Started the first laboratory and the first journal in experimental psychology Viewed Fechner's work as the first experimental psychology Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920)

Fechner: Psychology’s Originator Wundt: Psychology’s Founder Founding is deliberate and intentional Founding is different from making outstanding scientific contributions Founding requires integration of prior knowledge Founding involves promotion of the newly integrated material Wundt did all of the above plus promoted systematic experimentation as the essential method of psychology

Wundt’s life –Only child, poor student, disliked school –Goal: MD – work in science and make a living –Disliked medicine, switched to physiology Student of Johannes Müller at U. of Berlin Lab assistant to Helmholtz and professor at U. of Heidelberg –While working in physiology, conceived of independent, experimental science of psychology Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920)

– : Contributions to the Theory of Sensory Perception Original experiments in home laboratory Offered proper methods for psychology Term experimental psychology first used –1863: Lectures on the Mind of Men and Animals Discussed problems that were the focus of psychology research for years Examples include reaction time and psychophysics Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920)

–Taught 1 st Physiological Psychology course at university of Heidelberg “physiological” = “experimental” First time such a course offered anywhere in the world Wrote Principles of Physiological Psychology (1873–1874) based on his lectures Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920)

Principles of Physiological Psychology ( ) –Announced his goal to establish a new discipline –The cornerstone of Psychological Research for years to come Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920)

Wundt and Darwin Accepted the general idea of adaptation, but saw biological adaptation as being too passive Darwin’s adaptation was OK for plants, but animals had volition; they directed their actions toward objects

The Leipzig Years ( ) Leipzig was viewed as more prestigious than Heidelberg Letter from the Dean: “I hope that your call to the university will one day be viewed as (the beginning of) an epoch in the history of German philosophy, especially of psychology and epistemology.”

The Leipzig Years Professor of philosophy at Leipzig: 1875 – 1920 First psychology laboratory: model for psychology laboratories everywhere First journal for psychology research –1881: Journal of Philosophical Studies –1906: new title = Journal of Psychological Studies –Trained first generation of experimental psychologists

Leipzig Lab Gear Model Eye Perimeter

Leipzig Lab Gear Tachistoscope Precision Chronograph Pulse Generator

Wundt’s Cultural Psychology – : wrote on ethics, logic, systematic philosophy –1900: Volkerpsychologie, 10 volumes Anthropology Linguistics Forensic psychology Psychology of Religion Personality Social

Divided psychology in two parts: experimental and social Argued higher mental processes such as learning and memory… 1.cannot be studied experimentally 2.are conditioned by language and culture 3.can be studied using methods of sociology and anthropology Wundt’s Cultural Psychology

Elements of Conscious Experience –Wundt’s goals for psychology Analyze conscious processes into their basic elements Discover how these elements are synthesized or organized Determine the laws of connection governing the organization of the elements

Wundt and Consciousness Voluntarism: Wundt's name for his system –From “volition” = will –Not the same as “free will” –Is power of the will to organize mental contents into higher-level thought processes –Emphasized the activity, not the elements

Wundt and Consciousness Voluntarism: Not free will –“An insane person may balance motives one against another and proceed with thoughtful circumspection, yet we do not call his decisions free.” - Ethics, 1892

Wundt and Consciousness Voluntarism – begins with what we call attention, but adds the thought processes that are involved in acting upon the object holding our attention Use the method of introspection to study the first stages of voluntarism –Introspection = Glorified psychophysics

Method requires observation of conscious experience Is the examination of one’s own mental state, “internal perception” Wundt added precise experimental control over the conditions Wundt and Introspection

1.Observers must know when the procedure will begin 2.Observers must be “in a state of readiness or strained attention” 3.The observation must be repeatable numerous times 4.The experimental conditions must be varied in terms of control over stimulus manipulation Critics feared that too much introspection would drive students insane! Wundt and Introspection

By asking participants to report on their experiences while observing lights, sounds, odors, etc. he tried to see how stimuli were recognized, understood, and how they led to new thoughts. He referred to this as the process of association. Wundt and Introspection

Association involves: –Preparation: several ideas compete for center stage until the object is finally recognized –Influence: One idea crosses the threshold and enters consciousness –Expansion: Additional ideas compliment the main idea –After-Effect: Reflection on the event and a chance to make new connections Wundt and Introspection

Two Elements of Conscious Experience 1.Sensations –Stimulation of a sense organ leads to impulses that reach the brain –Intensity, duration, and sense modality 2.Feelings –Subjective accompaniments of sensations –“Not derived directly from senses organs –Tri-dimensional 1.Pleasure/displeasure 2.Tension/relaxation 3.Excitement/depression

Doctrine of apperception Leads to emergent qualities not just the sum of the mental elements (creative synthesis!) Active process!! –Similar to Gestalt idea that the whole is different from the sum of its parts –Similar to J.S. Mill’s mental chemistry –Opposite of the passive, mechanical associationism of most of the other British empiricists Organizing the Elements

From the Doctrine of apperception (Law of Psychical Resultants) “...Every psychical compound shows attributes which may...be understood from the attributes of its elements...but which are by no means to be looked upon as the mere sum of the attributes of these elements....the aggregate...is a new psychical content that was made possible...by these elements, but was by no means contained in them.”

