A Dynamic Theory of Personality

The present book is a collection of originally independent ar-ticles which were written at different times and for quite diffe-rent occasions. Hence, the reader will find some of the funda-mental ideas recurring throughout the book. The selection has been made in order to give a picture of the fields thus far stu-died, th& psychology of the person and of the environment, and at the same time to indicate their connections with the various applied fields, especially child psychology, pedagogy, psycho-pathology, characterology, and social psychology. Only a few years ago one could observe, at least among Ger-man psychologists, a quite pessimistic mood. After the initial successes of experimental psychology in its early stages, it see-med to become clearer and clearer that it would remain impos-sible for experimental method to press on beyond the psycho-logy of perception and memory to such vital problems as those with which psychoanalysis was concerned. Weighty "philosop-hical" and "methodological" considerations seemed to make such an undertaking a priori impossible. The first positive expe-riments in this direction seemed only to confirm the belief that the experimental psychology of (will, emotion, and character was condemned to rest content with surface facts and to leave all deeper problems to schools and speculation, incapable of experimental test.