title: Genius [corrected] without the "Great Man": new possibilities for the historian of psychology.
abstract: The Carlylian style of history, more commonly known as the "Great Man" approach, presented the "genius" as an individual worthy of celebration: history as hero worship. This style, which characterized the first wave of the history of psychology, has gone out of historiographic fashion. In its place is the "new history," which is marked by its external focus and privileging of social factors and cultural context in its explanations. This shift in historiographic sensibilities has also led to a revision in the appropriate subject matter for psychologist-historians. This article argues, in contrast, that it is possible to study eminent individuals without resorting to hagiography, and it presents various methods that could be used for this purpose. The aim of such an endeavor is to create a space for critically and historically informed perspectives on greatness and to suggest a reconsideration of the value of an "historical psychology".
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, York University, 4700 Keele St., Behavioural Sciences Building, Toronto, ON, Canada M3J 1P3. Icball@yorku.ca
authors.forename: Laura C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Ball
mesh_terms: D006663:Historiography; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011584:Psychology / Q000266:history* / Q000639:trends