International Psychology - History

History

Modern scientific psychology had an international dimension from its beginnings in the late 19th century. Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920), for instance, the father of scientific psychology, supervised approximately 190 doctoral students from at least 10 countries. Similarly, the First International Congress of Physiological Psychology in 1889, in Paris, included more than 200 participants from 20 countries. Although psychology developed first in Europe, it soon began to prosper in the United States as well. Altogether, modern scientific psychology remained a predominantly western enterprise till well after World War II. During the 1930s many prominent psychologists from Germany and Austria emigrated to the United States. As a result of these developments, psychology in the United States assumed worldwide leadership, but also grew increasingly monocultural, monolingual, and ethnocentric in character (see David and Buchanan, 2003, for a timeline of important events in the history of international psychology). However, there is now an increased awareness among many U.S. psychologists that U.S. psychology must take into account global developments in order to fully represent the world of psychology. For instance, the American Psychological Association established in 1997 an International Psychology Division (Division 52), which currently has about 600 members.

During the last three to four decades, especially, psychology has expanded worldwide and assumed a global presence. Stevens and Gielen (2007) estimate that the total number of psychologists has surpassed 1 million. This estimate is based on local definitions of what it means to be a professional psychologist: in most countries the prerequisite is a Masters degree or diploma in psychology, whereas in some others (e.g., Brazil) a Bachelor’s degree and a period of supervised practice enable one to gain admission to a licensing examination. The global estimate includes well over 300,000 psychologists in Europe, at least 200,000 in Latin America, and 277,000 in the United States. In addition, psychology has gained ground in East and Southeast Asia and is increasingly visible in some Muslim countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and Iran (Ahmed & Gielen, 1998; Stevens & Wedding, 2004). In sub-Saharan Africa, psychology is well developed in South Africa, but less present through expanding in the other regions. For more detailed information, see the edited volume by Stevens and Wedding (2004) which includes analyses of the status of psychology in 27 countries located on all inhabited continents. The contributions to Moodley, Gielen, and Wu (2013) analyze the status of counseling psychology and psychotherapy in 35 countries.

In general, psychology as a discipline has prospered in well-to-do and individualistic countries and cultures but it is frequently considered an unnecessary luxury in the poorer regions of the world where the treatment of physical health problems by modern healthcare workers and indigenous healers is likely to take precedence over the identification and treatment of mental health problems (Leung & Zhang, 1995).