2. Compare the influence in psychology of each of the ‘independent’ thinkers cited in this chapter: Ebbinghaus, Galton, Piaget and Freud. Which of these individuals do you think has been more influential in (a) academic psychology and (b) ‘folk’ or ‘everyday’ psychology (for example, as discussed by ‘people in the street’), and why?

Key points:

• A thorough and well-reasoned consideration of the relative contributions that each of these individuals have made to psychology, as presented in the chapter.
  Reflection on whether these contributions may be domain specific or more wide-ranging (and, if the latter, how?).
• Extra credit for an essay that illustrates wider reading beyond the chapter and/or seeks to integrate and/or compare/contrast different elements of these individuals’ contributions to psychology up to and including the modern day.
• Acknowledgement of a distinction between academic and everyday psychology, and that the kinds of topics that are of interest to academic psychologists are not necessarily of interest to ‘lay’ psychologists (including some reflection on why this may be the case).