Psychology: From Spirits to Psychotherapy: the Mind through the Ages

by Anne Rooney

The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water
- Sigmund Freud

From Socrates to Carl Jung and Descartes to Daniel Dennett, this illustrated book brings together the threads that have made up psychology, from the musings of the Ancient Greeks to the findings of functional MRI scanning. Explained in a concise and easy-to-understand manner, it explores various key approaches, including structuralist, functionalist, behaviourist, psychodynamic, humanist, cognitive, and biological. It is a narrative of how we have tried to approach the very core of our being - of what makes us ourselves.

Topics include:
• The ghost in the machine - the search for the mind and how it relates to the body
• Models of madness - attempts to categorize and treat mental illness
• Artificial intelligence
• Mind and matter - how modern neurology sheds new light on the workings of the mind
• Psychoanalysis

ABOUT THE SERIES: Arcturus Fundamentals Series explains fascinating and far-reaching topics in simple terms. Designed with rustic, tactile covers and filled with dynamic illustrations and fact boxes, these books will help you quickly get to grips with complex topics that affect our day-to-day living.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

ebook

Published November 1, 2020

About the author

Anne Rooney gained a degree and then a PhD in medieval literature from Trinity College, Cambridge. After a period of teaching medieval English and French literature at the universities of Cambridge and York, she left to pursue a career as a freelance writer. She has written many books for adults and children on a variety of subjects, including literature and history. She lives in Cambridge and is Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Essex.

Reviews

[Việt Hùng · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was really comprehensive and informative with its logical structure and easy-to-digest information. It starts from basic problems of the mind, body, and soul, then moves to the problem of knowledge and self, before putting the self in a society and ends with psychological / mental problems. Each chapter provides insights from scientists and philosophers throughout their schools and time, so the book's coverage is quite large. The book helped me a lot with having a general overview of the subject. But it looks like a handbook more to me, with the writing style being very formal (but not so serious). I would like to hear the author's opinion so that I can also widen my perspectives. Besides, reading books is an opportunity for me to make friends with the authors, so it was pretty hard to "make friends" if there was no trait of their existence in the book ("Who am I? And if so, how many?" by Richard Precht might be a good example for this type of book in the philosophy and psychology field). Neverthess, I find the book very helpful and enjoyed reading it from the start to the end.

[Arvenig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hi everyone!
This book is so interesting! It's about how psychology developed through the ages. It goes from ancient greece and goes through the main authors until the modern days.
I already knew most things about the first parts of the book, but the modern theories and discoveries were so fascinating!
If you like history and psychology I definitely recommend this book to you!

[Amelia Chesney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decided to read before starting a Psychology course next week, and I can say it gave me a considerable insight into the field which I hope will be helpful

[Susana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book for a middle school class room or holiday reading. Informative and engaging as introductory knowledge on the subject.

[Laurence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to get in to book, separate and well written short stories and experiments from psychology history. Great if you want to learn some things but don't have any foundations to go off.

[Mark Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting history of Psychology which filled in a few gaps. It does seem that it's a lot less of a science than i thought. Good read though.

[Izzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly informative but also immediately accessible!!

[SundayAtDusk · Rating 3 out of 5]

In college, I excitedly took my first psychology class. I never took another one. The field wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. In other college classes, however, I read and was impressed by the works of psychologists like Rollo May and Abraham Maslow. In addition, after college, I read books by and about various psychiatrists--Frankl, Jung, Adler and Freud. (Although my Freud reading was limited. While on one hand, he and his beliefs seemed so fascinating at times; on the other hand, he and his beliefs seemed so nutty at times, plus misogynistic.)

This book, which is a general look at the field, left me skimming a lot. It covers too much in a limited way. Of course, that can encourage more research, but I would only recommend it to those needing a psychology primer. I might also suggest living and interacting with others is the best teacher for learning what makes us all tick, not studying psychology. (Having some nutty relatives and friends helps a lot.) Three stars for a neutral rating since I skimmed so much.

(Note: I received a free e-copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher.)

[Debbie De steno · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was very interesting. A quick study and concise