A History of Psychology Chapter 4: The New Psychology

The founding father of modern psychology Who? Gustav Fechner (1801-1887) Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) William James (1842-1910)

The founding father of modern psychology Fechner: originator 1st time demonstrated how to make precise measurements of mental quantities His goal was to understand the relationship between the mental and material world. Gustav Fechner

The founding father of modern psychology Wundt: Founder & promoter Established the world’s 1st experimental psychology laboratory, edited the 1st Journal, began experimental psychology as science His goal was to promote psychology as an independent science Wilhelm Wundt

The founding father of modern psychology William James First true American psychologist Turn psychology from Europe to the U.S. William James

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) -----His life 1. Childhood was lonely, 1st grades in school were poor, always disliked school 2. Did not get along with classmates, ridiculed by teachers 3. Decided to be a physician to work in science and make a living Wilhelm Wundt

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) -----His life 4. Disliked medicine, switched to physiology Student of Johannes Muller Complete his doctorate in 1855 at U. of Heidelberg Lab assistant to Hermann Helmholtz

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) -----His life 5. While working in physiology, he thought the study of psychology as an independent, experimental, and scientific discipline. 6. 1858-1862: Contributions to the Theory of Sensory Perception a. described his own original experiments b. offered methods for psychology c. first used the term of “experimental psychology”

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) -----His life 7. 1863: Lectures on the Minds of Men and Animals. A study of Reaction Time Influence cognitive science, dominate experimental psychology in 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s Experiment on Reaction time

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) -----His life 8. Offered the first formal course on “physiological psychology” “physiological” = “experimental” 9. Productivity 54,000pages (1853-1920), an output of 2.2 pages per day

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) -----His life 10. 1873-1874: Principles of Physiological Psychology a. his masterpiece b. established psychology as an independent laboratory science c. became the record of psychology research: six editions

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ----The Leipzig years 1. Professor of philosophy at Leipzig: 1875-1920 2. First psychology lab: model for psychology labs everywhere 3. First journal for psychology research a. 1881: Journal of Philosophical Studies b. 1906: new title-Journal of Psychological Studies

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ----The Leipzig years 4. Trained first generation of experimental psychologists 5. Trained several Americans and most of them returned to the US to begin laboratories of their own. 6. Also, his students established laboratories in Italy, Russian, and Japan. 7. He was not himself a laboratory worker even though his faith in laboratory research.

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ----Cultural psychology 1. 1880-1891: wrote on ethics, logic, systematic philosophy 2. 1900: Cultural Psychology The creation of social psychology 3. Concerned with stages of human mental development

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ----Cultural psychology 4. Focus on language, art myths, social, customs, law, and morals. 5. Divided psychology in two: Experimental Psychology Social Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ----Cultural psychology 6. Experimental psychology Simpler mental function such as sensation and perception Must be studied through experimental/laboratory methods. 7. Non-experimental methods higher mental processes such as learning and memory cannot be studies experimentally can be studied using methods of sociology anthropology, social psychology

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ----Cultural psychology 8. Citations: Cultural Psychology: < 4% Principles of Physiological Psychology: >61% 9. Reasons for the lack interest in cultural psychology Little need to pay attention to developments from Europe Less concern to cultural issues

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---The study of conscious experience 1. Wundt adapted scientific methods (in nature science) to study psychology 2.Subject matter in Wundt psychology: consciousness studied by the methods of analysis or reduction reduction to its elements active in organizing its contents

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---The study of conscious experience 3. Voluntarism: The mind has the capacity to organize mental contents into higher-level through process. emphasized the process, not the elements however, recognized the elements Provide only a beginning to understanding psychological processes.

