Introduction
On April 19, 2000, the death of achild made front page news in Colorado. Candace Newmaker was 10 years old and weighed approximately 70 lb. On the day she would die, she was wrapped tightly in asheet and laid on the floor while four so-called trained therapists, not one of whom was licensed by the State of Colorado to provide any form of mental health service, used pillows and their own bodies – 670 lb of adult bodies – to press down on her. The “therapy” session lasted 70 min andwhen the sheet was removed, Candace was dead (Mercer etal. 2003).
Candace had been adopted and, according to her adoptive mother Jeane, was aproblem child who had not accepted her as her new mother. Jeane read about acondition called “attachment disorder” which led herto discover the practice of “rebirthing therapy,” an unlicensed and unresearched therapy technique whose proponents claimed would establish normal parent–child attachments. Jeane paid the sum of $7,000 in advance for the treatment....
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
(2010) Advertisement for “Get motivated business seminar.” Houston Chronicle, pp.A9.
Adams, G. (1934, January). The rise and fall of psychology. Atlantic Monthly, pp.89–92.
American Institute of Psychology. (1927, September). Accept this thrilling lecture free (advertisement). Psychology, p. 8.
Anderson, C.A. (1993). Healing hypotheses: Horatio W. Dresser and the philosophy of new thought. New York: Garland.
Anonymous. (1924, Oct.). Untitled. Practical Psychology: Health, Success, Happiness, 1(1), 2–4.
Badger, A.J. (1989). The new deal: The depression years, 1933–1940. New York: Hill and Wang.
Bengough, T. (1923, January). Toronto applies psychology. The Golden Rule Magazine, 5(1), 34–35.
Benjamin, L.T., Jr. (2000). The psychology laboratory at the turn of the 20th century. American Psychologist, 55, 318–321.
Benjamin, L.T., Jr. (2006). Hugo Münsterberg’s attack on the application of scientific psychology. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 414–425.
Benjamin, L.T., Jr. (2007). A brief history of modern psychology. NewYork: Wiley.
Benjamin, L.T., Jr. (2009). You too can be healthy, successful, and happy: The promises of British practical psychology. The Psychologist, 22, 460–462.
Beran, W. (1933). Calm your nerves: The prevention and cure of nervous breakdown. New York: Farrar and Rinehart.
Bisch, L.E. (1936). Be glad you’re neurotic. New York: Whittlesey House.
Blackford, K.M.H., & Newcomb, A. (1914). The job, the man, the boss. New York: Doubleday & Page.
Blackford, K.M.H., & Newcomb, A. (1916). Analyzing character: The new science of judging men, misfits in business, the home, and social life (2nded.). New York: Review of Reviews.
Brophy, P. (1997). Weltmer, Stanhope, and the rest: Magnetic healing in Nevada, Missouri. Missouri Historical Review, 91, 275–294.
Burnham, J.C. (1987). How superstition won and science lost: Popularizing science and health in the United States. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Caplan, E. (1998). Mind games: American culture and the birth of psychotherapy. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Carnegie, D. (1936). How to win friends and influence people. NewYork: Simon and Schuster.
Cheshire, K., & Pilgrim, D. (2004). A short introduction to clinical psychology. London: Sage.
Combe, G. (1835). The constitution of man considered in relation to external objects. Boston: Marsh, Capen, & Lyon.
Connolly, M. (1925). The life story of Orison Swett Marden, aman who benefited men. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Coon, D.J. (1992). Testing the limits of sense and science: American experimental psychologists combat spiritualism. American Psychologist, 47, 143–151.
Crowder, C., & Lowe, P. (2000). Her name was Candace. Denver Rocky Mountain News, pp.1A, 1 M–7 M, 9 M–12 M.
Cushman, P. (1995). Constructing the self, constructing America: Acultural history of psychotherapy. Reading: Addison-Wesley.
Dumenil, L. (2001). The twenties. In P.S. Boyer (Ed.), The Oxford companion to United States history (pp.788–789). New York: Oxford University Press.
Dumont, T.Q. (1913). The art and science of personal magnetism. London: L.N. Fowler.
Ehrenreich, B. (2009). Bright-sided: How the relentless promotion of positive thinking has undermined America. New York: Metropolitan Books.
