This article reconstructs the central features of the phenomenological anthropology developed by the Swiss psychiatrist Ludwig Binswanger through a close reading of the first part of his 1942 treatise Grundformen und Erkenntnis menschlichen Daseins [Basic Forms and Knowledge of Human Dasein], a work that has received limited attention in the English-language historiography of phenomenological psychiatry. Situated at the intersection of clinical psychiatry, phenomenology, and existential philosophy, Binswanger's project is interpreted as a historically significant attempt to overcome both naturalistic reductionism and intrapsychic models of mental illness by foregrounding the fundamentally relational constitution of human existence. Central to this perspective is the notion of Wirheit ("We-ness"), which frames love and friendship not as mere affective states but as primary modes of being-with (Mitsein) that disclose subjectivity, spatiality, and temporality. The article first situates Binswanger's work within the intellectual context of phenomenological psychiatry. It then examines the spatial and temporal structures of the modus amoris (being-together in love), emphasizing their expansive and durational character. The analysis subsequently turns to the paradoxical phenomenon of being simultaneously within and beyond the world as a defining feature of the loving encounter, before addressing the modus amicitiae (being-together in friendship) and its historical, plural, and destinal dimensions. In doing so, the article contributes to the history of psychology and to the historiography of phenomenological psychiatry while also highlighting the continuing relevance of Binswanger's thought for contemporary debates on intersubjectivity, relationality, and psychopathology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
The 1910s were a complex and rapidly changing decade in mental hygiene, marked by institutional innovation, professional development, and the expanding reconceptualization of mental disease and maladjustment. This growth frequently generated friction between practical clinical sciences, particularly psychiatry and consulting clinical psychology. After years of mounting tension, the National Research Council convened a joint conference in 1921 on the "Relations of Psychiatry to Psychology," bringing together 12 representatives to debate and draft resolutions intended to harmonize collaboration. Despite being the first coordinated effort of its kind in the United States, the meeting has been largely overlooked by historians. Yet the conference, especially its unpublished 43-page stenographic transcript and related correspondence, offers a rare window into the conflicts of the 1920s, capturing the tone, immediacy, and strategic maneuvering that more polished publications sideline or obscure. Drawing on these proceedings alongside contemporary publications and archival materials, this article reconstructs the meeting, its background, and its immediate repercussions. I argue that the conference revolved around four intertwined points of contention: (a) the definition and scope of core concepts such as "disease," "diagnosis," and "medical"; (b) psychologists' freedom to conduct clinical research without psychiatric supervision; (c) the hierarchical relationship and division of labor between the professions; and (d) the organization, administration, and authority of psychological clinics. Ultimately, the 1921 meeting saw psychologists pressing for clearer definitions, research autonomy, and practical authority, whereas psychiatrists defended broad conceptual frameworks and professional precedence that confined psychologists to experimental work and narrowly defined psychometric consultation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Drawing on the extensive correspondence between Pei-sung Tang and B. F. Skinner, this article traces their friendship and the main trajectory of Skinner's unfinished lecture visit to China. Building on these materials, it briefly examines the potential significance of the visit for Skinner himself and for the development of psychology in China. Finally, the article highlights the importance of harnessing public interest in psychology to advance the discipline. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
This article explores Jung's engagement with Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, and Kant, focusing on how Jung reimagined their ideas within his own epistemological framework in psychological types. Central themes include Nietzsche's introduction of the "irrational" into Western thought and its influence on Jung's concept of "individuation"; Schopenhauer's principle of sufficient reason and its relation to Jung's psychological functions; Kant's epistemology, which Jung modernized to form his typology, addressing the problem of subjectivity in psychology and science. The article argues that Jung synthesized these ideas, proposing a philosophy of psychology that acknowledges the limitations of the intellect and achievement of the self. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
