William McDougall

William McDougall (born June 22, 1871 – died November 28, 1938) was a British born, American psychologist who pioneered work in human instinctual behavior and contributed toward the development of social psychology.

Life

William McDougall was born in Lanchasire, England, as the second son of Isaac Shimwell McDougall and Rebekah Smalley, wealthy Scotish industrialists. He was educated in private schools, first in England and then in Weimar, Germany. Despite his father’s desire for him to become a lawyer, McDougall wanted to pursue studies in natural sciences. With a support and encouragement of his mother, at the age of 15 McDougall entered the university in Manchester, where he earned degrees in biology and geology. After getting a scholarship, he went on to study at the Cambridge University, graduating in 1894 with a degree in natural sciences. It was at Cambridge that McDougall became interested in human behavior, and where he realized that he needed medical degree in order to pursue his interests. With yet another scholarship he earned medical degree in 1898, specializing in physiology and neurology. About the same time he became familiar with the work of William James, which was in line with his own interests, and he decided to focus his career to psychology.

In 1898 McDougall became a fellow at the Cambridge University, studying the mind-body problem. In 1899 he participated in a field trip in New Guinea, publishing his The Pagan Tribes of Borneo in 1912. He married in 1900 to Annie Hickmore, with whome he had five children. The couple lived at first in Gottingen, Germany, where McDougall studied experimental psychology under G.E. Muller. They then moved back to London where McDougall started to work as a lecturer at the University College.

In 1901 McDougall started to collaborate with Francis Galton and Charles Spearman on mental testing and eugenics. He co-founded the British Psychological Society and the British Journal of Psychology in 1901. In 1904 he accepted a post in Mental Philosophy at Oxford University, where he stayed until 1920. He was the first experimental psychologist at Oxford. His famous Introduction to Social Psychology, in which he introduced his theory of instincts, was published in 1908. With this work McDougall became famous and acknowledged scholar, far beyond the circles of British academia.

In 1911 McDougall shifted his interest toward research in paranormal psychology. The same year he published his Body and Mind, where he argues for the scientific existence of the soul. When the WWI broke out in 1914, McDougall joined French army as an ambulance driver. He later became a major in the British army, in 1915, and worked with the victims of the PTSD. This experience led McDougall to shift his interest to abnormal psychology, spending next several years in research in that field. His Outline of Abnormal Psychology was published in 1926. After the war, he served as a president of the Psychiatric Section of the Royal Society of Medicine in 1918, and the president of the British Society for Psychical Research in 1920.

In early 1920s McDougall was invited by William James to Harvard University, where he served as a professor of psychology from 1920 to 1927. However, he was not well received in the United States, especially due to his criticism of behaviorism and his favoritism of eugenics. McDougall and J.B. Watson held a long, public debate, which was published in 1928 in the book The Battle of Behaviorism. At the same time he continued to do research on psychic phenomena and served as the president of the American Society for Psychical Research.

McDougall moved to Duke University in 1927, where he remained until his death. He established the Parapsychology Lab there, and edited the Journal of Parapsychology. His interest continued to widen, publishing books on a whole variety of topics - from criticism of psychoanalysis and Gestalt psychologies to books on social issues and world peace. In 1927, McDougall dedicated his book 'Character and the Conduct of Life' to his wife, writing: "To my wife, to whose intuitive insight I owe whatever understanding of human nature I have acquired."

McDougall died from cancer in Durham, North Carolina, in 1938.

Work

McDougal wrote a number of highly influential textbooks, particularly in the area of theory of instinct, social psychology, and parapsychology. He was an opponent of behaviorism, stressing that psychology needs to be holistic, taking into account different factors that influence human behavior.

Views on eugenics

McDougall's interest in eugenics started with his work with Galton and Spearman. His view on eugenics, however, departed from Darwinian orthodoxy in maintaining the possibility of the inheritance of acquired characteristics, as suggested by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. McDougall believed that inheritance plays important role in human behavior. He writes:

Biology and anthropology have now shown the enormous power of heredity in determining individual character and the great persistence of innate qualities through numberless generations. ....the negro race wherever found does present certain specific mental peculiarities roughly definable, especially the happy-go-lucky disposition, the unrestrained emotional violence and responsiveness, whether its representatives are found in tropical Africa, in the jungles of Papua, or in the highly civilised conditions of American cities.

....we can distinguish a race of northerly distribution and origin, characterized physically by fair colour of hair and skin and eyes, by tall stature and dolichocephalism (i.e. long shape of head) and mentally by great independence of character, individual initiative, and tenacity of will. ....recently the term Homo Europaeus, first applied by Linnaeus to this type, has come into favour; and perhaps it is the best term to use, since this type seems to be exclusively European. (The Group Mind).

