Völkerpsychologie

Abstract

The term Völkerpsychologie (VP), widely used in German culture, does not precisely translate into English. Unfortunately, none of the attempts, including social psychology, cultural psychology, ethnic psychology, folk psychology, or racial psychology, has been successful. Moreover, VP has no single and consensual definition because its meaning varies depending on the author (e.g., Lazarus, Wundt, Hellpach). In a more general sense, however, one can say that VP refers to different research programs announced in that period, which attempted to investigate the mental development and/or manifestations of different peoples and cultures.