The Discovery of Mind

Overview & Synopsis

This book presents a concise history of the scientific discovery of the mind. Although people have speculated about the nature and functioning of their minds for thousands of years, it was only about 200 years ago that they replaced the philosophical armchair with the laboratory and began to investigate the mind scientifically. Surprisingly, the work of one of the founders of scientific psychology, Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920), has been largely forgotten, despite its relevance to current psychology. Taking a fresh look at history, this book discusses important empirical and theoretical discoveries made in the few decades before and in the 150 years after the publication of Wundt’s groundbreaking monograph Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie in 1874. Crucial evidence from past behavioral and patient studies to recent neuroimaging is synthesized to support a thought-provoking account of key aspects of the human mind.