The aim of this article is to reconstruct and contextualize the original conception of the subconscious by Polish psychologist, philosopher, and social theorist Edward Abramowski (1868-1918), presenting him as a significant yet understudied figure in the early history of European psychology. In the first part, Abramowski's project is situated within the broader intellectual landscape of 19th- and early 20th-century debates on hidden mental life, including philosophical theories of the unconscious (Herbart, Carus, Hartmann) and clinical research on automatisms, dissociation, and cryptomnesia (Janet, Prince, Flournoy). We also highlight the unique political and cultural conditions of partitioned Poland, in which Abramowski lived and worked. The second and central part of the article examines Abramowski's theory of the normal subconscious, emphasizing his departure from pathological models prevalent in contemporary psychology, as well as his argument that such phenomena can be studied through systematic experimentation. Special attention is devoted to Abramowski's analyses of cryptomnesia, memory, perception, emotional processes, and the "resistance of the forgotten," as well as methodological developments, which position his work at the intersection of laboratory psychology, clinical observation, and philosophical reflection. The final section of the article explores the broader implications of Abramowski's "experimental metaphysics," highlighting its affinities with the ideas of Bergson, James, and Bazaillas. By integrating such diverse traditions, Abramowski's model of the subconscious enriches the polycentric history of psychology and illustrates the diversity of early European approaches to the hidden mind. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
The origins of music therapy for psychiatric treatment are typically traced back to the mid-20th century, following World War II, and even further back to post-Renaissance Europe and ancient Greece within contemporary literature. However, these historical works often rely on philosophical and theological sources outside the medical field and do not address actual therapeutic practices. This article aims to rectify this oversight by shedding light on the unexplored realm of Ottoman music therapy (OMT) during the early modern Islamic period (ca. 14th-18th centuries). By delving into the utilization of OMT as a treatment for psychiatric disorders, this study seeks to provide valuable insights into the missing therapeutic practices of the era. We demonstrate how Ottoman physicians used music as a medical tool to target illnesses and restore health by prescribing makams (i.e., melodic modes) and implementing music as a treatment modality within hospitals (i.e., maristans). Gaining insight into the OMT theories and practices is necessary to bridge a significant gap in the chronology of contemporary music therapy. Furthermore, the resurgence of makams (also spelled as maqams, makām, or maqām) by the Ottomans in contemporary times has the potential to diversify the range of therapeutic modalities available within the clinical sphere. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Memorializes Michael M. Sokal (1945-2025). In 1968, Sokal, an enthusiastic 22-year-old who still looked like a teenager, became the youngest participant in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Summer Institute on the History of Psychology. This institute led to the creation of Cheiron, the International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences. It also inspired Sokal's dedication to advancing research in the history of psychology within the larger framework of the history of science. In 1970, he got a position teaching the history of science and technology at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI); he also continued his research in the Cattell Papers at the Library of Congress. Sokal later described a 1971 visit to the Cattell family's home, where, while touring an outbuilding, his wife, Charlene, fell through some floorboards-and uncovered another large cache of Cattell Papers. By 1972, he had completed his dissertation on James McKeen Cattell's early life and psychological career through 1904. Although Sokal would teach in Harvard's History of Science program in 1981-1982 and again in 1993-1994, WPI remained his academic home. Although heart-related medical issues would affect him for the rest of his life, Sokal's scholarship in the following decades was prolific, extensive, and diverse, with publications appearing in the most important journals of psychology, science, and history. In 1988, he became the History of Science Society's first "Executive Secretary"-a newly created position. In 1995, Sokal became the coordinator for an NEH-NSF program called "Integrating Science and Humanities in Undergraduate Education." By 1998, he had moved to the Washington, DC area to spend 2 years as director of the NSF's Science and Technology Studies Program. And in 2004, he became the president of the History of Science Society. He also worked closely with the American Psychological Association and in 1997 became the first editor of its new journal, History of Psychology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Zing-Yang Kuo (1898-1970), an iconic figure in Chinese and global psychology, invented the "Kuo Vaseline technique"-a pioneering method for observing avian embryonic behavior-using chicken eggs. However, existing research lacks clarity on three key aspects: the exact invention time, the developmental context of its naming, and its comprehensive academic impact. Based on firsthand historical materials and international literature, this study systematically sorts out the invention process and naming development of the technique and deeply analyzes its influences on research methodology, interdisciplinary collaboration, and academic inheritance. The findings supplement the research on original techniques in the history of Chinese psychology and highlight the unique contributions of Chinese scholars to global embryonic behavior research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
