Abstract:

The scientific view of psychology is about the basic knowledge and understanding of what is “psychology” and what is “scientific” psychology. It is about basic understanding of its nature, which determines the understanding of subject matter and research methods of psychology. William James is acknowledged as Father of American Psychology. He is the very first person in the history of psychology who integrates the previous psychological ideology. Furthermore, he strongly opposed to narrow psychological view from academic experimental psychologist at that time and he pointed out an integrated psychological view, which is called a kind of “wide psychological view”. Such kind of scientific view is not only adhering to the psychological properties of human nature, but also consistent to the intermediate psychological orientation—psychology has both the nature of natural sciences and humanities. Originally, James regarded psychology as a kind of natural science and he considered psychology should be studied in the condition of natural history. In this point, it is impossible to work out all psychological issues because it follows the principle of cause and effect determinism. Therefore, James proposed that psychology also has the nature of the humanities. James emphasized that psychology should do some overall research on psychology life of real people in reality. In other words, psychologists should study the general psychical process of people and other significant themes, such as self, personality and value. From James’ point of view, what we really need is a kind of practical psychology which could tell people how to act and then make their lives different. He laid the foundation of the practical orientation of American psychology. As a result, psychology become more and more meaningful in measuring personal differences, education, understanding the connection between human and animal, and even in promoting the productive efficiency. Meanwhile, academic experimental psychologists insisted that psychology is a kind of natural science. Therefore, they advocated using the means of natural science to learn about psychological phenomena of human and excluded every phenomenon which can not be analyzed by such means. This kind view of science and methodology is called scientism in psychology. James believed that it is a rigid and narrow-minded approach of psychology. Although in such about 100 years after James the mainstream of psychology is still foll

Key words: William James, psychological thoughts, scientific view of psychology

摘要：

威廉?詹姆斯（William James, 1842-1910）被誉为“美国心理学之父”，他强烈反对当时学院派实验心理学家的小心理学观，在心理学史上第一次对他以前的心理学思想进行了整合，建构了一种整合的心理学科学观。他认为心理学既具有自然科学的性质，又具有人文科学的性质，这种科学观坚持心理学的人学性质，是一种“大心理学观”。詹姆斯的心理学科学观是解决当前心理学问题不可或缺的思想资源，对当前心理学研究工作具有重要的借鉴意义。

关键词: 威廉?詹姆斯, 心理学思想, 心理学科学观