• Twenty-five years of teaching the history of psychology has culminated in Benjafield's engaging text, which combines a thorough overview of pre-20th century developments with a major focus on advances that took place within this century. A new level of comprehensiveness is reached in separate chapters on the history of developmental psychology, the history of methodology, William James, humanistic psychology, and cognitive psychology.

While covering the major figures in the historical development of psychology (Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Darwin), Benjafield also acknowledges key influences such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Lao-Tsu, and Isaac Newton, and several often-neglected women such as Christine Ladd-Franklin, Eleanor Gibson, Edith Kaplan, and many others. In addition, the unusually large number of figures and graphs included in the book help students create a visual picture of how psychology has evolved and enhance Benjafield's multidimensional presentation of the material.