In the literature on emotions, reference is often made to the "James-Lange theory" from the 1880s. This article clarifies that this term is a misnomer. Although James's and Lange's views shared the centrality of bodily changes in emotion, there were also important differences. There is not one theory, but two, as evidenced by Lehmann's pioneering psychophysiological experiments of the 1890s showing their differential refutability. Moreover, the "James-Lange" labeling of Lange's work emphasizes something that was important to James, the experience of bodily changes, but which received little attention from Lange. Furthermore, the shared labeling obscures two contributions by Lange that are perhaps as important as the shared contribution with James: a dual-route model of emotional responding and classical conditioning of emotions. For future mentions, it is recommended to refer to the theories separately or in the plural. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
The concept of affordances, developed by James J. Gibson (1904-1979), has been widely adopted in psychology and other fields. Despite this, there remains substantial disagreement about how to understand the concept. Plausibly, the roots of this confusion lie in Gibson's texts, including his examples. I present the first systematic analysis of the examples that Gibson used when explaining the affordance concept. In all, Gibson identifies 188 distinct examples across six texts published in his lifetime and 25 short posthumously published memos. I analyze the examples in terms of their mode of operation, their valence or polarity, and their sociality. This analysis reveals that, for Gibson, the affordance concept is broader than is often presented by later commentators. Affordances are today routinely glossed as "opportunities" or "possibilities for action." Gibson did not use these phrases. A number of his examples refer not to potential actions but to other kinds of potential outcomes, including perceptual, metabolic, or cognitive outcomes. I suggest that Gibson's theory of affordances encompasses two distinguishable research objectives, which have often been conflated: a theory of the control of action and a theory of perceptual orientation to meaningful features of the environment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
In this article, the complicated history of understanding and defining autism is presented. Descriptions of important contributors and studies that are not widely known or remembered are also included and incorporated into the historical timeline. The first descriptions of probable cases of autism date back to the 18th century, but at that time, the individuals were diagnosed with mental retardation or "silent madness." When the term autism was coined by Eugen Bleuler, it was related to the "inner world" to describe severe cases of schizophrenia. The first explicit description of autism, as we understand it today, was published in 1944 by Leo Kanner, who showed both similarities and differences between autism and childhood schizophrenia. Understanding the core problems related to autism took several decades. Groundbreaking studies conducted by Rutter et al. and Kolvin et al. determined that autism was separate from schizophrenia disorder 36 years after its official introduction (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition, in 1980). In 1988, Rutter and Schopler stated that autism had the most validated diagnosis in child psychiatry. However, each subsequent classification introduced major changes and was significantly different from the previous ones. The aim was to optimize the diagnosis and provide optimal care for affected individuals. Our knowledge of autism is broad, and there are still allegations concerning the quality of the currently applicable classifications. Given how many years it has taken and the various approaches that have been used to understand autism, it may indeed be one of the most mysterious disorders in humans. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Zhang Yaoxiang was a key figure in the development of psychology in Republican China. Like many of his contemporaries, Zhang was a practitioner of scientific psychology and spared no effort to leverage psychological expertise for national progress. However, he distinguished himself through his keen interest in the past and his groundbreaking role in inaugurating the historiography of Chinese psychology. Despite acknowledging Zhang's dual roles as a scientist and a historian, existing scholarship has largely overlooked the potential tensions between these roles-particularly regarding how Zhang understood the historical past and its relationship to the present in an era that revered progress. This article revisits Zhang's engagement with the science and history of psychology in China from the 1920s to 1940s. It argues that his perceptions of the past and present of psychology were associated with his evolving conceptions of progress and science. By the 1940s at the latest, through historical inquiries, Zhang was able, on the one hand, to localize psychology and interlink local knowledge with that of Western centers and, on the other hand, to transcend his professional identity as an