Naming the Mind: How Psychology Found Its Language

by Kurt Danziger

Intelligence, motivation, personality, learning, stimulation, behavior, and attitude are just some of the categories that map the terrain of psychology. These are the concepts that underpin theoretical and empirical work in psychology and yet are terms that have only recently taken on their current meanings. In this fascinating new work, author Kurt Danziger goes beyond the taken-for-granted quality of psychological language to offer a profound and broad-ranging analysis of the recent evolution of the concepts and categories on which it depends. He explores this process and shows how its consequences depend on cultural contexts and the history of an emergent discipline. Danziger develops a complementary account that looks at the historically changing structure of psychological discourse.
Naming the Mind is an elegant and persuasive explanation of how modern psychology found its language; it will thus be invaluable reading for students and academics throughout psychology and for anyone with an interest in the history of the human services.

Genres: Psychology, Science, Nonfiction, History, Philosophy, Language, Brain

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Chris]

A wonderfully informative deconstruction of the language modern psychology takes for granted. Danziger brilliantly explains how terms such as "motivation," "behavior" "attitude," and "personality" are constructions wedded to societal conventions about who people are and should be. Psychology, from this point of view, becomes understood as a fundamentally conservative discipline, in which societal conventions become scientized and pathologize differences from "universal" (yet historically and socially contingent) norms. A must-read for anyone working within or interested in the social sciences.

[Lakmus]

tldr: concepts in psychology aren't like physical objects, and once you name them a particular way, you change them. And they continue to change as they are being used, so you can't pretend it's some immutable thing – intelligence, behaviour, motivation, attitudes (key concepts covered in the book) aren't like trees or rocks.

It's not like we didn't know psychology has social/political implications, but this extensive overview is nice in that it highlights the evolution of ideas we kind of take for granted these days. From the tone of the author it sounds like he isn't psyched about psychology trying to be more sciency than it is, at least when it tries to be physics.

Sometimes it reads a bit un-scholarly and like the guy might have too much opinion – but the overall point stands. It'd be interesting to read commentary/discussion/responses, I'm sure there are at least some alternative interpretations or more encouraging conclusions (Danziger refrains from making any, except that maybe 'monopolisation of psychology by a single group isn't great', which is, well, duh).

[Ciarán Mc Mahon]

An essential read for anyone who works in psychological science. Danziger carefully illustrates how much of psychological language and theory - attitudes, personality, variables - have distinct historical origins.

The anecdote on page 1 from his time as a young psychology lecturer in Indonesia is enough reason to buy this book alone.

[Lukasz]

recommendation: [Transcript of #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain from Lex Fridman Podcast podcast | Happy Scribe Public](https://www.happyscribe.com/public/le...)

[learnedHamster]

Danziger!