Psychology & the Humanities

This area concerns the connections between psychology and the humanities — literature, art, religion, philosophy, and history.

Scope

It covers psychoanalytic and psychological approaches to culture, the psychology of religion and art, and the dialogue between psychology and philosophy.

Sub-topics

• Literature & Fine Arts
• Philosophy

Core questions

• How does psychology illuminate art, literature, and religion?
• How have humanistic traditions shaped psychology?
• What is the psychology of meaning and belief?

Key concepts

• The unconscious
• Psychobiography
• Psychology of religion
• Psychology of art
• Meaning

Key theories

Psychoanalysis and culture

Freud's theory of the unconscious deeply influenced interpretation across the humanities.

Psychology of religious experience

James analysed religious experience psychologically and pragmatically.

History

Spanning psychoanalytic cultural criticism and the psychology of religion and art, this area links psychology to humanistic inquiry, from Freud and James onward.

Debates

Is humanistic interpretation scientific?

The interpretive, meaning-centred methods of this area sit uneasily with experimental psychology's standards.

Key figures

• Sigmund Freud
• William James

Seminal works

• freud-1900
• james-1902

Frequently asked questions

What does this area study?

The mutual relations between psychology and the humanities — e.g., the psychology of art, literature, and religion, and psychoanalytic cultural interpretation.