Description
Book SynopsisPsychology is a comparatively young science. From its origins in the psychophysics laboratories of late 19th century Germany, it made great strides throughout the 20th century, and can now be considered one of the most rapidly growing of the sciences, as evidenced by the enormous growth at both undergraduate level and research level. This book takes a step back to consider just how we got to where we are in psychology. It brings together some of the leading and most influential figures from the past 50 years, covering neuropsychology, social psychology, experimental psychology, perception, physiology and many others. Each contributor considers the path their own field has taken - both the advances, and the set-backs. They look at how their area has changed - how it might have been ''in vogue'' one day, and out of fashion the next. The accounts are personal, witty, and provide a much needed stock-take of just where psychology stands at the start of the 21st century, and where it might b
Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The ups and downs of cognitive psychology: attention and other 'executive functions' ; 2. Psychology in the 1950s: a personal view ; 3. Learning theory and the cognitive revolution 1961-1971 ; 4. Face recognition in our time ; 5. Cognitive science now and then ; 6. Aging memory - aging memories ; 7. Psycholinguistics in our time ; 8. Two brains; my life in science ; 9. A perception of perception ; 10. Social psychology in our time: from 'fun and games' to grown-up science ; 11. Thirty years of object recognition ; 12. Reasoning ; 13. Weber's Law ; 14. Fifty years of memory neuropsychology research: methods 5, theory 2 ; 15. Mental chronometry: long past, bright future ; 16. A life in grey areas: cognitive gerontology from 1950 to 2007 ; 17. From little slips to big disasters: an error quest ; 18. Visual perception 1950 - 2000 ; 19. Human performance from then to now ; 20. The perception of time ; 21. From effects to systems in neuropsychology ; 22. Experimental psychopathology and psychological treatment