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---The study of conscious experience 4. Mediate experience: Mediate experience provides information about something other than the elements of that experience E.g., The flower is red; I have a toothache 5. Immediate experience: unbiased by any personal interpretations Our experience of redness or our feeling of discomfort from a toothache

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---The study of conscious experience 6. Analyze the mind into its elements and its component parts like nature science (chemical elements)

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---The method of introspection 1. The method of a scientific psychology requires observation of conscious experience 2. Method of observation: Introspection: is the examination of one’s own mental state, “internal perception”, and report on personal thoughts or feelings

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---The method of introspection 4. Its use is derived from physics and physiology Fechner: subjects compared two weights and reported whether one is heavier, lighter, or equal. They were introspecting and reporting on their conscious experiences. 3. Required subjects to complete 10,000 introspective observation before ready to be Wundt’s subjects. 4. Accurate observation and replication

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---The method of introspection 5. Wundt’s four rules and conditions Observers must be able to determine when the process is to be introduced Observers must be in a sate of readiness It must be possible to repeat the observation several times It must be possible to vary the experimental conditions in terms of the controlled manipulation of the stimuli.

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---The method of introspection 6. Required quantitative and objective measurement (e.g., reaction time), not qualitative introspection 7. Used sophisticated equipment for objective measurement

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---elements of conscious experience 1. Wundt’s three goals for psychology Analyze conscious processes into elements Discover how elements are organized Determine the laws of connection governing the organization of the elements

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---elements of conscious experience 2. Two elements of conscious experience: Sensations Feelings Both are immediate experience

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---elements of conscious experience 3. Tridimensioal theory of feelings From Wundt’s own experiences as a subject. Wundt concluded three independent dimensions of feelings: pleasure/displeasure tension/relaxation excitement/depression

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---Organizing the elements of conscious experience 1. Reality: Whole: tree 2. Lab: report elements of conscious experience: color, shape, or brightness 3. Doctrine of apperception The process of organizing mental elements into a whole. is a creative synthesis. Impacted Gestalt psychology (the whole is different from the sum of its parts)

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---The fate of Wundt’s psychology in Germany 1. 1941: psychology: subspecialty in philosophy 2. Some against to separate psychology and philosophy 3. Lack of funds for a separate discipline Government officials did not see the practical value in psychology and were hesitant to provide enough financial support

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---The fate of Wundt’s psychology in Germany 4. Wundt’s psychology, focusing on organizing the elements of consciousness, was not appropriate for solving real-world problems. 5. Slow develop as a distinct science in Germany 6. 1910: 4 psychologists 1925: 25 psychologists 14 of 23 universities: separate psychology department

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---Criticisms of Wundtian psychology 1. Criticisms of method of introspection Not objective 2. Focus on conscious experience and avoid soul

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) ---Criticisms of Wundtian psychology 3. Not applicable to practical problems 4. Decline of Wundt’s system his personal opinions regarding World War I Wundtian research and writing disappeared in English-speaking world. Wundt’s lab was destroyed during WWII overshadowed by Gestalt psychology (in Germany) and psychoanalysis (in Austria)

Other Developments in German Psychology Others in England: Charles Darwin: a theory of evolution Francis Galton: a psychology of individual differences Others in Germany Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) Franz Brentano (1838-1917) Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915)

Others in German Psychology ---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) A. In general 1. Born in Germany in 1850 2. Impacted by Fechner, Elements of Psychophysics 3. using himself as the only subject 4. In 1880, taught at U. of Berlin; was not promoted there (lack of publication). 5. In 1894-1905, accepted a position at U. of Breslau. After 1905, moved to U. of Halle. Hermann Ebbinghaus

Others in German Psychology ---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) B. Research on learning 1. first to apply the experimental method to study higher mental processes (learning and memory) (Wundt thought that higher mental processes is impossible to study experimentally) 2. Study learning was to examine association

Others in German Psychology ---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) B. Research on learning 3. Measuring memory: counting the number of trials and repetitions required to learn the material. (Like Fechner, measuring sensations indirectly through by measuring the stimulus intensity to produce a just noticeable difference in sensation) 4. Recall: through the frequency of associations 5. Provided quantification of learning, memory, recall, and forgetting

Others in German Psychology ---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) C. Research with nonsense syllables 1. Nonsense syllables a. meaningless material is 9 times harder to learn than meaningful material b. found longer material requires more repetitions

Others in German Psychology ---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) 2. Most significant a. influence of experimental conditions on human learning and memory. b. quantitative analysis of the data c. finding that time to learn is a function of the number of syllables

