FIELDS OF PSYCHOLOGY: BASIC ANS APPLIED

Fields of Psychology There have been several textbooks written by single author for psychological courses, the editor feels that psychology is now so specialized that it is difficult for one writer to survey adequately the significant developments in all the fields. The interpretation of a field to the student can best be accomplished by a writer who is himself immersed in that field. He then writes as an intimate insider rather than as an appraising outsider. His feeling for the right emphases, unless he is a one-sided worker in that field, can seldom be matched by that of an outsider. For these and other reasons, the editor believes that the textbook for this course should be in the nature of a symposium, written by contributors who have shown by their previous writings that they are very much at home in their respective fields. The order of the chapters in this volume is somewhat arbitrary. They may be taught in almost any preferred sequence. The adopted sequence places the main theoretical field first, beginning with the developmental approach. The chapters on differential psychology end this first section, since individual differences emerge from developmental causes, from social factors, and from causes that tend to induce abnormalities. The transition from differential to educational and clinical problems is very direct. The divisions of other applied fields and their order were agreed upon after much exchange of ideas on the part of the contributors. The more special fields of physiological psychology and aesthetics do not fit readily into the sequence of the first section on theoretical fields. The somewhat abstruse subject of points of view comes appropriately after the more concrete material, when the student is more ready to appreciate the reasons for divergent systematic approaches to psychology. There is no better way in which an enlightened appreciation of a subject can be imparted. Such a course is appropriate also for those students who are undecided as to a possible concentration in psychology, in that it should give them a better basis for making a decision. For those who may have decided upon psychology as their field of concentration, it should serve to guide them into the special fields that are most appealing to their temperaments and purposes.

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