1. To what extent in the twenty-first century is it permissible to talk legitimately about the role of ‘the mind’ in psychology? How do you think that your response to this question may have varied across the course of the last 150 years?

Key Points:

• Discussion of psychology as the science of mental life and behaviour (acknowledging the distinction between that which can be observed directly and that which can be inferred, perhaps introducing the notion of operationalization of that which cannot be directly observed).
• Consideration of the main schools of thought in psychology presented in the chapter (namely structuralism, functionalism, behaviourism, Gestalt psychology, the independents and the cognitive revolution) and to what extent each of them has drawn on the notion of ‘the mind’.
• Consideration of behaviourism in general and radical behaviourism in particular and their attempts to ‘expunge’ the mind, together with consideration of the extent to which they succeeded.
• Consideration of post-behaviourism and perhaps some reflection on the role of ‘the mind’ in future manifestations of psychology (for example, has cognitive neuroscience substituted the brain for the mind?).