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William McDougall
1871–1938
An early psychologist who helped popularize the study of instinct and social behavior, he taught at Oxford, Harvard, and Duke and wrote books that shaped debate in the early 1900s. His work ranged from mainstream psychology to controversial interests such as psychical research, which kept his name in discussion long after his lifetime.
2 Audiobooks
The Pagan Tribes of Borneo
by Charles Hose, William McDougall
The Group Mind: A Sketch of the Principles of Collective Psychology
by William McDougall
About the author
Born in 1871, William McDougall was a British psychologist who became one of the best-known writers on psychology in the early 20th century. He is especially associated with instinct theory and with some of the first major efforts to define social psychology as a field of study.
During his career, he held academic posts at University College London, the University of Oxford, Harvard University, and Duke University. His books were widely read in their time, and he helped bring questions about motivation, behavior, and the relation between mind and action to a broad audience.
McDougall is also remembered for the unusual breadth of his interests. Alongside his academic psychology, he engaged with psychical research, a subject that made him a more controversial figure. He died in 1938, but his name still appears in histories of psychology as an influential and sometimes debated pioneer.