1. The Science of Psychology
19th Century
The Science of Psychology

2. Johann Friedrich Herbart
1776 – 1841
Textbook in Psychology (1816)
Psychology as a science, newly founded upon experience, metaphysics and mathematics (1824)
Although thought the mind could not be studied experimentally (the mind acts as an integrated whole which could not be fractionated), he believed that the mind could be explained mathematically
Provided no room for innate ideas or a priori concepts
Instead, the elements of consciousness (and unC) are to be understood in terms of the dynamical, mechanical laws of physics and so are subject to be understood via mathematics

3. Johann Friedrich Herbart
For Herbert, ideas had a force or energy of their own (a la Leibnizian monads) and so the laws of association were not necessary to bind them
His system, referred to as psychic mechanics, proposed that ideas had the power to attract or repel other ideas, depending on their compatibility
Ideas attempt to gain expression in consciousness and compete with each other to do so

4. Johann Friedrich Herbart
At any given moment a group of compatible ideas are in consciousness and constitutes the apperceptive mass, that to which we are attending.
Ideas outside the apperceptive mass (incompatible ideas) will be repressed by the powers of the ideas in the mass.
He used the term limen (anticipating Fechner’s JND) to describe the threshold between conscious and unconscious and his goal was to mathematically express the relationships among the apperceptive mass, the limen, and the conflict among ideas.

5. Johann Friedrich Herbart
He applied his ideas to education by offering suggestions on how to teach effectively:
1) Review the material already learned
2) Prepare the students for new material by giving overview of upcoming material
3) Present the new material
4) Relate the new material to what has already been learned
5) Show applications of the new material and give an overview of next material to be learned

6. Hermann von Helmholtz 1821-1894
Considered to be one of the greatest scientists of the 19th century because of his contributions to the fields of physics, physiology, and eventually psychology
Paved the way for the emergence of experimental psychology

7. Helmholtz
Disagreed with the concept of vitalism which states that life comes from a force beyond physical and chemical processes alone
Because it was not physical the “life force” was not conducive to scientific analysis.
The materialist position (Helmholtz and others) stated that life could be explained in terms of physical and chemical processes and thus there is no need to exclude the study of life or anything else from the realm of science

8. Hermann von Helmholtz
Through research he was able to demonstrate the application of the principle of conservation of energy to living organisms
Energy can be converted from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed
Helmholtz measured the speed of nerve conduction, finding that nerve conduction in humans to be between 165 to 330 feet per second
This provided further evidence that physical-chemical processes are involved in our interactions with the environment rather than some mysterious process

9. Hermann von Helmholtz Theory of Perception
For Helmholtz, sensations are raw elements of experience, and perception is the sensation after being given meaning by the person’s past experience
To explain the transformation from sensation to perception he relied on the ideas of unconscious inference of past experience
Humian notion
Also introduced the concepts of stereopsis and perceptual learning

10. Hermann von Helmholtz
He devised a theory of color vision which proposed three types of color receptors corresponding to the three primary additive colors
Trichromatic theory
The firing of these receptors in various combinations results in subjective color experiences corresponding to various wavelengths of light
He also proposed a resonance place theory of auditory perception in which the pitches of sound we hear are determined to a great extent on where along the basilar membrane the most vibration is occurring in response to a sound vibration

11. Hermann von Helmholtz Helmholtz vs. Kant
Helmholtz disagreed and thought the categories were derived through experience
Suggested that if our experience were different, even our (supposedly innate) mathematical axioms would be different
However did agree that the perceiver determined the nature of sensation (however due to past experience rather than innate categories)

12. Christine Ladd-Franklin
Psychologist, logician, mathematician
First woman student to enter Johns Hopkins
But no PhD because she was an icky girl with cooties!
Worked in Helmholtz's laboratory
Proposed a theory of color vision which was based on evolutionary theory and the evolution of the physiology of the system
Achromatic first developed, color later, and color vision itself developed over time

13. Ernst Weber
Physiologist interested in sense of touch and kinesthesis (muscle sense)
The Just Noticeable Difference

14. Ernst Weber
Investigated the sense of touch and mapped out the sensitivity of touch for the entire body using the two-point threshold
Smallest distance between two points for them to be perceived as such (instead of one)
Sensitivity ranged from the most sensitive on the tongue to least sensitive on the back
His work in kinesthesis led to the determination of the just noticeable difference (JND), the least amount of change necessary to notice a difference along a particular dimension between two stimuli