Eliot, C.W. (1909, April 30). Letter to Hugo Münsterberg. In Hugo Münsterberg Papers, Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection, Boston Public Library, Boston, MA.
Evans, R.B., & Koelsch, W.A. (1985). Psychoanalysis arrives in America: The 1909 psychology conference at Clark University. American Psychologist, 40, 942–948.
Fancher, R.E. (2000). Snapshots of Freud in America, 1899–1909. American Psychologist, 55, 1025–1028.
Freud, S. (1910). The origin and development of psychoanalysis. American Journal of Psychology, 21, 181–218.
Freud, S. (1913). The interpretation of dreams. New York: Macmillan.
Freud, S. (1914). The psychopathology of everyday life. New York: Macmillan.
Fuchs, A.H. (2000). Contributions of American mental philosophers to psychology in the United States. History of Psychology, 3, 1–18.
Gottman, J. (1994). Why marriages succeed or fail. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Gray, J. (1992). Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. New York: Harper, Collins.
Hall, G.S. (1901). The new psychology. Harper’s Monthly Magazine, 103, 727–732.
Hallam, A.M. (1922a). Course of instructions in practical psychology. Glasgow: McCorquodale.
Hallam, A.M. (1922b). Outline of course of instructions in practical psychology. Rochester: Gilles.
Hallam, A.M. (1925). Practical psychology. The Practical Psychologist, 1(1), 4–5.
Hallam, A.M. (n.d.). The modern science of human life. Pamphlet announcing alecture by Hallam at the First Baptist Church in Syracuse, NY.
Hill, N. (1937). Think and grow rich. Meriden: The Ralston Society.
Hilton, W. (1920). Applications of psychology to the problems of personal and business efficiency. New York: The Society of Applied Psychology. 12 vols.
Hornstein, G.A. (1992). The return of the repressed: Psychology’s problematic relations with psychoanalysis, 1909–1960. American Psychologist, 47, 254–263.
James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology. New York: Henry Holt. 2 vols.
Jastrow, J. (1900). Fact and fable in psychology. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin.
Jastrow, J. (1928). Keeping mentally fit. Garden City: Garden City.
Jastrow, J. (1930). Piloting your life: The psychologist as helmsman. New York: Greenberg.
Jastrow, J. (1931). Effective thinking. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Ladd-Franklin, C. (1916). Letter to the editor. The Nation, 103, 373–374.
Laird, D.A., & Laird, E.C. (1942). The psychology of supervising the working woman. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Lavater, J.C. (1775/1789). Essays on physiognomy. London: John Murray. (Originally published in 1775).
Leacock, S. (1924, March). Amanual of the new mentality. Harper’s Monthly Magazine, pp.471–480.
Leahey, T.H., & Leahey, G.E. (1983). Psychology’s occult doubles: Psychology and the problem of pseudoscience. Chicago: Nelson-Hall.
Lombroso, C. (1911). Criminal man. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
Lombroso, C., & Ferrero, W. (1899). The female offender. New York: D. Appleton.
Marano, H.E. (1997, Nov/Dec). Gottman and Gray: The two Johns. Psychology Today, 30(6), 28
Marden, O.S. (1894). Pushing to the front or, success under difficulties. New York: Thomas Crowell.
Marden, O.S. (1896). How to succeed; or, stepping stones to fame and fortune. New York: The Christian Herald.
Marden, O.S. (1906). Every man aking or, might in mind. New York: Thomas Crowell.
Mercer, J., Sarner, L., & Rosa, L. (2003). Attachment therapy on trial: The torture and death of Candace Newmaker. Westport: Praeger.
Mikesell, W.H. (Ed.). (1932). Psychology and life (Vol. 1). Chicago: Society for Adult Education.
Miller, H.K. (1924). Practical psychology (in seven volumes). NewYork: Psychology.
Miller, H.K. (1928). Achat with the editor: The ministry of psychology. Psychology: Health, Happiness, Success, 9((4), 10–11.
Miller, G.A. (1969). Psychology as ameans of promoting human welfare. American Psychologist, 24, 1063–1075.
