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143-451: Experimental psychology emerged as a modern academic discipline in the 19th century when Wilhelm Wundt introduced a mathematical and experimental approach to the field. Wundt founded the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany . Other experimental psychologists, including Hermann Ebbinghaus and Edward Titchener , included introspection in their experimental methods. Charles Bell

286-600: A Lutheran minister, and Marie Frederike, née Arnold (1797–1868). Two of Wundt's siblings died in childhood; his brother, Ludwig, survived. Wundt's paternal grandfather was Friedrich Peter Wundt (1742–1805), professor of geography and pastor in Wieblingen . When Wundt was about six years of age, his family moved to Heidelsheim , then a small medieval town in Baden-Württemberg . Born in the German Confederation at

429-469: A blinded , repeated-measures design to evaluate their ability to discriminate weights. Peirce's experiment inspired other researchers in psychology and education, which developed a research tradition of randomized experiments in laboratories and specialized textbooks in the 1800s. The Peirce-Jastrow experiments were conducted as part of Peirce's pragmatic program to understand human perception ; other studies considered perception of light, etc. While Peirce

572-498: A kymograph . The observed differences were intended to contribute towards supporting Wundt's theory of emotions with its three dimensions: pleasant – unpleasant, tense – relaxed, excited – depressed. Wilhelm Wundt's Völkerpsychologie. Eine Untersuchung der Entwicklungsgesetze von Sprache, Mythus und Sitte ( Social Psychology. An Investigation of the Laws of Evolution of Language, Myth, and Custom , 1900–1920, 10 Vols.) which also contains

715-509: A balance instrument, object A balances two identical objects B, then one can say that A is twice as heavy as B and can give them appropriate numbers, for example "A weighs 2 grams" and "B weighs 1 gram". A key idea is that such ratios remain the same regardless of the scale units used; for example, the ratio of A to B remains the same whether grams or ounces are used. Length, resistance, and Kelvin temperature are other things that can be measured on ratio scales. Some psychological properties such as

858-449: A concept be defined in terms of concrete, observable procedures. Experimental psychologists attempt to define currently unobservable phenomena, such as mental events, by connecting them to observations by chains of reasoning. Reliability measures the consistency or repeatability of an observation. For example, one way to assess reliability is the "test-retest" method, done by measuring a group of participants at one time and then testing them

1001-507: A lab in 1876 to store equipment he had brought from Zurich. Located in the Konvikt building, many of Wundt's demonstrations took place in this laboratory due to the inconvenience of transporting his equipment between the lab and his classroom. Wundt arranged for the construction of suitable instruments and collected many pieces of equipment such as tachistoscopes , chronoscopes , pendulums, electrical devices, timers, and sensory mapping devices, and

1144-670: A naturalistic setting outside the laboratory. Field experiments differ from field studies in that some part of the environment ( field ) is manipulated in a controlled way (for example, researchers give different kinds of toys to two different groups of children in a nursery school). Control is typically more lax than it would be in a laboratory setting. Other methods of research such as case studies , interviews, opinion polls and naturalistic observation , are often used by psychologists. These are not experimental methods, as they lack such aspects as well-defined, controlled variables, randomization, and isolation from unwanted variables. Some of

1287-452: A number of stages, including selecting a sample, gathering data from this sample, and evaluating this data. From assumptions made by researchers when undertaking a project, to the scales used, the research design, and data analysis, proper methodology in experimental psychology is made up of several critical stages. Perhaps the most basic assumption of science is that factual statements about the world must ultimately be based on observations of

1430-476: A one-way, multiple groups design. Here a single independent variable takes on three or more levels. This type of design is particularly useful because it can help to outline a functional relationship between the independent and dependent variables. One-way designs are limited in that they allow researchers to look at only one independent variable at a time, whereas many phenomena of interest are dependent on multiple variables. Because of this, R.A Fisher popularized

