Beyond Individual and Group Differences

Human Individuality, Scientific Psychology, and William Stern's Critical Personalism

This book treats the history of psychology's effort to come to terms with human individuality, from the time of Wundt to the present day, with primary emphasis on the contributions of German psychologist William Stern. With this book, Lamiell hopes to waken a wider appreciation for Stern's perspective on human individuality and for the proper place of personalitic thinking within scientific psychology. He presents an alternative approach to the logical positivism that permeates traditional psychological thought and methodology. As such, he provides a book that is sure to prove both controversial and ground-breaking.

Features/Benefits:

· Provides book-length treatment of the concept of human individuality in twentieth century scientific psychology, highlighting the historical contributions made by the German psychologist and philosopher William Stern (1871-1938).

· Critically appraises contemporary thinking about personality in light of historical and methodological considerations.

· Challenges readers to re-think the problem of human individuality with research that mounts a direct empirical challenge to the long-standing belief that it is meaningless to characterize individuals without comparing them to one another.

· Concludes with a general discussion of the potential of personlistic thinking both as a foundation for personality theory and as a framework for social thought.