You will select the name of an individual who made important
contributions to the history of psychology. You should search out three kinds of
information about this individual: (a) biographical material, (b) papers and books written
by the individual, and (c) comments by others about the nature and significance of this
individual’s work, as well as other evidence of the person’s influence. The paper should
discuss both the life and the work of your person. Important: All the psychologists
assigned did far more work in their lifetime than could be described in such a brief paper,
thus a focus on some small aspect of the person’s work is critical to success on this
assignment. The paper should be structured as follows: (biography (1-2 pages) and focus
on some aspect of the person’s published work (4-5 pages). What you select is up to you
and should reflect your own interests. There is a tendency in writing these papers to
present the individual in a largely positive light. In some cases, such as assessment may
be entirely merited. But your job as “historian” in this assignment is to interpret the data
as objectively as you can, and that means being critical when such criticism is called for.
In your paper you must reference a minimum of 3 primary sources written by your
assigned psychologist in addition to any other academic sources used.