15. Ernst Weber
With his research he was able to determine Weber’s law (or Weber-Fechner law) – the finding that the amount of change necessary to notice a difference (JND) is a constant fraction of the type of stimulus under investigation
E.g. lifted weights: 1/40 of reference weight
This was the first quantitative law in psychology
The relationship between stimulus and perception
Perception a function of stimulus intensity and not based on absolute differences between stimuli, but relative difference

16. Gustav Fechner 1801-1887 Psychophysics Elemente der Psychophysik
Study of the relationship between the body and the mind
Elemente der Psychophysik

17. Gustav Fechner
Early work (more than 40 works published by 30) included efforts in physics and mathematics
Turned to more psychological topics and at one point studied afterimages, for which he needed a bright stimulus
He chose the sun
Subsequently injured his eyes, fell ill and suffered major depression, resigned post at Leipzig

18. Gustav Fechner
Recovered rather suddenly about three years later and became deeply religious
Renounced his former materialism and turned to poetry and metaphysics
Eventually became interested in the problem of the psychological-physical relationship

19. Gustav Fechner
Sought to express the relationship between mental and physical events
His research and further mathematical workings with Weber’s law resulted in Fechner’s formula describing the relationship
He speculated that for mental sensations to change arithmetically the physical stimulus must change geometrically
S = k log R
S is the sensation, k is a constant, and log R the logarithm of the physical intensity of the stimulus
He had shown that under proper laboratory conditions reliable data regarding psychological phenomenon could be collected

20. Gustav Fechner
His further research included studies on the absolute threshold – the lowest intensity at which a stimulus can be detected, and the difference threshold – the amount a stimulus magnitude that needs to be changed before a person detects a difference
In studying these psychophysical measures Fechner developed various methods of research
Method of limits
Standard plus varying stimulus that is presented in greater (or lesser) amounts; find the range that equals the standard or look for absolute thresholds
Method of constant stimuli
Standard plus varying stimulus that is presented randomly
Method of adjustment
Subject varies; average difference between variable stimulus and standard noted

21. Gustav Fechner Developed a doctrine of panpsychism
Panpsychism is the doctrine that mind, in some sense of the term, is everywhere
Fechner's panpsychism carried with it the notion of a “world-soul” or “world-mind” of which everything is a part
Recall Spinoza

22. Gustav Fechner Other stuff
Psychophysical techniques still employed (now with catch trials)
Later turned his attention to aesthetics to determine what leads to a judgment of beauty
Analyzed 20,000 paintings from 22 museums
Predicted that if the corpus callosum were split, consciousness would as well
W. James being foolish:
“Fechner’s book was the starting point for a new department in literature, which it would be impossible to match for the qualities of thoroughness and subtlety, but of which, in the humble opinion of the present writer, the proper psychological outcome is just nothing.”

23. Early Approaches to Psychology
The New Science

24. Early Approaches to Psychology
At this point in time the modern Psychology was ready to be a full-fledged science
Others had been advocating it as a separate endeavor and did everything to promote it as such without actually engaging in the science itself
Bain
Spencer
Still others were engaging in the research but more from the realm of physics or physiology proper
Helmholtz
Weber

25. Wilhelm Wundt 1832-1920 The founder of psychology
First lab devoted exclusively to the study of psychology proper
1879
Sorry James, but no
Wundt took the diverse achievements of others and himself and synthesized them into a unified program of research
Psychology’s first school (group of individuals who share common assumptions, work on common problems, and use common methods) was formed
Voluntarism

26. Wilhelm Wundt
With Helmholtz and Fechner paving the way, Wundt had both a reason and a means for attempting the scientific study of psychology
However he was not wed to the previous, sometimes dualist, sometimes strictly empirical, approaches of his predecessors
For him, the subject matter of psychology was the “manifold of consciousness”, to be studied by means of experimental psychology
Includes more than the interpretation of the objects of sense, but also emotion, imagery, memory, attention etc.

