The Psychology of Science and the Origins of the Scientific Mind

By Gregory J. Feist. 2006

101 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In this book, Gregory Feist reviews and consolidates the scattered literatures on the psychology of science, then calls for the establishment of the field as a unique discipline. He offers the most comprehensive perspective yet on how science came to be possible in our species and on the important role of psychological forces in an individual's development of scientific interest, talent, and creativity. Without a psychological perspective, Feist argues, we cannot fully understand the development of scientific thinking or scientific genius. The author explores the major subdisciplines within psychology as well as allied areas, including biological neuroscience and developmental, cognitive, personality, and social psychology, to show how each sheds light on how scientific thinking, interest, and talent arise. He assesses which elements of scientific thinking have their origin in evolved mental mechanisms and considers how humans may have developed the highly sophisticated scientific fields we know today. In his fascinating and authoritative book, Feist deals thoughtfully with the mysteries of the human mind and convincingly argues that the creation of the psychology of science as a distinct discipline is essential to deeper understanding of human thought processes.

Subfields: Cognitive Neuroscience

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In Cognitive Neuroscience

Citations in the corpus

Openness to experience and awe in response to nature and music: Personality and profound aesthetic experiences. (2015, background): “If we view traits as “thresholds” for behaviors and experiences (Feist, 2006), then we can view openness to experience as, in part, a lower threshold for experiencing states like awe and wonder.”
Discernment and creativity: How well can people identify their most creative ideas? (2008, unknown): “For example, openness predicts better divergent thinking and more creative accomplishments (eg, Carson, Peterson, & Higgins, 2005; Feist, 1998, 2006; King, Walker, & Broyles, 1996; McCrae, 1987; Silvia et al,, 2008).”
Assessing Creativity With Divergent Thinking Tasks: Exploring the Reliability and Validity of New Subjective Scoring Methods (2008, background): “Finally, openness is associated with creative accomplishment in diverse domains, such as science and the arts (Feist, 1998, 2006).”
Correlates of intellectual risk taking in elementary school science (2009, unknown): “…might be providing students with models of successful scientists who illustrate the importance of creative ideation in their work (Dunbar, 1997; Feist, 2006) and also encourage students to view their own development of scientiﬁc knowledge as resulting from the creative and imaginative process…”