Germans, Germans Everywhere! Psychology 4006

Germany in the 1870s You have to understand that Germany, as a unified country was only founded in 1871 Before then there were loose confederations of some 39 German states. Prussia defeats France in the Franco Prussian war, German Empire declared. Germany was, up until 1914, the dominant industrial economy in Europe, and maybe in the world Their education system was second to none

Education in Germany Wissenschaft Philosophy of education in Germany Of course the Germans have a word for ‘pure science unencumbered by the need for application’ Philosophy of education in Germany Permeated university system in mid to late 19th century Academic freedom highly valued Emphasis on research and research-based degrees rather than a specific curriculum

Freud is not the father of psychology It’s this guy Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) M.D. (1855), then assistant to Helmholtz (1858- 1864) Began thinking about psychology as a science Principles of Physiological Psychology (1873-1874) Famous statement in the Preface “a new domain of science” At Leipzig 1875 Lab 1879 Journal 1881

Wundt at Leipzig Wundt preferred the term Voluntarism for his system. Laboratory work employed a rigorous introspection. Included methods such as naturalistic observations, archeological methods, and historical approaches. Emphasized psychological causality, flexible goals and means, and adaptability. Voluntary behavior did not imply free behavior. some free will is possible through reflective self-consciousness Agreed with Darwin’s ideas of adaptation placed far greater emphasis on psychological adaptation

Wundt at Leipzig Wundt defined psychology as the science that investigates “the facts of consciousness.” Psychology must discover the elements of consciousness. Then psychology must discover possible combinations of elements (a simple sensation). sensation as an element of consciousness and perception as a combination of outward sense impressions an idea referred to combinations that may arise from memory, early associations, and other sources

Wundt at Leipzig Wundt’s new psychology two parts Immediate conscious experience Investigated in the laboratory precise control Use of “internal perception” (form of self report) Higher mental processes Investigated outside of the lab precise control not possible Observation, case study, etc. Thinking, language, culture, social psychology

Inside the Wundt Lab Sensation & perception Psychophysics Mental chronometry Reaction time

More Wundt Changing conceptions of Wundt Old view: structuralist, goal is analysis, the lab is all that matters New view: voluntarism, active mind, apperception, Völkerpsycologie, lab is important (among other things) principle of creative synthesis. the belief that there is real novelty and creativity in higher mental operations heterogeny of ends, the emergence of new motives during the course of a chain of activities

A Little History Lesson Good illustration of need to continue to do history Old view believed by Titchener, promoted by Boring’s history text New view outcome of renewed interest in history and the development of cognitive psychology i.e., revision of Wundt would not have occurred prior to the context of renewed interest in cognition in 1970s

Everything’s Coming Up Psychology! Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) First experimental investigations of memory Desired to study formation of original associations Nonsense syllable (CVC) Sequence of them would not have pre-existing associations Therefore, serial learning task N=1

Ebby Findings Early finding of what later came to be called STM capacity Max CVCs repeated accurately after just one reading = 7 Effect of increased repetitions Advantage of distributed practice Existence of remote associations Time course of forgetting

More Ebby Method of savings Ebbinghaus forgetting curve Forgetting initially rapid Then levels off

Act Psychology Franz Brentano (1838-1917) Act as in active differentiated between inner observation and inner perception developed a classification system for mental phenomena phenomena were viewed as part of three intertwined categories: presentations, judgments, and desires influenced figures in Gestalt Psychology, Functionalism, and Existentialism, among others Had a sort of hippie vibe…..

The Würzburg School Oswald Külpe (1862-1915) Systematic experimental introspection Fractionation, to deal with memory issue Mental sets Imageless thought Conscious attitudes challenged Wundt’s reductionist methods argued for the study of psychogenesis, the study of the development of mental phenomena Most German looking German ever

The Germans Influence Goes Global Titchener’s 1898 paper Analogy to biology Structuralism is to functionalism as anatomy is to physiology Hence, understanding structure precedes understanding function E. B. Titchener (1867-1927) English, educated at Oxford Developed the values of a “proper British gentleman” 1892 a Ph.D. from Wundt at Leipzig 1892 first (and only) academic position Cornell

Titchener Titchener’s Experimentalists APA too “eclectic for Titchener - not sufficiently “experimental” Informal annual spring meetings discussed recent research and promoted experimental psychology No women (analogy to British men’s club)

Structuralism Analysis of immediate conscious experience Systematic experimental introspection Elements of human conscious experience Sensations basic elements of perception attributes quality, intensity, duration, clearness Images basic elements of ideas attributes quality, intensity, duration, but less clearness Affective states basic elements of emotions Only two qualities pleasant, unpleasant

Evaluating Titchener Study of “generalized adult mind” Only adults could be trained to introspect properly So experimental psychology could not include the study of children, the insane, or animals Interesting topics, but not “psychology” Structuralism became isolated Problems with introspection Titchener’s lasting contribution advocate for basic laboratory research

Conclusions Hugely influential, no Germans, no psychology Notice how their influence kind of goes away around oh 1914…