Psychology

William James along with James Dewey and Wilhelm Wundt has been the most influential psychologists of his time. Both Dewey and James are considered the pillars of American pragmatism. It has been due to them that psychology was brought out of the realm of predetermined and a priori assumptions, into the domain of public life, making public utility a criterion for the true value of any theory. This lead to the development of social psychology that began inquiries into domains, hitherto unknown to psychology, such as war and its effects on society.

William James was a revolutionary American psychologist, shot to prominence due to his concept of consciousness as river or a stream. He believed that consciousness is not something that can be chopped up in bits, Therefore words like chain or train are inappropriate descriptions of the whole process. He emphasized that thought cannot be dissected and atomized because it is a continuous process, in the sense that it is without breach, crack or division It never changes abruptly from one state to another, rather one mental state is connected with and is in relation with the preceding one. Another characteristic of consciousness is that it is active in choosing and rejecting various parts of its object which is best exemplified in the activity of deliberative will (James).

Wundt and James
Wilhelm Wundt and William James are thought of as fathers of psychology. Both have, along with certain differences, a lot in common. Both were empiricist, free-willist, and anti-materialistic (Boeree). Most importantly, in 1875, both of them opened first laboratories for psychological experimentation. Wundt believed that consciousness has two stages the larger consciousness called the Blickfield and the narrower one called the Apperception. Apperception is voluntarily controlled by the subject and is involved in actively choosing and rejecting thoughts within the confines of Blickfield (Boeree). James too believed in this choosing activity (James)

One of the differences between the two is that Wundt used the method of introspection as his method of inquiry. This experimental version of introspection was extensively used in Wundts laboratory (Boeree). James on the other hand distrusted introspection, which he believed was like cutting through a thought or turning on light to see how darkness looked. Another point of difference was that Wundt disagreed with James that response to stimuli preceded the emotion. According to Wundt it is the emotion that comes first and our behavioral consequences follow.

Dewey and James
Dewey, along with James is considered the founders of American pragmatism. Being a pragmatist he believed that philosophical principles should be tested on the pedestal of public good. One of his main achievements was that he brought philosophical discourse out of the domain of a priori theoretical assumptions and made the practical utility a value against which philosophical theories should be measured. Otherwise, he thought philosophy would be little more than intellectual recreation. He successfully brought philosophy closer to life as experienced throughout the day. Being a meliorate, he believed in the power of will that the shortcomings of life can be overcome by human effort. This meliorism translated into his pragmatism. (The centre for Dewey studies).

War and psychology
Interest in the psychological aspects of war grew after the WW II. It gained importance because the intense experiences of a conflict not only have adverse affects on the soldiers, who directly experience and suffer the violence it is also traumatic for the civilian population as well. Soldiers reported to be mentally affected by their war experience is not uncommon. Most common of the psychological disorders suffered by soldiers is the post traumatic-stress disorder, that can include nightmares, diminishing interesting in the surroundings, sleeplessness, and feelings of guilt.
The extent of psychological damage is not confined to the soldiers only. The civilian population also suffers psychologically from the travails of war. The near or dear ones of the soldiers whose lives have been put at risk can also develop stress disorder. This can aptly be called collateral psychological damage (Hyatt). People exposed to war can also suffer from a condition called learned suffering. The concept was coined by the Iraqi-American psychotherapist Ilham Al Sharrif, who while studying affects of war in abused Iraqi children noticed a the debilitating sense of fatalism in. them. This situation develops when an organism has learned to be helpless because he thinks that escape is not possible, not matter what he does or how hard he tries (Hyatt).