History of Psychology

The experimental method of adolescents: Bärbel Inhelder’s unfinished symphony.
Bärbel Inhelder’s name is almost inseparable from that of Jean Piaget. She has contributed largely to the Genevan school of psychology, and particularly to its only tome on adolescence, The Growth of Logical Thinking. What is less well-known is that the protocols used in that text came directly from Inhelder’s personal research project on inductive reasoning. As well as working with Piaget, Inhelder actively pursued her own research interests, that is, the development of experimental methods in adolescents, aiming at publishing her own volume on the topic. However, that book—Inhelder’s unfinished symphony—was rediscovered as a manuscript after her death and has never appeared. The search for documents to contextualize this omission inevitably focuses on Inhelder’s working conditions and the social context in Geneva during that period and proposes some possible explanations for the missing publication. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
The Westernization of social and personality psychology in Turkey and the ongoing struggle for indigenous perspectives: A historical review and an agenda for liberating psychology.
Liberation is a multifaceted concept, often intertwined with psychological processes such as freedom from oppression and the ability to think and act freely. Historically, Western social psychologists have favored the individualistic notion of freedom over the collective effort of liberation. This divergence has led to the separation of the histories of liberation struggles and psychology, including feminism. This article explores distinct historical trajectories in Turkey and highlights the divisive dynamics within feminist movements, particularly the erasure of ethnic minority women by state feminists in postdynastic Turkey. Furthermore, the Westernization and the Americanization of psychology have positioned the field as a neutral, value-free science, effectively silencing indigenous feminist perspectives and encouraging overreliance on adapting gender-based scales to Turkish. Despite this, a nascent history of feminist psychology in Turkey exists, which challenges homogenization and standardization, advocating for a conceptualization of freedom beyond individualism. Finally, an agenda for liberating social psychology is proposed through challenging tattered binaries of “East” and “West” or “secular” or “conservative” and promoting a collective and intersectional approach to psychological research and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
From coerced confessions to biased assessments: Lessons from 1928.
Legal evaluation of criminal responsibility has a long and controversial history that has trended toward greater considerations of defendants’ intelligence and other psychological factors. The authors examine a 1928 criminal case that illustrates legal intelligence assessments and expert psychological testimony related to the insanity defense in the United States at that time. James Deacons, a 15-year-old with a cognitive disability, provided multiple coerced and contaminated confessions to homicide and sexual assault. The judge then sought mental health and intelligence assessments of Deacons to evaluate the potential for an insanity defense or other consideration of Deacons’ intelligence that could lead to treatment rather than prison. The authors review the biography of the experienced intelligence assessor, Eugene C. Rowe. The authors consider Rowe’s preassessment biases, including eugenic biases and other proguilt biases, before examining Rowe’s multiple violations of protocol. These violations inflated Deacons’ intelligence test score and eliminated legal consideration of Deacons’ intelligence; Deacons then pleaded guilty. The authors contrast the evaluation of Deacons with H. H. Goddard’s (1914) evaluation of Jean Gianini, including distinct outcomes. The authors connect this case to the larger histories of the insanity defense, expert testimony by psychologists, and perceptions of people with low intelligence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
Reynaldo Alarcón Napurí: 100 years of the pioneer of historical studies of psychology in Peru.
This brief communication commemorates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Reynaldo Alarcón Napurí and briefly reviews his contributions to the history of psychology in Peru and Latin America. Alarcón academic career spanned over seven decades and encompassed multiple research interests, one of which was the history of psychology. It is concluded that his historiographical work, as a whole, marked a significant milestone that has served as a reference point for delving into various aspects of the history of Peruvian psychology as both a science and a profession. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

History of Psychology - Vol 28, Iss 1