Students’ Basic Philosophical Assumptions in History of Psychology: A Measure and Teaching Tool

Abstract

Many psychology students initially have difficulty with the philosophical character of the typical history of psychology course. One way to introduce students to psychology's philosophical roots is to survey their assumptions on the nature of mind, emotion, and behavior. This article describes and gives examples of a 50-item Likert-scale questionnaire concerning the positions of many philosophers, biologists, and psychologists that are typically covered in the class. This article also presents data from three history of psychology classes and suggestions for using the measure as a teaching tool.