What are the main points in the Principles of Psychology?

Question

Im writing a report and I am wondering if someone can break the main points down for me. I have researched the P.o.P. and am completley lost when trying to understand what William James is talking about.

Answer 1

This is a fine website to help with The Principles of Psychology.
Plus details about James.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/james/

This is actually a better summary, and is put in terms that are much easier to understand:
http://www.radicalacademy.com/philjames.htm

Also, of course, the wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Principles_of_Psychology

"There were five chief targets of the critical/analytical arguments of the volume: innatism (typified by Immanuel Kant); associationism (by Jeremy Bentham and David Hartley); materialism (by Herbert Spencer); spiritualism (by extrapolations from that)."


and from answers.com:

"Principles of Psychology

Also in 1878 James began writing a comprehensive treatise and textbook, Principles of Psychology, the two volumes of which, intended for 1880, finally appeared in 1890. This extraordinary treatise brought him worldwide response and has continued everywhere to be regarded as one of the few great comprehensive treatises that modern psychology has produced.

**Five of the chapters are worthy of special note: (1) The chapter dealing with "habit," considered as a prime factor so deeply organized within one as to make each one the creature of a system of inbuilt ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. (2) "Emotion," the subjective or inner aspect of the "coarser" organic physiological responses to stress situations, such as fear and rage, with a place also provided for the subtler emotions, entering into the intellectual and esthetic life. (3) The "consciousness of self," the various ways in which one knows one's self and the aspects of one's own individuality that are most precious to one. (4) The "stream of thought," the complex, dynamic, ever-changing world of subjectivity in which there is no firmly fixed invariant part, no unalterable unit, except that each person is always aware that it is his own continuous past, present, and anticipated future. (5) The "will." The very long and rich chapter on the will provides for many "types of decision" and for the experience of effort when "we ourselves incline the beam." An empirical psychology must accept as a reality the experience of making an effortful decision; this leaves the ultimate philosophical question of the nature of such freedom as a problem beyond the scope of scientific psychology as such." **

I think the above points from answers.com are what you are looking for.

Edit: As the person above says, one point James did make was that there is "no science of psychology". However, this was to the publisher of this text book.

Also, to understand this better, one must think of it in terms of the History of Psychology, rather than what is practiced or thought today.

James is a philosopher, and psychology is part of the study of philosophy; especially so in his times. Only recently has it become more "scientific".

Breaking down the points, is probably more difficult because it is philosophy, more than a science.

Answer 2

The Principles Of Psychology

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What are the main points in the Principles of Psychology?
Im writing a report and I am wondering if someone can break the main points down for me. I have researched the P.o.P. and am completley lost when trying to understand what William James is talking about.

Answer 4

Some manifestation of God would have to be real in the physical sense for science to prove it's existence. But if there were any real phenomena of God, then it would not be spiritual. In other words, it wouldn't be God as is commonly understood and philosophically defined. Science does not prove the supernatural. Psychology is a convenient model of the workings of the brain, like a blue print is a convenient way to model a house, but it's not a house. Psychology may describe the workings of the brain when the brain conceives of God or senses God, but it can't prove God anymore than a blueprint can prove the existence of a house. Theology is the study of the concepts of God and the religions they are dependent on. Religious concepts and religious truths are not the same as scientific truths. They are dependent on doctrine. Doctrine is the set of man made rules that an authority has defined as true. So doctrine is subjective at its base. A proof of God would have to be most objective. So no proof here either. That pretty much leaves you with a resounding "NO" for an answer.

Answer 5

The main goals of psychology are to observe, explain, predict and control mental processes and behavior.

Answer 6

The very primary point about psychology is that it's bullshit.