27. Wilhelm Wundt
““Mind,” “intellect,” “reason,” “understanding,” etc., are concepts... that existed before the advent of any scientific psychology.  The fact that the naive consciousness always and everywhere points to  internal experience as a special source of knowledge, may, therefore, be accepted for the moment as sufficient testimony to the right of psychology as a science... “Mind,” will accordingly be the subject to which we attribute all the separate facts of internal observation as predicates.  The subject itself is determined wholly and exclusively by its predicates.”
What the mind does is the object of study
Psychology proper is synonymous with physiological (in this sense the causal laws governing mind) and experimental psychology

28. Wilhelm Wundt
Note however that Wundt was in no way a strict materialist or reductionist
Mind could not simply be reduced to matter
He early on recognized the failures of both previous dualistic and monistic forms of arguments, and that the recent technological developments would not solve the issue
Furthermore, for Wundt it was not psychology’s place to do so either

29. Wilhelm Wundt
Psychology’s goal was to understand both simple (basic processes of the mind) and complex (higher mental processes) conscious phenomena
For simple phenomena experimentation was to be used, for complex phenomena experimentation could not be used – only various forms of naturalistic observation could be used

30. Wilhelm Wundt For Wundt, there were two types of experience
Mediate experience and data are obtained via measuring devices and thus are not direct
Immediate experience and data are events in human consciousness as they occurred
This was to be the subject matter of psychology

31. Wilhelm Wundt
He and his assistants used a variety of methods but primarily ‘introspection’
However his experimental introspection was not the unstructured self-observation used by earlier (and some later) philosophers/“psychologists”
Pure introspection
Wundt’s introspection used laboratory instruments to present stimuli, in most instances the subject was to respond with a simple response such as saying “yes” or “no”, pressing a key
Experimental introspection
In his research he also used a method developed by Franciscus Donders to measure differences in reaction time when various mental activities were required by the experimental situation
Mental chronometry

32. Wilhelm Wundt
There are two basic types of mental experience, sensations and feelings
Sensations occurred when a sense organ is stimulated and the impulse reaches the brain
These can be described in terms of modality, intensity, and quality
Feelings accompanied sensations and could be described along three dimensions, pleasantness – unpleasantness, excitement – calm, and strain – relaxation
Tridimensional theory of feelings

33. Wilhelm Wundt
For Wundt, perception is a passive process governed by the stimulation present, the physical makeup of the person, and the person’s past experience
The interaction of these factors makeup the person’s perceptual field and the part of this field the person attends to is apperceived, apperception and selective attention are the same
Apperception is active and voluntary
The active role of attention
Elements which are attended to can be arranged and rearranged according to the person’s will, thus arrangements not experienced before can be produced
‘creative synthesis’

34. Wilhelm Wundt
Distinguished between physical and psychological causality
Wundt believed that physical causality is a reality because events could be predicted on the basis of antecedent conditions, but psychological causality was not possible
Can’t predict volition as it is due to unconscious (though deterministic) influences

35. Wilhelm Wundt
Though he did not believe that higher mental processes could be studied experimentally, they were reflected in human culture
The nature of the higher mental processes could be deduced from the study of such cultural products as religion, social customs, myths, history, language, morals, art, and the law
Recall Comte
Wundt’s twenty year study of these things culminated in his 10-volume work, “Folk Psychology”

36. Wilhelm Wundt Some of Wundt’s students Cattell Titchener Witmer
Munsterburg
Spearman
Hall

37. Titchener
For Titchener the goals of psychology were the determination of the what, how, and why of mental life
The what was learned through introspection – the cataloging of the basic mental elements that make up conscious experience
The how answered the question of how the elements combined
The why involved the neurological correlates of mental events
As psychology was the experimental analysis of consciousness, he sought to describe mental experience – the structure of the mind
Hence the school was called structuralism
*Wundt was not a structuralist in the sense his student Titchener was. Cognition was more than the sum of its parts.

