when one considers the views of man and the theories of his nature that have been put forth as knowledge in the
past hundred years, it remains a moot question whether the starting date of the science of psychology lies behind
us—or ahead.
Science is the rational and systematic study of the facts of reality; its aim is to discover laws of nature, to achieve a
comprehensive, integrated knowledge that will make the universe intelligible to man. Man requires such knowledge
in order to deal with reality successfully, in order to live. If "nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed"—then the
purpose of science is to provide man with the intellectual means of his survival.
A new science is born when, out of the countless questions that man asks concerning the nature of things, certain
questions are isolated and then integrated into a distinct category—isolated and integrated by a defining principle
that distinguishes these questions from all others and identifies their common characteristics. It took many centuries
before physics, chemistry, biology, and physiology, for instance, were conceptualized as specific sciences.
What is the science of psychology? How is it to be defined? What is its specific domain?
Consider the following problems; they are typical of those with which psychology deals; and consider by what
principle one is able to recognize that they are psychological.
A scientist struggles to answer some difficult question that has arisen in his work. After months of effort, he feels
no closer to a solution than when he began. Then, one day, while he is out for a walk, the solution unexpectedly
flashes into his mind. What mental processes underlie and account for this phenomenon, the phenomenon of sudden
"insight" or "inspiration"?
Among our acquaintances we note that one person characteristically is serene, confident, even-tempered; that
another is irritable, nervous, unsure of himself; that a third is tense, brooding, emotionally frozen; that a fourth is
emotionally explosive, volatile, elated one moment and depressed the next. What accounts for such differences?
What are the causes of a person's character and personality? What are character and personality?
A man awakens in the middle of the night, his body trembling and his heart beating violently. To the best of his
knowledge, he has no cause to be afraid. Yet what he feels is terror. Through a