The Psychological Complex: Psychology, Politics and Society in England, 1869-1939 (Introduction)

These vocabulary flashcards cover the key concepts, persons, institutions, and theoretical terms introduced in Nikolas Rose’s opening chapter on how modern English psychology emerged through the study of abnormality and the practical demands of social institutions.

Psychology of the individual

A branch of early 20th-century psychology that focused on measuring and explaining the specific mental capacities, attributes, and variations found in individual people, especially those deemed abnormal.

Individual differences

The measurable variations in mental capacities and attributes between persons; the primary object of study for the psychology of the individual.

Applied psychology

The use of psychological knowledge and techniques to address practical problems in institutions such as schools, hospitals, prisons, factories, and the military.

Abnormality (in early psychology)

Any conduct or mental state considered socially disruptive or inefficient; the pole around which individual psychology first formed its explanations and techniques.

Normal mind (traditional view)

The supposed baseline of healthy mental functioning; in classic histories it was treated as the central object of psychology, with pathology viewed merely as a deviation.

Pathology’s role in psychology

According to Rose, knowledge of abnormal minds and behaviours was the starting point—not a by-product—for the emergence of modern psychological science in England.

Social apparatuses

Institutional sites such as schools, courts, armies, factories, and hospitals where psychological expertise was first deployed and legitimised.

Feeble-minded (historical term)

A late-19th/early-20th-century category for people judged to possess severely limited intellectual ability, central to early debates on mental deficiency.

Shell-shocked soldier

A term for World War I combatants suffering psychological trauma; their condition stimulated new psychological investigations and therapies.

Maladjusted child

A label for school-age children whose behaviour or emotions were viewed as abnormal, prompting psychological assessment and educational intervention.

British Psychological Society (1901)

Professional body founded to unite psychologists, regulate standards, and promote psychology as a science in Britain.

Mind (journal, 1876)

The first English-language periodical devoted to psychology and philosophy, established by Alexander Bain to affirm psychology’s scientific standing.

Experimental psychology laboratory

A dedicated research space—first created in England in 1897—designed for controlled study of psychological phenomena using scientific methods.

Alexander Bain

Scottish philosopher-psychologist who founded the journal ‘Mind’ and championed psychology as a distinct science.

James Sully

Grote Professor who opened the first English experimental psychology laboratory at University College London in 1897.

Regime of truth

Foucault-inspired term used by Rose to describe the rules and practices that allow a scientific discourse, such as psychology, to claim and police what counts as true.

Discursive conditions

The historically specific ways of thinking—about heredity, statistics, evolution, government, etc.—that made psychological explanations of individuals possible.

Scientific discourse (Rose’s sense)

A system of concepts, classifications, methods, and proofs by which a field (e.g., individual psychology) constructs objects of knowledge and separates truth from error.

Professionalisation of psychology

The 20th-century process by which trained experts formed societies, set qualifications, and claimed authority over psychological assessment and intervention.

Industrial psychology

A subfield that applied psychological methods to workplace problems such as fatigue, selection, training, and efficiency, especially during and after WWI.

National Institute of Industrial Psychology

British organisation (founded 1921) that promoted research and consultancy on worker efficiency, accident prevention, and vocational guidance.

Psychological expertise

Specialised knowledge and skills—assessment, diagnosis, therapy—wielded by psychologists to address practical and administrative problems.

Assessment and diagnosis (psychological)

Systematic procedures, tests, and classifications developed to identify individual mental capacities, pathologies, and predicted behaviours.

World War II and psychology

The conflict that accelerated the spread and institutional authority of applied and clinical psychology, building on inter-war developments in individual psychology.