(1871-1938)
British-born American Psychologist
Influences
- Student of:
- Influenced by: Galton
- Students: Burt
- Influenced:
- Time Period: The Great Schools' Influence
Education
- Cambridge University
- Oxford University
- Gottingen
Career
- University of London
- Oxford University
- Harvard University
- Duke University
Ideas and Interests
William McDougall is considered by some to have been the foremost psychologist of all English-speaking countries. He has contributed significantly to more branches and departments of psychology than anyone else writing in English. He is the exponent of hormic psychology, the central idea being that there is an end or purpose which goads us to action, without any real knowledge of its nature, and often without benefit or even thought of pleasure. Human progress can only be determined in terms of "horme" or "drive". He theorized that human behavior is determined by both instinctive and intentional strivings. His chief difficulties lay in proving, or even explaining, interactionism in a physical world; his belief in free will; and his commitment to the theory of the transmission of acquired characteristics.
Publications
- Introduction to Social Psychology
- Body and Mind
- Outline of Psychology
- Outline of Abnormal Psychology
References: 18
Image Courtesy of the National Library of Medicine
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