The Stories of Western Psychology Masters

Author: Xiong Zhehong, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: They are the most brilliant stars in the sky of world psychology, with inspiring life stories, infinite personal charm, and vivid innovative ideas. Watson fell from the academic peak to the bottom due to his obsession with the magic of love, Skinner became convinced of the reinforcement principle after being fascinated by the "superstition" of pigeons, Frank felt the "unbearable pain of life" due to his imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps, Piaget had to write philosophical novels to restrain the "Dionysian excitement," and Freud even discovered the "Oedipus complex" after seeing his mother's naked body at the age of two and a half. This book presents the major life events in the lives of the great masters of Western psychology, the significance of their unique personal experiences on their personality development, the relationship between their distinct personality traits and their ideological tendencies, and the profound reflections their successful lives bring to us today. "May this collection of authentic biographies of the great masters of Western psychology accompany readers as they rise as new stars in the 21st-century sky of world psychology." [Preface] The Brilliant Stars in the 20th-Century Sky of World Psychology Dear readers, when you pause and browse our book, The Stories of Great Masters of Western Psychology, I imagine you must be someone with a wealth of knowledge in psychology. So, how did you acquire this psychological knowledge? Of course, you are first a natural common-sense psychologist. You use your innate concepts like "desire," "intention," and "belief" to guess and infer others' thoughts. For example, how do they think? How do they know what I'm thinking from a glance or a gesture of mine? These are not problems at all for you. Moreover, you learn from life experience that common-sense psychology alone is not enough. Because sometimes common-sense things can mislead people. To live a happier life, you must rise from common-sense psychology to scientific psychology. As for the so-called "scientific psychology," I assume you are also familiar with it: you may have gained specialized psychological knowledge by auditing university professors' psychology lectures, participating in various psychology "lectures" and "salons," or even by self-study, such as learning General Psychology or even the more challenging History of Psychology textbook. But even so, there is still something lacking in mastering psychology. If I ask you: Where exactly did the psychological knowledge you've learned come from? Who proposed these psychological theories and concepts? How did these theories and concepts evolve historically? Why do they still have such widespread influence today? And even more astonishing is that these psychologists, both historically and today, could have come up with such psychological theories and concepts? Fortunately, the book presented before you is exactly what answers these questions.