The Beginning of Psychology: Voluntarism/Structuralism Fechner - not interested in nurturing the new discipline German universities more advanced, research emphasized

Wilhelm Wundt (b. 1832) Got Psychology going Got it into the university system Made it a scientific discipline

Wundt’s Background Student from SW Germany Studied medicine at Heidelberg under Robert Bunsen Research on salt deprivation…

Wundt the Physiologist Medical degree 1855 Berlin with Johannes Muller and du Bois- Reymond Research on muscle movement Published first book in 1858 Heidelberg with Helmholtz; roomed with Ivan Sechenov

Wundt the Psychologist The value of experimentation His faith in psychophysical methods His long-term strategy to make psychology an experimental science Wundt awarded “Ausserordentlicher” position at Heidelberg

Experimental Psychology is Born "Principles of Physiological Psychology" contained chapters on: Movement Sensation The nervous system Experimental methods of psychophysics His own research

Leipzig, 1879 – *Landmark Date Weber and Fechner are there The Institute of Experimental Psychology Psychology is Born! He awarded the first Ph.D. in Psychology

Other Contributions to the Field A new journal: Philosophical Studies Book on anthropological (cultural) psychology In general, a “cheerleader” for psychology

Wundt's Legacy First experimental laboratory in Psychology Got psychology recognized as separate discipline Produced Ph.D. students in Psychology; taught over 24,000 students

Wundt's View of Psychology Psychology is a science of conscious experiences Psychology is concerned with phenomena Psychology seeks to control phenomena experimentally, measure them, and ultimately to derive general laws that will explain how observable phenomena arise

Psychology Deals with Direct Experience We can turn the mind inward upon itself and see directly without any instruments Hence, the technique of Internal Perception

Exploring the Mind: Analysis and Synthesis Analysis Synthesis

Limitation of Analysis/Synthesis Approach The (synthesis) portion is not amenable to experimental method, even though it is the more complex and interesting part of psychology (e.g., memory, language, reasoning) Later on, revised this: Volkerpsychologie

Wundt's Voluntarism System Elements of consciousness Will

3 Elements of Consciousness Sensations Feelings (3-d array) –pleasant/unpleasant –calm/excited –effortful/relaxed Volitions

Consciousness Consists of mixtures of sensations, feelings, and volitions

Voluntarism: Act of Will We focus attention on particular elements by exercising our will Will is the mortar that holds the building blocks of consciousness together

Wundt’s Students’ Research Visual perception experiments (color, afterimages, color blindness) Visual illusions and size constancy Chemical senses Reaction time experiments (mental chronometry) Attention

Edward Titchener (b. 1867) and Structuralism Student of Wundt Englishman who moved to U.S. at Cornell

1st Ph.D. student: Margaret Floy Washburn “The Experimentalists” Editor for "Mind” and American Journal of Psychology

Titchener’s View Agreed with Wundt that psychology is the science of direct, immediate experience Analysis of sensations sheds light on how elements are combined Emphasis on the experimental technique of Introspection

Titchener's Structuralism Focus is on breaking up meaningful perceptions into their elemental sensations 3 Elements of Consciousness –Sensations –Images Elements of ideas Less vivid, clear, intense, and prolonged than sensations –Feelings Pleasantness-unpleasantness

Sensations Over 44,000 different sensations cataloged 4 attributes of sensations: –Attensity –Quality –Protensity –Intensity

How do Sensations Combine? Law of Contiguity

What about Attention? Attention is drawn to sensation; attention = clarity

Criticisms of Voluntarism/Structuralism No clear scientific assumptions The focus is on the observer’s training –Properly trained to report direct experience –Observer must expect the stimulus –Must be in a state of strained attention –Observations repeated many times to reveal any problems

Introspection is really "retrospection" Introspecting alters the experience Results from other labs did not corroborate Other psychological data excluded due to method Structuralism was an exclusive club

Impact of Voluntarism/Structuralism A separate discipline from psychophysics Careful experimental method Gave psychologists identity Gave us something to criticize (!)

