PSYC 4370 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Developmental Psychology, Neurasthenia
24 Jan 2017
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Document Summary
William james and the origins of american psychology. One evident feature of his childhood was that his father led him through a life criss-crossing through europe. His father had eccentric views and had the horror of his children having one specific career and discouraged them when they had interest in one topic. Thus, wanting to know about a topic is fine but being a person in that profession is not. At his time, he was clearly neurasthenic depressed and strong emotional issues. He was constantly questioning himself in terms of how he should be. His work is critical as it was ambiguous with many paradoxes. His basic argument was one he sees as refuting rigid determinism is that because every experience changes the organism (they never have the same experience twice). Because the second time they experience the same stimulus it is different. No psychological state re-occurs in the same form.