Wundt's Psychology in Germany Spread rapidly Did not transform nature of academic psychology within the country Remained a subspecialty of philosophy for 20 years Usefulness of the discipline was doubted In contrast, psychology in the United States grew more rapidly

Criticisms of Wundtian Psychology Disapproval of method of introspection –Differences in results obtained by different observers; Who is correct? –Introspection as a private experience; Cannot settle disagreements through replication

Personal political views After WWI two schools of thought in Germany challenged Wundt's views WWII: his lab destroyed in a bombing raid –“...The nature, content, form, and even home of Wundtian psychology” were lost In the U.S., functionalism and behaviorism overshadowed Wundtian psychology Psychology itself flourished through the 1900s Wundt’s Legacy

Wundt’s Legacy: Philosophy –Rejection of nonscientific thinking –Severing ties between psychology and non- modern philosophy –Avoid the soul by stressing conscious experience and empirical methods –Publishing extensively –Training the first generation of psychologists –Considered by many as the “most important psychologist of all time” –Served well in provoking rebellions

Wundt’s Legacy: Students August Kirschmann –Light sensitivity in the retina Emil Kraepelin –Described schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorder, effects of alcohol and morphine –Opposed Freud and psychoanalysis Lightner Witmer –Studied Learning in mentally handicapped children –Coined the term clinical psychology

Other Developments in German Psychology Common enterprise: the expansion of psychology as a science –Wundt monopoly short-lived –Although influential developers made Germany the center of the new discipline, their viewpoints were sometimes different

Psychology took a different course in England and exerted more influence in America than did Wundt's work. American psychologists trained under Wundt transformed its system to a distinctively American psychology Psychology divided into factions; Wundt’s version one of many. UK and America

Other Developments in Germany Hermann Ebbinghaus ( ) –Directed clear experiments on memory (nonsense syllables) –Influenced by Fechner Fechner – Measured senses indirectly with thresholds Ebbinghaus – Measured memory indirectly by counting numbers of items recalled after specific periods of time

Ebbinghaus and Memory Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve –CVC Nonsense syllables (lef, bok) Control for familiarity Randomized presentation from 2,300 syllables –Compared nonsense to sense 80 nonsense syllables 80 syllables of Don Juan

Ebbinghaus and Memory Conclusions about memory –Related memory and time –Familiar and unfamiliar –More info requires more memorization time (practice)

Ebbinghaus’ Legacy Founded Journal of psychology and Physiology of the Sense Organs with physicist Arthur König (1890) Higher cognitive functions –Sentence completion tasks still used Basic principles of learning and memory have survived for more than a century

Other Developments in Germany Franz Brentano ( ) –Father of Act Psychology –Devout Catholic background –Broke with church over papal infallibility

Franz Brentano Experience is dictated by context and is not a property of the outside world –Locke’s water basin experiment –Opposed Wundt: Mental activity cannot be broken into elements –Study the process of the mind (the ACTion of the experience) rather than the content. (Gestalt foundations) Tough to study experimentally –Freud was a student >> Psychoanalysis

Franz Brentano A vision of Psychology’s future “How many evils could be remedied…by knowledge according to which a mental state can be modified!” This would be the basic theme of American Functionalism

Other Developments in Germany Carl Stumpf ( ) –Appointed to professorship at the University of Berlin –Wundt’s major rival –Two of his students founded Gestalt Psychology Kurt Koffka Wolfgang Köhler

Carl Stumpf Foundations of his Opposition –Breaking experience into elements was absurd. It must be understood in its entirety –Fought with Wundt about experiencing melodies. Who is qualified to report? Wundt: Trained introspectors Stumpf: Accomplished musicians

Carl Stumpf Experiencing Music –Melody is recognized, despite differences in instrumentation. How is a tune stored in memory? –Chose Berlin for the music –Collected music from the world –Berlin Association for Child Psychology Musical prodigies

Experimenter Bias & Clever Hans Wilhelm von Osten: Animal intelligence Oskar Pfungst (Stumpf’s student)

Other Developments in Germany Oswald Külpe ( ) –Wundt’s assistant at Leipzig –Appointed to Würzburg (1894) and became Wundt’s rival –Higher mental functions could be studied and psychology need not be limited to explaining basic functions Look at Ebbinghaus!

Külpe’s Split with Wundt Systematic Experimental Introspection –Study thought processes by asking subjects to explain the path to a conclusion Two detectives – same solution –Wundt hated retrospective approaches! Called it “Mock Introspection” Study the NOW

Külpe’s Split with Wundt Külpe proposed Imageless Thought –Wundt: Thoughts are built from images –Külpe: The face of a new acquaintance? Your ability to think about her later does not depend on your ability to describe her face, voice etc. –What about concepts like loyalty, Id, eternity? Külpe also described the Mental Set

Mental Set

Comment Psychology fraught with divisions and controversies from the beginning Germany did not remain the center of psychology Titchener brought his own version of Wundt's psychology to the United States

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1966) Robert Rosenthal –U.C. Riverside –Doctor-Patient –Employer-Employee –Judge-Jury

Howard Gardner (1983) Harvard Graduate School of Education –Born in Scranton, PA –Son of German refugees –Dedicated musician –What does his work say about Specialization?

Edward C. Tolman (1948) Purposive Behaviorism –MIT Engineer turned Harvard Psychologist (1915) –Studied with Kurt Koffka, a founder of Gestalt psychology

Elizabeth Loftus (1975) U.C. Irvine –Department of Psychology –Department of Criminology, law, and Society –Does not believe in the subconscious mind