Trilingual Psychological Dictionary 1. [antikvár]

introduction by Hubert C. J. Duijker 1. The initial stage This work represents the first attempt to provide a list of equivalent psychological terms in three of the major languages. It has resulted from the cooperation between a considerable number of psychologists and has taken many years to arrive at its present form. A brief outline of its history may be offered by way of introduction. A number of years ago, Dr. W. Luthe started a compilation of psychological terms in three languages - English, French and Germán - which forms the basis of the present version. We may safely assert that without his initiative, energy and persistence this work would not have appeared. To him, and to him alone, the major credit is due. At an early stage, the International Union of Psychological Science became actively interested in Dr. Luthe's work. The reason for this interest was obvious: a trilingual lexicon might become a potent tool in fostering one of the Union's main purposes: the facilitation of international contacts and international cooperation between psychologists all over the world. Even though only three of the major languages were represented, it was felt that the effort was worth while, since it may be assumed that nearly all psychologists are familiarwith at least one of these, and may profitably use such a lexicon when trying to get access to publications in one of the other languages, with which they may be less acquainted. In view of the importance of the work started by Dr. Luthe, the Union decided - during the Bonn Congress in 1960 - to assume responsibility for its completion and publication. Since at the same time the Union decided to set up a special Committee on Publication and Communication, this Committee was given the task of seeing the lexicon through its final stages. Its first chairman - the senior editor - was asked to do such preparatory work as might be necessary; he was fortunate in obtaining the cooperation of Miss Maria J. van Rijswijk. In the meantime, a typewritten copy of one part of the lexicon (the English-French-Germán version) had been circulated among psychologists in various countries. Although everyone was very much impressed by the enormous amount of work done practically singlehanded by Dr. Luthe, still there were doubts and questions. It was felt that perhaps somé of the major fields in psychology had not received sufficient coverage, while others might be somewhat overrepresented. Furthermore, not all translations could obtain unanimous approval. On the basis of these judgements the Union decided to take the most prudent course, i.e. to undertake a complete and thoroughgoing inspection of the whole material assembled by Dr. Luthe, and to make such changes as might be considered desirable by experts in the various fields. From the beginning it was evident that such a procedure would require a great deal of effort, time and money. However, in view of the potential importance of the