Historians of psychology spend as much time on how the story is told as on the story itself, and that is the part students consistently underestimate. A History of Modern Psychology, 5th Edition by C. James Goodwin opens with the craft of doing history — primary versus secondary sources, the trap of judging older work by present-day standards, the pull of the hero narrative — and then applies that lens to every school that follows. Examinations from this book reward students who can evaluate a historical claim, not only repeat one, and that is a different skill from the one most revision practices.
Why this test bank helps
An answer key alone tells you nothing about the reasoning that produced it, and in historiography the reasoning is the content. Every question here comes with a written rationale that explains the interpretive move being tested: why a claim counts as presentist, why an explanation is an appeal to the zeitgeist rather than to an individual, why one source outranks another. Reading them repeatedly is how the vocabulary of historical analysis becomes usable rather than memorized.
What’s inside
- Chapter-by-chapter questions in the book’s own sequence, from the historiography chapter onward.
- Mixed formats — multiple choice, true/false, matching and short interpretive items.
- A written rationale under every question, distinguishing the correct interpretation from the three plausible ones.
- Emphasis on original-source reasoning and on the methodological debates the book highlights.
- One organized PDF, downloadable the moment checkout completes.
Topics covered
- Doing history of psychology — primary and secondary sources, presentism and historicism, and the great-person versus zeitgeist debate.
- Nineteenth-century physiology — localization of function, nerve conduction studies and the experimental habits psychology inherited.
- Wundt and the new laboratory — the aims of the Leipzig program and how it was reported differently in America.
- American functionalism — evolutionary influence, the Chicago and Columbia traditions, and the growth of applied work.
- Behaviorism and neobehaviorism — conditioning research, the objective program and its major internal disagreements.
- Mental testing and its social uses — the measurement movement, army testing and the ethical questions raised in hindsight.
- Gestalt and cognitive developments — the challenge to elementism and the later turn toward information processing.
- Ethics in research history — the studies that changed how the discipline governs itself, and why they are still taught.
Who it’s for
Psychology majors taking history and systems from this edition, and anyone in a seminar-style course where questions ask you to weigh a historical interpretation rather than list a set of dates.
How to use it (the right way)
Read the chapter, then attempt a block closed-book without notes at hand. When an item goes wrong, decide first whether you missed a fact or misread an interpretive principle — those need different fixes, and confusing them wastes revision time. This is a study aid. Use it in line with your institution’s academic-integrity policy — for preparation and self-testing, not as a substitute for the assigned reading and never inside a graded assessment.
Sample question (shows the format — your download contains the full set)
Q. A student writes that Wundt’s introspective method “was a failure because it was not objective by modern experimental standards.” A historian of psychology would identify this statement as an example of:
- A. Historicism
- B. Presentism
- C. A zeitgeist explanation
- D. Great-person theory
Answer: B. Presentism evaluates past work against present-day criteria instead of the standards and questions available at the time, which is exactly what this statement does. A is the opposite approach, reconstructing a method in terms of its own era. C would explain a development by pointing to the broader intellectual climate that made it possible. D would attribute change to the exceptional individual rather than to conditions, and neither appears in the student’s claim.
Edition & format
- Matches: A History of Modern Psychology, 5th Edition, by C. James Goodwin (ISBN 9781118833759).
- Format: Digital PDF, delivered instantly after checkout.
- Access: Lifetime — re-download from your account at any time.
Editions differ in chapter order and in which figures receive extended treatment. Please confirm the edition and ISBN above match your course before buying.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the current edition? This set is built against the 5th Edition. Another edition of the same title will not line up chapter for chapter, so choose the listing that matches your syllabus.
How do I receive it? As an instant download at the end of checkout, with a copy kept in your account for later.
Do all the questions include rationales? Yes, every one. The explanation covers the interpretation being tested and why the alternatives fail.
Is using a test bank allowed? As self-testing material it is a normal study resource. Follow your institution’s academic-integrity policy, and never take it into a graded assessment.
More study material for this subject is in Psychology Test Banks.
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