38. Titchener
“When we are trying to understand the mental processes of a child or dog or an insect as shown by conduct and action, the outward signs of mental processes,… we must always fall back upon experimental introspection… we cannot imagine processes in another mind that we do not find in our own. Experimental introspection is thus our one reliable method of knowing ourselves; it is the sole gateway to psychology”
Note that in this light a metaphysical claim is made that on the nature of psychology, i.e. psychology is a method, its subject matter would involve only that which was amenable to that method

39. Titchener
Titchener’s introspection was more complicated and required more of the subject than Wundt’s
“The general rules of introspection are as follows: be impartial, be attentive, be comfortable, be perfectly fresh.”
Introspection in Titchener’s laboratory required the subject to describe the basic, raw, elemental experiences which form complex cognitive experience
He wanted sensations not perceptions, if, in the report, the subject responded with the name of the object rather than the elemental aspects of the stimulus, the subject committed a stimulus error

40. Titchener
He concluded that the elements of consciousness (the mind) were sensations (elements of perceptions), images (elements of ideas) and affections (elements of emotions)
The elements could be known only by their attributes
Attributes of sensations and images were quality, intensity, duration, clearness, and extensity
Affections could have the attributes of only quality, intensity, and duration
Titchener did not agree with Wundt’s tridimensional theory of emotion, emotions were described in terms of one dimension – pleasantness – unpleasantness

41. Titchener
He described how the elements combine by using the law of contiguity as many others had done before
What gives sensations and events meaning is the images and events with which the sensation has been associated contiguously in the past
These associations form a core or a context
Thus this description of what gives meaning to sensations is called the context theory of meaning

42. Titchener
The decline of structuralism was inevitable as people began to question the use of introspection as a viable method in research
Other factors which contributed to the decline were the development of the study of animal behavior, the lack of interest in practical applications on the part of structuralists, and the development of behaviorism and objective methods of research

43. Franz Brentano
For Brentano, the important aspect of the mind was not what was in it but what it did, study should emphasize the mind’s processes
Mental processes are aimed at performing some function thus his view was called act psychology
All mental acts incorporate something outside of itself
Intentionality
He employed phenomenological introspection – introspective analysis of intact, meaningful experiences

44. Carl Stumpf
Like Brentano, Stumpf argued for study of intact, meaningful experiences, (phenomenology)
Influenced the development of Gestalt psychology
The three “founders” of Gestalt psychology studied with Stumpf
Stumpf and a student Oskar Phungst helped investigate the Clever Hans phenomenon

45. Edmund Husserl
For Husserl, there are two types of introspection, one focuses on the intentionality described by Brentano and the second focuses on subjective experience – the processes a person experiences
This second introspection focuses on the essences of mental processes
He referred to it as pure phenomenology
His goal was to create a taxonomy of the mind – describe the mental essences by which humans experience themselves
The phenomenologies of Brentano, Stumpf, and Husserl all insisted that the proper subject matter of psychology was intact, meaningful psychological experiences
This approach was to impact Gestalt psychology and existentialism

46. Oswald Kulpe
In contrast to Wundt and Titchener, Kulpe proposed that some thought could be imageless and also that the higher mental processes could be studied experimentally and set out to do so by using his method called systematic experimental introspection
The imageless thought controversy continued for many years, and highlighted the methodological problems of introspection
The most influential work which came out of the Würzburg school (where Kulpe was the leader) was the idea of mental set
Mental set is a determining tendency, which causes the person to behave in certain ways completely unaware that they are doing so
The mental set can be induced by instruction or by simply the person’s past experiences

47. Hans Vaihinger
Proposed that societal living requires that we give meaning to our sensations, and we do that by inventing terms, concepts, and theories and then acting “as if” they were true
In other words, we can’t know whether our sensations correspond to reality, but we act as though they do
This invention of meaning is part of human nature
The ‘useful fiction’

48. Hermann Ebbinghaus
Researched learning and memory using a unique methodology
This was important because this was the first time that learning and memory had been studied as they occurred and it illustrated that these processes could be studied objectively
Many of his findings are still cited today and most of the major conclusions reached are still valid today

49. Ebbinghaus
Method
He developed nonsense syllables to use as stimuli in his research
These provided series of stimuli that were essentially meaningless
The subject is to learn (memorize) a series of syllables by looking at them sequentially until mastery
Then after various time intervals they were to relearn the same list
The difference in number of exposures to relearn the list in comparison to the number of exposure to mastery at the initial exposure was called the savings score

50. Ebbinghaus Among the conclusions were:
More rapid forgetting during the first hours following learning and slower thereafter
Overlearning (continuing to study past mastery) decreased the rate of forgetting
Distributed practice was more effective than massed practice