychology, neurophysiology and professional ethics.
Useful text for students wishing to explore this area in more depth.
This is a book that will inform extension activities in the delivery of seminar and discussion/further reading aspects of an arts based course.
By developing awareness, through quotations and small sections of analysis on key perspectives, the book sheds light on the possibilities of new forms of interpretation of 'psychological experience' often the content for many of the student's projects. To aid students in seeing this experience from radically different perspectives is a valuable aim and application of this book, especially in preparation for Level 6 independent research. However, the language level (readability and comprehension) may be challenging to the majority of students and in this case provides extension activity for those either more mature or advanced students to do further reading.