An Argument for Mind

jerome kagan

In this elegantly written book, Jerome Kagan melds the history of the field of psychology during the past 50 years with the story of his own research efforts of the same period and an analysis of what he terms “the currently rocky romance between psychology and biology.” As Kagan unwinds his own history, he reveals the seminal events that have shaped his career and discusses how his assumptions have changed. With full appreciation for the contributions to psychology of history, philosophy, literature, and neuroscience, he approaches a wide range of fascinating topics, including:
·   the abandonment of orthodox forms of behaviorism and psychoanalysis
·   the forces that inspired later-twentieth-century curiosity about young children
·   why B. F. Skinner chose to study psychology
·   why the study of science less often ignites imaginations today
·   our society’s obsession with erotic love
·   the resurgence of religious fanaticism and the religious Right
Embedded in Kagan’s discussions is a rejection of the current notion that a mature neuroscience will eventually replace psychology. He argues that a complete understanding of brain is not synonymous with a full explanation of mind, and he concludes with a brief prediction of the next five decades in the field of psychology.

Genres psychologyscience

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,2006

This edition

Format: 304 pages, Hardcover
Published: May 2, 2006 by Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300113372
ASIN: 0300113374
Language: English

About the author

jerome kagan

Jerome Kagan was an American psychologist, who was the Daniel and Amy Starch Research Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, as well as, co-faculty at the New England Complex Systems Institute. He was one of the key pioneers of developmental psychology.
Kagan has shown that an infant's "temperament" is quite stable over time, in that certain behaviors in infancy are predictive of certain other behavior patterns in adolescence. He did extensive work on temperament and gave insight on emotion.
In 2001, he was listed in the Review of General Psychology among the one hundred most eminent psychologists of the twentieth century. After being evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively, Kagan was twenty-second on the list, just above Carl Jung.