Developmental psychology.pdf

Epilogue 565
Figure E.2
Research in Modern Psychology.
The photo shows William James Hall,
a fifteen-story building for university
research and teaching in the
behavioral sciences named for the
founder of American psychology.
James began his studies in
psychology in a nearby basement.
Today William James Hall brings
together a wide range of
investigators in experimental
psychology and related areas, using
modern research methods and
facilities for diverse studies in the
behavioral sciences.
James's speculative side even prompted studies of psychic experience, mediums,
and spiritualism, topics which have not yet been accepted into the mainstream
of modern American psychology. His sister Alice once compared his far-reaching
thought to their house in New Hampshire. William's mind, she said, like their summer
residence, had dozens of doors—and they all opened outward (Perry, 1935).
James was influential not only in this expanding diversity but also in increased
professionalism in psychology. Significantly through the scope and force of his thought,
modern psychology developed places for itself in education, therapy, business, industry,
and government, and these have been followed by more recent developments in law,
engineering, communications, ecology, religion, and medicine.
The broad range of modern psychology, with its innumerable applications, became
most apparent at mid-century, when wartime demands required a greater understanding
of many complex psychological functions, and today this enterprise involves
specialized branches in almost every aspect of human society. As cultural changes occur,
still other specialties will appear. The field is becoming so diverse that one sometimes
wonders whether it will continue to function as a single entity.
The common aim of these activities is to gain a better understanding of human
behavior and experience and to provide knowledge that can be turned to the betterment
of the human condition. The most common approach is an application of the methods
of science and a reliance on these results (Figure E.2).
Progress in science, William James emphasized, is similar to life itself in a
most important way. Successive developments inevitably depend upon earlier ones.
"Science," he said, "like life, feeds on its own decay. New facts burst old rules; then
newly devised conceptions bind old and new together into a recoiling law."
It is the authors' wish that this volume has contributed to your understanding
of the scientific process in psychology. We hope most sincerely that you have been
encouraged to appreciate, if not to join, this intriguing enterprise of finding answers
to important questions of our times.