论威廉·詹姆斯的心理学科学观

On William James' Scientific View of Psychology

威廉·詹姆斯(William Jarnes,1842-1910)被誉为"美国心理学之父",他强烈反对当时学院派实验心理学家的小心理学观,在心理学史上第一次对他以前的心理学思想进行了整合,建构了一种整合的心理学科学观。他认为心理学既具有自然科学的性质,又具有人文科学的性质,这种科学观坚持心理学的人学性质,是一种"大心理学观"。詹姆斯的心理学科学观是解决当前心理学问题不可或缺的思想资源,对当前心理学研究工作具有重要的借鉴意义。

The scientific view of psychology is about the basic knowledge and understanding of what is ＂psychology＂ and what is ＂scientific＂ psychology. It is about the basic understanding of its nature, which determines the understanding of the subject matter and research methods of psychology. William James, known as Father of American Psychology, was the very first in the history of psychology who integrated previous psychological ideology. Furthermore, he was strongly opposed to the narrow psychological views of academic experimental psychologists at that time and put forward an integrated psychological view, which is called a kind of ＂broad psychological view＂. Such kind of scientific view not only adheres to the psychological properties of human nature, but also consists with the intermediate psychological orientation--psychology has both the nature of natural science and the humanities. Originally, James regarded psychology as a kind of natural science and considered psychology should be studied in the condition of natural history. It was impossible to work out all psychological issues because it followed the principle of cause-and-effect determinism. Therefore, James put forward that psychology also had the nature of the humanities. James emphasized that psychology should do some overall research on the psychological life of real people in reality. In other words, psychologists should study the general psychical process of people and other significant themes, such as the self, personality and values. From James＇ point of view, what we really need is a kind of practical psychology which could tell people how to act and then make their lives different. He laid the foundation of the practical orientation of American psychology. As a result, psychology became more and more meaningful in measuring personal differences, education, understanding the connection between human and animal, and even promoting productive efficiency. Meanwhile, academic experimental psychologists insisted that psychology is a kind of natural science. Therefore, they advocated using the means of natural science to learn about the psychological phenomena of human beings and excluded every phenomenon which failed to be analyzed by such means. This kind view of science and methodology is called scientism in psychology. James believed that it was a rigid and narrow-minded approach of psychology. Despite the passage of 100 years after James, the mainstream of psychology is still followed by natural science, which results in making psychological research more deviate from the ＂human＂ that James emphasized. This ＂narrow psychology view＂ overly respects experimentalism and advocates positivism and individualism. Therefore, it inevitablly makes psychologists ignore the ＂real people＂ while doing psychological research, and then leads to the phenomena of differentiation and disunity of modem psychology. James＇ scientific view of psychology is an essential intellectual resource for solving the current problem of psychology, and has great significance for psychological research.