ABSTRACT
The introduction invites a fluid, dynamic, complex, and expansive re-visioning of the American psyche. First, it provides an overview of the term “American psyche,” showing how it resembles a kaleidoscope. While each shift in time—epoch, or even just a decade—may reveal new patterns featuring social events, wars, heroes, technological innovations, and literary or artistic movements, the contents (myths, images, and ideas, such as those mentioned above) are archetypal and constant. The introduction then discusses the need for a deep dive into the subject and reviews the ethos and purpose of the collection of essays, underscoring psychology’s responsibility to attend to social, political, historical, and cultural realities by building bridges between psyche and social. A separate editor’s introduction can be found at the beginning of each part, preceding the contributors’ essays to provide a theoretical background for the following discussion and an overview of all the essays under the umbrella, while also explaining how they contribute to the re-visioning goal of the book as a whole.