Because of his interest in eugenics and his unorthodox stance on evolution, McDougall has been adopted as an iconic figure by proponents of a strong influence of inherited traits on behaviour, some of whom are regarded by most mainstream psychologists as scientific racists. While McDougall was certainly an unorthodox figure and always willing to take a minority view, there is no reason to suppose that in the light of modern psychological knowledge and political developments, he would have supported the position taken by these groups.

McDougall believed that eugenics could be used for the betterment of the society, that is, to create a society that would be free of illnesses, physical or mental deformations, or any form of inferiority. McDougall regarded intelligence as the highest standard of human existence. In his letter to Japanese emperor in 1934 he explains his idea and suggests that Japan could test it in practice. Japan indeed developed certain policies based on eugenic principles, and China and Singapore followed in 1990s.

Human instincts

In his famous An Introduction to Social Psychology McDougall argued that all human behavior could be explained through human instincts. Instincts are innate psychophysical dispositions based upon which humans attend to certain objects (cognitive component of behavior), experience emotional excitement when perceiving that object (emotional component), and act toward that object in certain manner (volitional component). Almost whole human behavior is a result of a combination of instincts and its derivates – habits, attitudes, sentiments, etc.

McDougall supported his theory of instincts with his criticism toward behaviorism. Unlike behaviorism, claimed McDougall, where behavior is seen as a reflexive response to an external trigger, theory of instincts sees behavior as internally motivated, by human drives. Behavior thus is purposeful and goal-oriented. However, often that goal remains unknown to us, as human instincts may not be consciously understood. McDougall called his approach purposive or hormic psychology.

Parapsychology

McDougall was a strong critic not only of Watsonian behaviorism, but also of mechanistic explanation of the universe. He believed that human existence comprises both mind and body, and he spent time in research on the connection between the two. He supported his claims by five theories (i) the purposive character of behavior; (ii) the hypothesis of vitalism, (iii) the soul theory of man, (iv) Lamarckian inheritance, and (v) the concept of psychic energy. His concept of group mind also supports his ideas in this area. He researched on the principles of telepathy and postmortem survival. His student, J. B. Rhine, continued his research.

Legacy

McDougall can be considered one of early pioneers in social psychology. His book from 1908 Social Psychology was published almost twenty years before social psychology was widely accepted in academia as a part of psychology.

McDougall carried out many experiments designed to prove his ideas of instinctual behavior. His views strongly influenced Konrad Lorenz, and other ethologists who established the tradition of rigorous research on animal behavior, which turned into modern behavioral ecology we have today. Even though McDougall’s theory of instincts have been superseded by more modern theories of sociobiology and recently, evolutionary psychology, they were one of the first to point to the importance of the innate drives in human behavior.

McDougal’s views on eugenics experienced total resistance in the Western world, mostly due to the human rights movements and political correctness that dominate West. On the East things were slightly different. Through careful marriages and selective abortion Japan’s government implemented some eugenic principles and continued this policy well into the second half of 20th century. Based on the positive results and a raise in Japanese IQ after the WWII (which is still questioned whether this is due to Japan’s fast economic growth), China and Singapore adopted similar policies in 1990s. China started to discourage duller children from going in for marriage and childbirth. In Singapore it is promised a university place for children born to educated mothers.

Publications

• McDougall, William. 1912. Psychology: The study of behaviour. Williams and Norgate

• McDougall, William. 1926. The American nation: Its problems and psychology. G. Allen & Unwin Ltd.

• McDougall, William. 1927. Character and the conduct of life: Practical psychology for everyman. Methuen & Co. Ltd

• McDougall, William. 1948. (original work from 1926). Outline of Abnormal Psychology, (8th ed.). Methuen.

• McDougall, William. 1972. (original work from 1934). Religion and the sciences of life. Books for Libraries Press. ISBN 0836927001

• McDougall, William. 1974. (original work from 1920). Body and Mind: A history and a defense of animism. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0837171075

• McDougall, William. 2001. (original work from 1912). An Introduction to Social Psychology. Adamant Media Corporation. ISBN 1421223236

• McDougall, William. 2004. (original work from 1912). Pagan Tribes Of Borneo. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1419139916

• McDougall, William. 2005. (original work from 1920). The Group Mind. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 1417905085

• McDougall, William & Rhine, J.B. 2003. (original work from 1934). Extra Sensory Perception. Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 076613962X

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Lamb, Kevin. 1999. Individual & group character in the social psychology of William McDougall. Mankind Quarterly, 39(3), 255-308

• Watson, J.B. 1929. The battle of behaviorism. W.W. Norton & Co

External links

• Biography – Short biography by Margaret Alic
• Autobiography - Essay written in 1930

• McDougall articles – Some articles in parapsychology

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