Morawski, J.G., & Hornstein, G.A. (1991). Quandary of the quacks: The struggle for expert knowledge in American psychology, 1890–1940. In J. Brown & D.K. Van Keuren (Eds.), The estate of social knowledge (pp.106–133). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Münsterberg, H. (1898, February). The danger from experimental psychology. Atlantic Monthly, 81, 159–167
Münsterberg, H. (1908). On the witness stand: Essays on psychology and crime. New York: Doubleday, Page.
Murphy, G., & Ballou, R.O. (Eds.). (1961). William James on psychical research. London: Chatto and Windus.
Myddleton, A. (1925). Editorials. Practical psychology: Health, success, happiness, 2(2), 2–3.
Napoli, D.S. (1981). Architects of adjustment: The history of the psychological profession in the United States. Port Washington: Kennikat.
Parker, G.T. (1973). Mind cure in New England: From the civil war to world war I. Hanover: University Press of New England.
Parsons, F. (1909). Choosing avocation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Peale, N.V. (1952). The power of positive thinking. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Pickren, W.E. (2000). Awhisper of salvation: American psychologists and religion in the popular press, 1884–1908. American Psychologist, 55, 1022–1024.
Price, W.R. (1900). Price’s magazine of psychology, 2(2).
Richards, J. (1982). Spreading the gospel of self-help: G.A. Henty and Samuel Smiles. Journal of Popular Culture, 16, 52–65.
Rosenzweig, S. (1994). The historic expedition to America (1909): Freud, Jung, and Hall the king maker. St. Louis: Rana House.
Schmit, D. (2005). Re-visioning antebellum American psychology: The dissemination of mesmerism, 1836–1854. History of Psychology, 8, 403–434.
Shaffer, L.S. (1981). The growth and limits of recipe knowledge. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 2, 71–83.
Simmons, D.A. (1936). The realization system: Private lessons in practical psychology. Manchester, England: Psychology.
Smiles, S. (1859). Self-help; with illustrations of character and conduct. London: John Murray.
Smith, J.S. (1963). The day of the popularizers: The 1920’s. South Atlantic Quarterly, 62, 297–309.
Sokal, M.M. (2001). Practical phrenology as psychological counseling in the 19th-century United States. In C.D. Green, M. Shore, & T. Teo (Eds.), The transformation of psychology: Influences of 19th-century philosophy, technology, and natural science(pp.21–44). Washington: American Psychological Association.
Stolberg, B. (1930). Degradation of American psychology. The Nation, 113, 395–398.
Tavris, C. (2000). Psychobabble and biobunk: Using psychology to think critically about issues in the news (2nded.). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.
Thomson, I.T. (1989). The transformation of the social bond: Images of individualism in the 1920s versus the 1970s. Social Forces, 67, 851–870.
Thomson, M. (2001). The popular, the practical and the professional: Psychological identities in Britain, 1901–1950. In G.C. Bunn, G.Richards, & A.D. Lovie (Eds.), Psychology in Britain: Historical essays and personal reflections (pp.115–132). Oxford: Blackwell.
Thomson, M. (2006). Psychological subjects: Identity, culture, and health in twentieth-century Britain. New York: Oxford University Press.
Travers, T.H.E. (1977). Samuel Smiles and the origins of “Self-Help”: Reform and the New Enlightenment. Albion: AQuarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, 9, 161–187.
Watson, J.B. (1925). Behaviorism. New York: The People’s Institute.
Wells, H.G. (1924)The gifts of the new sciences. American Magazine, vol. 97, pp.21, 188, 190, 192, 194.
Wells, S. (1866). New physiognomy or signs of character as manifested through temperament and external forms and especially in the human face divine. New York: Fowler & Wells.
Weltmer, S.A. (1921). Suggestotherapy (16 pamphlets). Nevada, MO: Weltmer Institute.
Whitesell, F.L. (1932). The cure for depression. New York: Loizeaux Brothers.
Wiggam, A.E. (1928). Exploring your mind with the psychologists. New York: Bobbs-Merrill.
Woodworth, R.S. (1917). Some criticisms of the Freudian psychology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 12, 174–194.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this entry
Cite this entry
Benjamin, L.T. (2012). America, History of Popular Psychology in. In: Rieber, R.W. (eds) Encyclopedia of the History of Psychological Theories. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0463-8_62
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0463-8_62
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0425-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-0463-8
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science