experimental psychologist to embrace a broadening field with various competing schools of thought. Through Zhang's case, this article offers a nuanced history of the circulation of modern psychology in Republican China and reveals the origins of Chinese psychological historiography as part of global historical traditions. It contributes to current discussions on the relationship between the past and present of psychology, as well as contextual approaches to the history of psychology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Constantine the African's (ca. 1080/1536a) Two Books of Melancholy were based on earlier Arabic texts. The work is distinguished, firstly, by being a compact systematic account of a single mental disorder termed melancholy, and, secondly, by appearing in Latin before most other writings about mental disorder. In it, Constantine presents a biological account that attributes the proximate cause of the disorder to unhealthy bodily fluids or humors, and particularly to black bile. However, the humoral disorder may in turn come from unhealthy lifestyles, emotional shock, or disposition from conception. Treatments focus on the patient's diet, bathing, and exercise, with the addition of some pharmaceutical remedies. Many of Constantine's ideas and recommendations are found in later medieval medical and theological writing. Although there are important differences from present-day approaches to mental disorder, there are also many similarities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
This article aims to analyze how fascism influenced the crisis of Italian psychology, a phenomenon already highlighted in historiographical literature (Hatfield, 2012; Lombardo, 2014, 2015; Mandler, 2011; Mülberger, 2014a, 2014b; Sturm & Mülberger, 2012). Fascism shaped Italian culture by establishing a regime that ultimately denied fundamental constitutional rights, such as freedom of association and political pluralism, and by shifting cultural orientations. Initially rooted in a secular and anticlerical framework, the regime later granted Catholicism a special status, formalized through agreements with the Catholic Church in 1929 (the Lateran Pacts). During this period, key figures in Italian intellectual life, such as Emilio Bodrero (1874-1949)-a nationalist philosopher, rector of the University of Padua, and Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education-rose to prominence. This article will examine his correspondence with psychologists, highlighting how the crisis of Italian psychology was a microhistorical aspect of a broader transformation occurring at the macrolevel across Italian society during the fascist era. Ultimately, the shifts in psychology during Bodrero's tenure coincided with the discipline's wider crisis in Italy. Studying his case may provide an empirical lens for understanding the historiographical concept of crisis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Charles Spearman is somewhat of an enigmatic figure in psychology's history. While most historians of psychology agree that he made notable contributions, there is no consensus about the research agenda from which his contributions originated. Since typical methods for studying a researcher's agenda provide relatively limited information in the case of Spearman, we approached the problem differently. Under the reasoned assumption that the student research projects he guided would manifest his agenda, we examined the content of those projects. What emerged from our inquiry is a research agenda that appears broader and more complex than what is often presented in modern history of psychology texts. We discuss some implications of our findings as well as some possible future directions for historical inquiry into Spearman. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
This introduction to the special section of History of Psychology argues for the centrality of the interpersonal-as an object of psychological knowledge, a condition of knowledge production, and as a site of social intervention and transformation-in the history of psychotherapy and of the psy sciences more generally. We situate this focus within broader historiographical and sociological debates and feminist historiography. The articles that make up this section revisit episodes where the psychological disciplines were employed to critique, challenge, or otherwise subvert existing power structures and dynamics. They highlight two aspects that have been neglected in the literature: the political projects of psychological practitioners and the ways in which these actors viewed or treated the interpersonal as a site of scalable social interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
