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Kant's Objections to Psychology The mind wasn't a physical entity The mind could not be objectively observed since it was always changing and introspection.

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Presentation on theme: "Kant's Objections to Psychology The mind wasn't a physical entity The mind could not be objectively observed since it was always changing and introspection."— Presentation transcript:

1 Kant's Objections to Psychology The mind wasn't a physical entity The mind could not be objectively observed since it was always changing and introspection would always reveal the mind in the process of introspecting itself The mind could not be subjected to mathematical descriptions and formulations

2 Some Precursors to Psychology Johannes Müller c.1826 –Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies Hermann von Helmholtz c.1850 –rate of nerve conduction: 50 m/sec –perception as "unconscious inference" –theories of color vision, hearing Ernst Weber c.1840 –perceptual judgements are relative, not absolute Gustav Fechner c.1860 –"psychophysics": absolute difference in psychological experience is proportional difference in physical stimulus Franciscus Donders c.1865 –subtractive logic in reaction time studies

3 Wilhelm Wundt c. 1879; d. 1920 (Leipzig) –voluntarism: emphasizes volition, attention, will, choice, purpose; more Locke than Hume –use reaction time, "experimental" introspection, etc. to replicate and extend earlier findings –first "paradigm" in psychology (in both senses) –only lower level processes studied in lab; higher processes studied through "Volkerpsychologie" examine religion, customs, history, language, morals, art, law, etc. to reveal higher thought processes –elements of thought organized by LAWS, but not empiricist laws of association Early Psychology

4 Edward Titchener c. 1899; d. 1927 (Cornell) –"structuralism": emphasizes static elements of consciousness - structure, not function –study consciousness (mental experience at a moment); mind was the lifetime accumulation of experience –used introspectors trained to avoid the "stimulus error" –catalog sensations and their laws of combination -- mainly association by contiguity –eventually "discovered" 40,000 sensations (30,000 visual, 12,000 auditory, 20 other) –all thought was image-based –ignored: applications, animals, abnormality, personality, development, individual differences, evolution Early Psychology

5 Oswald Kulpe c. 1894; d. 1915 (Wurzburg) –Imageless thoughts arose in context of judgements about "heavier than" or "lighter than" –ex.: no images accompanied thoughts of search, doubt, confidence, hesitation –Titchener et al debated this issue, 1907-1915: arguments about who was doing introspection better, more accurately, more reliably –till finally… John Watson (1913) –"Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It" Early Psychology

6 Functionalism –influenced by William James and Darwinian evolutionary theory, which assumed mind had a function useful to an animal's survival –opposed to structuralism: instead of understanding elements and structure of mind through introspection, study how mind and behavior better adapt an organism to its environment –interested in both mind and behavior -- so methods included introspection, but also puzzle boxes, mazes, mental tests, etc. –studied animal behavior as well as special human populations (children, mentally ill) –interested in practical applications (in self-improvement, education, industry, etc.) as well as theorizing –interested in motivation of behavior, whereas structuralism didn't depend on motivation –interested in individual differences (e.g., in intelligence, motivation, etc.), instead of solely focusing on universal characteristics of mind Early Psychology


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