Psychology today, 150 years ago- Mueller overview: “criticism of modern psychology”

      I have blogged several times where the field of “Psychology” was at least partly the subject matter.  Being a former patient of that field, and having come out of it, I have wondered where and why this field of study went wrong, and why so many Christians are fooled by modern "counseling" today.  Before I comment further, I am republishing Prof. J. T. Mueller's brief book review on this subject – of an author who has been grouped with B. F. Skinner and is labeled a “radical behaviorist.”  Translation was not needed, but I added some reference hyperlinks and an image of the book's author. The text is taken from Concordia Theological Monthly, vol. 1, no. 9, (September 1930), p. 719-720:

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Prof. R. H. Wheeler

The Science of Psychology. An Introductory Study. By Prof. R. H. Wheeler, University of Kansas. Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York. 556 pages. Price, $3.75.

There is an abysmal difference between the psychology of half a century ago [~1882] and that of the present time. The old psychology, known as mental philosophy, purposed to “ascertain the facts and laws of mental operation” and occupied the middle ground between metaphysics and natural science. It presupposed the “soul” to be an entity distinct from the body and regarded man as endowed by his Creator with a “moral consciousness,” or conscience, which functioned on the basis of a natural knowledge of God and His divine Law. (Cp. Dr. J. Haven’s Mental Philosophy.) [p. 15] The theory of Evolution, with its corollary of man’s descent from the primates, has wielded so tremendous an influence also on the science of psychology that its metaphysical content has been entirely eliminated. Psychology has become a matter of biological study, of laboratory and experimental investigations, of reactions to stimuli, of (page 720) social attitudes, etc. Professor Wheeler’s text-book is one of the most modern and forward-reaching of any published on the subject. It is written from the so-called configurational and organismic standpoints. Psychology, according to the author, is the “study, first, of social behavior with its various limited and specialized activities, and second, of those forms of behavior which can be abstracted from it” (p. 3). Behavior is “the activity of an organism-as-a-whole.” The organism is living in an environment which furnishes constant stimulation. Stimulations are the “activating influences of physical forces or social situations upon the organism.” Whatever the organism does as a result of this stimulation is called a response. The mechanisms of response in man are the nervous system, the muscles, and the glands. With these bodily structures the human being sees, hears, thinks, fears, loves, hates, and carries out all forms of overt action, such as locomotion, manipulation of objects, and talking. From the time of its conception the organism commences to grow and mature in certain definite directions which are laid down in the history of the species or race. The history of the species or race is therefore a remote condition of behavior (p. 3). These are some of the guiding principles of modern organismic psychology as presented in this book. Of course, the Christian student cannot satisfy himself with such a foundation for his psychological studies. It leaves out the fundamental facts of man’s original creation in the image of God, of the tremendous problem of sin as sin, of the divine Law inscribed in the heart, of conscience, etc. The human being “sees, hears, thinks, fears, loves, hates,” etc., not merely with the “bodily structures of nerves, muscles, and glands.” To understand his intellectual, volitional, and emotional acts, we must go beyond the “bodily structures” to the hidden realm of the soul. Psychology is more than a “biological science from the standpoint of the individual.” The “physical, chemical, and physiological facts” do not explain all the causes of “human behavior,” nor do the “social stimulations” account for it. All this must be stated in criticism of modern psychology, which is built up entirely on evolutionistic premises. But although the student of the Bible cannot agree with such psychology, he will recognize Prof. Wheeler’s Science of Psychology as a notable text-book on modern psychology.

J. T. Mueller

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      Prof. Mueller's identification of the “theory of Evolution” as the major contributing factor in the downfall of “psychology” showed that he was not blind to what was actually happening 90 years ago. It was refreshing for me to read that this “psychology today” means something quite different than in times past.  And Mueller at least partially answers the question: “Just what was psychology in times past?” I read in one of C.F.W. Walther's articles where he used the old field of “Psychology” when discussing a matter, before it changed into what “psychology” is today.  But today it is used as the source of “counseling” when people, including children, are in greatest distress, like I was.  I was in that group a few decades ago, and I sought counsel from my LC-MS pastor, which was helpful.  But I recall now that he did not warn against secular counseling and I ended up going to the care of a psychiatrist and a psychologist, attending “Group Therapy” for a number of years.  I always felt ashamed that I, a born-and-raised Missouri Synod Lutheran, would go to… worldly counseling.  Now I know why I felt ashamed, for I knew even then that this was a matter for spiritual counsel, something that modern secular counseling knows nothing about.  But even today's “spiritual counsel” is woefully lacking because it does not trust the Word alone, but mixes it with the methodology of modern psychology.  I recall distinctly how one of my psychological “counselors” groaned when I told them I attended a Lutheran church. They knew that their counseling did not mix with Christian counsel. 

      May other Christians caught in the trap of modern psychological “counseling” rather seek counsel and comfort from the Holy Scriptures, i.e. Christ's Word, and from those counselors faithful to it.