Others in German Psychology ---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) D. other contributions to psychology 1. 1890, founded the Journal of Psychology and Physiology of the Sense Organs 2. Emphasized relationship between psychology and physiology 3. Developed a sentence-completion test

Others in German Psychology ---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) D. other contributions to psychology 4. In 1920, The Principles of Psychology; In 1908, A Summery of Psychology. 5. Many of his conclusion about learning and memory remains valid now. He expanded the experimental psychology. 6. More influential than Wundt

Others in German Psychology ----Franz Brentano (1838-1917) A. Career Was prepared to be a priest 1864, received his degree 1866, taught philosophy at U of Wurzburg 1874, published Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint and moved to U. of Vienna Franz Brentano

Others in German Psycholo ---Franz Brentano (1838-1917) His students, Carl Stumpf, Sigmund Freud Precursor of Gestalt and humanistic psychology Shared Wundt’s goal: psychology as a science 1874: Psychology From an Empirical Standpoint in direct opposition to Wundt’s view was empirical, not experimental method was observation, not experimentation did not reject experimentation data are from observation and individual experience

Others in German Psychology ---Franz Brentano (1838-1917) B. Brentono: Act psychology 1. Rejected study of the content of conscious experience 2. subject matter: mental activity 3.experience as activity Wundt: conscious experience 1. Accepted Study the content of conscious experience 2. Subject matter: Mental content 3. Experience as structure

Others in German Psychology ---Franz Brentano (1838-1917) 4. Requires new methods a. acts are not accessible through introspection b. study of mental acts requires empirical observation 5. Relied on systematic observation 6. Two methods: through memory and imagination

Others in German Psychology ----Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) A. In general 1. Born in medical family 2. Interested in music 3. Studied with Brentano and interested in philosophy and science 4. 1868, received his degree; 1894, taught at U. of Berlin 5. Wundt’s major rival Carl Stumpf

Others in German Psychology ----Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) B. Research 1. Perception of space 2. 1883, 1890: Psychology of Tone a. second only to Helmholtz in work on acoustics b. pioneer in psychological study of music

Others in German Psychology ----Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) C. Phenomenology 1. Argued primary data for psychology are phenomena 2. Phenomenology: Knowledge based on unbiased description of immediate description of immediate experience at it occurs, not analyzed or reduced to elements.

Others in German Psychology ----Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) 3. Analysis of experience into elements makes that experience artificial and no longer nature 4. Bitter debate with Wundt re: introspection of tones a. highly trained lab observers (Wundt) b. expert musicians (Stumpf)

Others in German Psychology ----Carl Stumpf (1848-1936) D. Other works 1. Founded Berlin Association for Child Psychology 2. Established center of music collection from the world 3. Published a theory of emotions, his idea relevant to contemporary cognitive theory of emotion

Others in German Psychology ---Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915) A. In general 1. Student and colleague of Wundt 2. “Kind mother” “science as my bride” 3. 1893: Outline of Psychology a. Psychology is the science of the facts of experience b. as dependent on the experiencing person Oswald Kuiilpe

Others in German Psychology ---Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915) B. Kulpe’s differences with Wundt Kulpe 1. Thought processes should be studied experimentally 2. Developed systematic experimental introspection a. involved performance of a complex task b. subjects gave retrospective report of the cognitive processes experienced during the task Wundt 1. Impossible to experimentally study about high mental process 2. Introspection

Others in German Psychology ---Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915) B. Kulpe’s differences with Wundt Kulpe 3. Subjective & qualitative 4. Detail 5. Describe the complex mental operations Wundt 3. Objective & quantitative 4. Not detail 5. Reaction time or judgment of weights

Others in German Psychology ---Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915) B. Kulpe’s differences with Wundt Kulpe 6. Experimenter: active role Directly ask questions of the observers to facilitate the details of their reactions Wundt 6. Experimenter: Limited to presenting the stimulus material and recording results Not intrude on the actual observations

Others in German Psychology ---Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915) C. imageless thought Kulpe Thought can occur without any sensory or imaginal content Wundt All experience is composed of sensations and images