1573-408: A participant might be able to rank odors such that A is more pleasant than B, and B is more pleasant than C, but these rankings ("1, 2, 3 ...") would not tell by how much each odor differed from another. Some statistics can be computed from ordinal measures – for example, median , percentile, and order correlation – but others, such as standard deviation , cannot properly be used. An interval scale

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1716-1108: A person's memory, perceptions, cognitive processes, and/or motivations. Structuralists believe that our consciousness is composed of individual parts which contribute to overall structure and function of the mind. Titchener's theory began with the question of what each element of the mind is. He concluded from his research that there were three types of mental elements constituting conscious experience: Sensations (elements of perceptions), Images (elements of ideas), and affections (elements of emotions). These elements could be broken down into their respective properties, which he determined were quality , intensity , duration , clearness , and extensity. Both sensations and images contained all of these qualities; however, affections were lacking in both clearness and extensity. And images and affections could be broken down further into just clusters of sensations. Therefore, by following this train of thinking all thoughts were images, which being constructed from elementary sensations meant that all complex reasoning and thought could eventually be broken down into just

1859-450: A result that calls for further research to narrow down the possibilities. A pilot study may be run before a major experiment, in order to try out different procedures, determine optimal values of the experimental variables, or uncover weaknesses in experimental design. The pilot study may not be an experiment as usually defined; it might, for example, consist simply of self-reports . In a field experiment , participants are observed in

2002-570: A resurgence of interest in Peirce's work in cognitive psychology. Another student of Peirce, John Dewey , conducted experiments on human cognition , particularly in schools, as part of his "experimental logic" and "public philosophy." In the middle of the 20th century, behaviorism became a dominant paradigm within psychology, especially in the United States . This led to some neglect of mental phenomena within experimental psychology. In Europe , this

2145-411: A second time to see if the results are consistent. Because the first test itself may alter the results of a second test, other methods are often used. For example, in the "split-half" measure, a group of participants is divided at random into two comparable sub-groups, and reliability is measured by comparing the test results from these groups, It is important to note that a reliable measure need not yield

2288-479: A set of empirical observations equally well, we should prefer the simpler or more parsimonious of the two. A notable early argument for parsimony was stated by the medieval English philosopher William of Occam , and for this reason, the principle of parsimony is often referred to as Occam's razor . Some well-known behaviorists such as Edward C. Tolman and Clark Hull popularized the idea of operationism, or operational definition. Operational definition implies that

2431-503: A sister of the archaeologist August Mau . They married on 14 August 1872 in Kiel. The couple had three children: Eleanor (1876–1957), who became an assistant to her father in many ways, Louise, called Lilli, (1880–1884) and Max Wundt  [ de ] (1879–1963), who became a philosophy professor. In 1875, Wundt was promoted to professor of "Inductive Philosophy" in Zurich, and in 1875, Wundt

2574-794: A small ball most easily, and person with very poor eyesight might do better with a large ball, so the two variables can be said to interact. Two basic approaches to research design are within-subjects design and between-subjects design . In within-subjects or repeated measures designs, each participant serves in more than one or perhaps all of the conditions of a study. In between-subjects designs each participant serves in only one condition of an experiment. Within-subjects designs have significant advantages over between-subjects designs, especially when it comes to complex factorial designs that have many conditions. In particular, within-subjects designs eliminate person confounds, that is, they get rid of effects caused by differences among subjects that are irrelevant to

2717-473: A temperature of 20 degrees Fahrenheit is "twice as hot" as something with a temperature of 10 degrees. (Such ratios are meaningful on an absolute temperature scale such as the Kelvin scale. See next section.) "Standard scores" on an achievement test are said to be measurements on an interval scale, but this is difficult to prove. A ratio scale is constructed by determining the equality of ratios. For example, if, on

2860-461: A textbook on human physiology (1865, 4th ed. 1878) and a manual of medical physics (1867). He wrote about 70 reviews of current publications in the fields of neurophysiology and neurology, physiology, anatomy and histology. A second area of work was sensory physiology, including spatial perception, visual perception and optical illusions. An optical illusion described by him is called the Wundt illusion ,

