1. Splitting From Wundt: Psychology Comes to the US PSYC540 History and Systems of Psychology

2. Forget About It… Herman Ebbinghaus (1850 – 1909) Herman Ebbinghaus Independent study in England Picked up Principles of Psychophyiscs at a bookshop –Really liked Fechner’s mathematical approach Over the course of about 5 years, began to apply these methods to higher mental capacities –Memory…the Wunditan no-no

3. Nonsense? Nonsense! No University, no lab, no funding, only himself as a subject 3-letter nonsense syllables –2,300 of them on index cards –Fluent in 3 languages and studied 2 others –Not may syllables were nonsense to him Drew at random to create lists How many readings does it take to memorize Don Juan? Legnth of material Numbers of repetition Overlearning TOP

4. The Forgetting Curve

5. Forgetting Ebbinghaus Though Ebbinghaus’ work is destined to sit on a shelf for the next 60 years, it did inspire a few individuals Muller decided that Ebbinghaus’ mechanism was too passive Posited and demonstrated the interference model of forgetting

6. Former Father Brentano (1838-1917) Former Priest and later Professor at U. of Wurzburg In about 1874, he published Psychology from a Phenomenological Standpoint –Directly opposing Wundt the Great It’s not the elements that should be studied, but the act of collecting these elements –Study Seeing, not that which is Seen –Hence Act Psychology Acts harder to study Wundt was gaining popularity Brentano kind of faded out

7. Stumpfing Wundt (1848-1936) Carl Stumpf was greatly influenced by Franz Brentano (U of W student) Formed new kind of introspection called Phenomenology Examines experience as it happens –By breaking experience down to elements, you distort it Expert musician –Used musicians to introspect tones –Wundt used trained introspectors –Wundt took Stumpf’s use of musicians as a personal slight –Bitter feud

8. Oswald Kulpe One of Wundt’s students –Was the head of his lab for a while –Very elemental at first –No higher mental processes Got corrupted by Ebbinghaus –Let an “Anti-Wundt Revolt” at U of W –Began what is later referred to as the Wurzburg School of Thought –If you can study memory, why not thought?

9. Systematic Experimental Introspection Subject performs a complex task Then makes a retrospective report of what they were thinking, judging, etc. Developed a huge lab that attracted a lot of followers –James Roland Angell (will see more of him later) Imageless thought Wundt felt deeply betrayed

10. Psychology Comes to America Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927) Wundt focused on organization of the elements of consciousness via apperception Titchener avoided apperception and focused on elements themselves Structuralism

11. Margaret Floy Washburn (1894-1937) 1 st Female Ph.D. in Psychology One of Titchener’s Students at Cornell U. More than 1/3 of the 56 doctorates Titchener awarded were women Women, however were not allowed to join the Titchener Experimentalists

12. The Experimentalists A discussion group formed in 1904 Women not allowed due to cigar smoke and coarse language –“No man can hope to become a psychologist until he has learned to smoke” Several Experimentalists smuggled girlfriends in and hid them behind doors and cabinets so they could listen in They emerged unscathed

13. “Excuse me, Dr. Titchener sir…but your whiskers are on fire.” Titchener maintained a very imposing presence Cora Friedline was afraid to interrupt while he was speaking as ash from his cigar fell into his beard and smouldered

14. Psychology with Titchener Stimulus error –The introspectionist’s screen No mediate experiences allowed Other no-no’s –No application of psychology –No child or animal psychology –A science of discovery only, not application Psychology is the study of the healthy, adult (usually male) human mind via introspection

15. Titchener’s Goals for American Psychology 1.Reduce conscious processes to their simplest components 2.Determine the laws by which they are associated 3.Connect these to physiological conditions His main focus was on Goal 1

16. Defining Titchener Inspection: “Looking at” appropriate for physics Introspection: “Looking in” approprite for psychology Consciousness: Sum of experiences at the moment Mind: Sum of experiences over a lifetime Sensations: Elements of perception (sounds, sights, smells, etc) Images: Elements of ideas—reflections of experiences not present Affective states: elements of emotional experiences

17. Elemental Attributes Titchener felt that elements can be categorized into attributes Quality –Clearly distinguishes one element from the other –“Cold” or “Red” Duration –Course over time Intensity –Strength of element –Loudness, brightness Clarity –Role of attention: How much of our consciousness is focused on it –Affective states have no clarity Extensity –For sensory experiences such as vision or touch –Extent to which it takes up space

18. An Outline of Psychology (1896) Titchener describes: – 32,820 visual sensations –11,600 auditory sensations Photographic Album on Psychological Instruments (1895) –Interesting collection of photographs of psychological equipment around the world

19. Titchener Softens Up Later in life, Titchener drops mental elements from lectures –Starts focusing more on attributes Wrote to a student to stop thinking in terms of sensations and affection (it’s out of date) –“Speak more in terms of dimensions [attributes]” Dropped the term “structural” in favor of “existential” –Began to change his introspection techniques to a more phenomenological method (without reducing it to elements

20. Too Little, Too Late Titchener’s changing view of psychology was not made public or radical enough before he died Times changing, but his public model of psychology was not His forceful personality kept structuralism alive, but it died with him He maintains residence at Cornell University

21. Questions? Thoughts?