Discuss the choices that must be made before writing a history of psychology. Include in your answer a distinction between presentism and historicism.
The choices are made prior to writing the history of psychology and for this, there are too many approaches. One approach emphasizes the influence on the nonpsychological matters like political climate, technological advancement and economic conditions. Another is the great person approach that highlights the works of the great personalities, such as Aristotle, Freud Ralph and many more. The other one is the historical development approach, which display how the various individuals gave their contribution to change the idea through the years. So, these are some important approaches that can be considered while writing the history of psychology.
Stocking in 1965 gave an approach to history, called presentism, which is the study that understands the past in terms of the knowledge and standards. If we want to know where the progress has happened and where it is not, or we want to observe the change, then the presentism is necessary because without the present, the idea of history is meaningless.
He also gave another approach, which he called historicism, in contrast to presentism, because the study cannot be completed without relating the past and the present. It is the approach to understand the mentality and presuppositions of the men, who lived in the epoch, whether they shared it or not.