Overview

Psychology was a relatively young science when Münsterberg published On the Witness Stand, and efforts to apply psychological principles to legal issues were not much older. Law and psychology take very different epistemological approaches, and the threads of the two disciplines have come together and diverged over the years. This chapter includes a brief biography of Münsterberg and a summary of other contemporary work that addressed legal issues. The chapter also introduces important contrasts that have been central to the field since Münsterberg’s day. Of particular note, Münsterberg conducted basic psychological research but is also considered a pioneer in the field of applied psychology, albeit at times an ambivalent one; and current tensions between clinical and experimental psychology date back to his day and the early years of the American Psychological Association.