This article explores the historical context in which the concept of microaggression was produced and the psychological model that supported it. Microaggression has become a popular term used to describe the stress of minoritized groups beyond the experience of racism. This article presents a genealogical perspective informing the contemporary uses of the term. The concept of "microaggression" was developed by Black psychiatrist Chester Middlebrook Pierce (1927-2016), professor of psychiatry and education at Harvard University. Pierce played an important role in conceptualizing the relationships between the mental health of individuals and groups, and their environment. The career and story of Chester M. Pierce bear witness to the construction of the relation between racism and mental health in a therapeutic culture "in the making." Through a selective biographical account of the career and research of Pierce, this article examines what brought him to coin the term microaggression. It also considers the wider context of the political mobilization of behavioral sciences to understand and address social inequalities in the United States. The notion of microaggression was a conceptual tool used by Pierce to describe how racism is perpetuated as a psychological phenomenon and to help develop awareness of the need to propose defensive strategies. The contextualization of Pierce's research and achievements aims therefore to contribute to the history of American "therapeutic culture" and the discussion of the role that psychological concepts such as microaggression are assumed to play in the psychologization of power relations and everyday life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
This article examines Sigmund Freud's first publication in French, written in 1893, the year of Jean-Martin Charcot's death. Following his stay at the Salpêtrière (1885-1886), Freud published an article on hysterical paralysis in the Archives of Neurology, appearing alongside Charcot's obituary. This publication marked a pivotal epistemological shift in Freud's intellectual trajectory from neurology to psychoanalysis. Influenced by Charcot's clinical demonstrations, Freud began distancing himself from strictly neurological explanations of hysteria in favor of psychological interpretations. His assertion that hysteria "behaves as if anatomy does not exist" represented a significant departure from the organicist tradition of late 19th-century medicine. This transition established a conceptual foundation for exploring psychological phenomena independently of their neurological substrates, while not entirely rejecting biological anchoring. The article situates Freud's 1893 publication within the broader context of emerging psychiatric thought and discusses how contemporary neuroscience offers new perspectives on the psychological-neurobiological relationship that Freud initially explored through different methodological approaches. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
This article explores one of the origins of the notion of "safe space." Its aims are twofold: First, by using the early history of feminist consciousness-raising (CR) as a lens, it draws out consequential shifts in the methods and rationales for creating and maintaining psychologically safe group environments. Second, by doing so, the essay aims to complicate contemporary debates surrounding the use of safe spaces. The rules we today associate with the establishment of such environments (demanding confidentiality, suspension of judgment) were initially prompted by egalitarian concerns about power imbalances within CR groups. As the method circulated beyond circles of radical feminists in the early 1970s, however, its aims and targets changed, letting it converge with self-help and encounter groups. The reform-oriented National Organization for Women both aided in the wider diffusion of CR while also constricting the practice. As the epistemic aims of CR became deemphasized in the process, such groups now more often took on emotional-supportive functions. Safety concerns, in turn, shifted toward protecting participants from the potential psychological harms of group experiences. These psychological safety measures were subsequently adopted by psychologists and educators, whereas in activist circles, in the 1980s, safe spaces, similarly, became places of refuge from external oppression and internal strife. Making safe spaces safer in this way represented a fundamental shift in how psychological safety within group environments was conceived. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
In mid-1960s Montréal, a team of psychiatrists affiliated with the city's Jewish General Hospital identified a disturbing trend in their family therapy practice. The children of concentration camp survivors exhibited forms of severe maladjustment and psychopathology despite their parents' seeming good mental health. These clinical cases examined through a cybernetic-informed family therapy suggested to the psychiatrists that certain forms of trauma could be transmitted across the generations to those who had not experienced the camps firsthand. When daily newspapers publicized this theory in 1968, it met with organized opposition from Montréal's community of Holocaust survivors. The public outcry led the main researcher Vivian Rakoff to drop this line of inquiry. The concept of intergenerational trauma only started gaining traction a decade later in the United States through a network of support groups established in major urban centers by the now grown children of the camp survivors. Following the activism of Vietnam veterans, feminists, and their allies in the helping professions, trauma had acquired new cultural legitimacy in 1970s. It could describe social harms while downplaying the sufferer's personal culpability for their maladjustments. Leaders of these new support groups rejected the Montréal psychiatrists' clinical diagnosis while creating horizontally organized therapeutic spaces to talk about this shared trauma in ways that promoted forms of self-discovery and expression. The Montréal psychiatrists both did and did not discover in the 1960s what became known as intergenerational trauma. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