German Competitors to Wundt/Titchener

Hermann Ebbinghaus (b. 1850) Background Ph.D. Philosophy in 1873 Chair of Philosophy at Berlin "Concerning Memory: an investigation in experimental psychology”

Journal of Psychology and Physiology of the Sense Organs Fired from Berlin, replaced by Carl Stumpf Moves to Breslau (1894) Introductory Textbook: Principles of Psychology (1897)

Ebbinghaus and Human Memory Impressed by Fechner’s book Psychophysical methods to study higher mental processes that Wundt said could not be studied Objective methods must be used Used ”Sinnlose Silben" Exerted precise control over experimental conditions

The Experiments Varied length of the list, interval between recall, amount of original learning Examined practice and overlearning # repetitions in original learning inversely related to # repetitions in relearning Distributed vs. massed practice

Forgetting Rapid forgetting over time (Ebbinghaus Curve) ”Number of syllables I can repeat without error is about 7"

Overall Contributions of Ebbinghaus: Experimental methods for higher mental processes Groundbreaking memory work Textbooks Ebbinghaus Completion Test

Ebbinghaus’ Students William Stern –One of first to study language in children –IQ score William Lowe Bryan –Indiana U. President

Georg E. Muller (b. 1850) Buddies with Fechner 1878: The Foundations of Psychophysics U. of Gottingen

3 Phases of Muller’s Career

Phase 1: Psychophysics Response bias Transformations on data

Phase 2: Memory Memory drum Interference theory of forgetting (retroactive inhibition)

Phase 3: Visual Perception Extended Hering's opponent-color theory of color vision

Muller: A liberal thinker Collaborated with women, but they weren't allowed to receive Ph.D's at that time

A New Movement in Psychology Wundt/Titchener dominated Others said that Psychology should not be bound to a single method of science

Act Psychology Emphasizes the interaction of the individual and the environment Psychological events cannot be reduced to individual components without losing their identity Against structuralism

Franz Brentano (b. 1838) Background 1855: Joined Dominicans Studied under Trendelenberg Ph.D. Philosophy; ordained Instructor at U. of Wurzburg

Trouble in Wurzburg: Dissing the Pope Infallibility issue with the Pope Vatican 533: Brentano 2 Professor of Philosophy at U. of Vienna Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint (1874) Criticized Wundt/Titchener –They made the soul too passive –The soul makes the body work –We are more than a collection of sensory inputs

Act Psychology Psychology is the science of psychic phenomena expressed as acts and processes Psychic phenomena, or acts, are directed toward an object The psychological act is directed, intentional, purposive

3 Categories of Mental Acts Presentation Judging Desire

The Concept of Intentionality Consciousness is an intentional, goal-directed activity Consciousness always intends something

Method Internal perception is an indirect way to study mental phenomena

Edmund Husserl (b. 1859)

Studied under Wundt Studied logic with Brentano; degree with Stumpf U. of Gottingen Nazis in 1933

Husserl and Phenomenology (1913) “Logical Investigations” Science of examining the data of conscious experience A separate science that comes before psychology Husserl’s 2-Step Method –Careful Description –Wesensschau

Contributions of Husserl Proposed other methods to examine consciousness that emphasized the scrutiny of one’s self Thus, anticipated latter-day phenomenological psychology (humanistic psychology)

Carl Stumpf (b. 1848) Wurzburg w/ Brentano Ph.D. Gottingen w/ Lotze Back to Wurzburg; then back to Gottingen; then replaced Brentano at Wurzburg; then replaced Ebbinghaus at Berlin

Stumpf’s Work (1873) “On the psychological origin of space perception" Said perception was wholistic*** Must focus on classification of experience

3 Levels of Classification Sensations and images Perceiving, willing, desiring Relations (cognitive classifications)

Psychology of Music : Tone Psychology

Stumpf's Students Pfungst (Clever Hans) Kohler, Koffka, Lewin

Contributions of Stumpf Emphasized phenomenology Psychology of music Mentor for the Gestalt Psychologists

Oswald Kulpe (b. 1862): The Assassin of Structuralism “Science is my Bride”

Worked under Wundt Thesis with Muller in Berlin Back to Leipzig as instructor 1893: Introduction to Philosophy Moves to Wurzburg 1894 Established the “Wurzburg School”

How to Measure Thought? Systematic Experimental Introspection Marbe’s weight lifting experiment Failure to be able to introspect started up the imageless thought controversy

Imageless Thought? Wundt/Titchener claimed that thinking depended on mental images Kulpe found that in some experiments S's responses followed a stimulus word automatically without conscious awareness Said that "awareness" was neither image nor sensation

Final Nail in the Coffin of Voluntarism/Structuralism