Psychology' s Evolution through its texts: Analysis of E. R. Hilgard' s Introduction to Psychology

Abstract

A singular testimony to the sta te of a science at a given time is an introductory textbook, which presents the field. In these texts one may observe the depth with which different topics within the discipline are handled usuall y without excessive bias of an aut hor’ s individual preference. A balance is achieved between the latest research and the more stable body of shared knowledge. In general or introductory texts, w e find sections inc luding conceptual, methodological and histor ical aspects. The homo genisation of the structure seems to be parallel to the g rowing presentation uniformity. At pr esent, student textbooks make up a literaryscientific gender in its own. This is a gender with an intellectual market, as in Bourdieu (1991), reasonably defined but with blurred boundaries (from the curious layman to ordinary students and even some professionals and public instances), and an economic market of hundreds of millions per y ear. This literature plays a relevant role in creating the required disciplinar y identity that helps both scholars and professionals def end their positions against a ttacks, interference, and competition. Textbooks have a proto-typically K uhnian mission. In them, great reconstructions are made on grounds of socialisation of apprentices and scientist-candida tes. Their aim is to g et them to be familiar with an official image of the discipline in w hich they are being socialised, an image g enerally shar ed and assumed by the academic leaders of the time. Textbooks provide students with a comprehensive background

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 2 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.