3003-432: A time that was considered very economically stable, Wundt grew up during a period in which the reinvestment of wealth into educational, medical and technological development was commonplace. An economic striving for the advancement of knowledge catalyzed the development of a new psychological study method, and facilitated his development into the prominent psychological figure he is today. Wundt studied from 1851 to 1856 at

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3146-471: A total view of human existence from the points of view gained from this investigation." "The attribute 'physiological' is not saying that it ... [physiological psychology] ... wants to reduce the psychology to physiology – which I consider impossible – but that it works with physiological, i.e. experimental, tools and, indeed, more so than is usual in other psychology, takes into account the relationship between mental and physical processes." "If one wants to treat

3289-449: A valid conclusion. Validity measures the relative accuracy or correctness of conclusions drawn from a study. To determine the validity of a measurement quantitatively, it must be compared with a criterion. For example, to determine the validity of a test of academic ability, that test might be given to a group of students and the results correlated with the grade-point averages of the individuals in that group. As this example suggests, there

3432-509: A variant of the Hering Illusion . It shows how straight lines appear curved when seen against a set of radiating lines. As a result of his medical training and his work as an assistant to Hermann von Helmholtz, Wundt knew the benchmarks of experimental research, as well as the speculative nature of psychology in the mid-19th century. Wundt's aspiration for scientific research and the necessary methodological critique were clear when he wrote of

3575-479: A variety of ways, analysed, associated and combined, as well as linked with motor and autonomic functions – not simply processed but also creatively synthesised (see below on the Principle of creative synthesis). In the integrative process of conscious activity, Wundt sees an elementary activity of the subject, i.e. an act of volition, to deliberately move content into the conscious. Insofar that this emergent activity

3718-433: A work that came to be one of the most important in the history of psychology, Principles of Physiological Psychology , in 1874. This was the first textbook that was written pertaining to the field of experimental psychology. In 1867, near Heidelberg, Wundt met Sophie Mau (1844–1912). She was the eldest daughter of the Kiel theology professor Heinrich August Mau  [ de ] and his wife Louise, née von Rumohr, and

3861-551: Is a theory of consciousness developed by Edward Bradford Titchener . This theory was challenged in the 20th century. Structuralists seek to analyze the adult mind (the total sum of experience from birth to the present) in terms of the simplest definable components of experience and then to find how these components fit together to form more complex experiences as well as how they correlate to physical events. To do this, structuralists employ introspection: self-reports of sensations, views, feelings, and emotions. Edward B. Titchener

4004-415: Is constructed by determining the equality of differences between the things measured. That is, numbers form an interval scale when the differences between the numbers correspond to differences between the properties measured. For instance, one can say that the difference between 5 and 10 degrees on a Fahrenheit thermometer equals the difference between 25 and 30, but it is meaningless to say that something with

4147-496: Is credited for the theory of structuralism. It is considered to be the first "school" of psychology . Because he was a student of Wilhelm Wundt at the University of Leipzig , Titchener's ideas on how the mind worked were heavily influenced by Wundt's theory of voluntarism and his ideas of association and apperception (the passive and active combinations of elements of consciousness respectively). Titchener attempted to classify

4290-417: Is determined by prior states. In other words, behavioral or mental phenomena are typically stated in terms of cause and effect. If a phenomenon is sufficiently general and widely confirmed, it may be called a "law"; psychological theories serve to organize and integrate laws. Another guiding idea of science is parsimony, the search for simplicity. For example, most scientists agree that if two theories handle

4433-430: Is important to the interpretation of data in almost all fields of psychology, undergraduate programs in psychology usually include mandatory courses in research methods and statistics . A crucial experiment is an experiment that is intended to test several hypotheses at the same time. Ideally, one hypothesis may be confirmed and all the others rejected. However, the data may also be consistent with several hypotheses,

Experimental psychology - Misplaced Pages Continue

4576-634: Is odd because the Würzburg School put a lot of emphasis on mental set and imageless thought. The work of the Würzburg School was a milestone in the development of experimental psychology. The School was founded by a group of psychologists led by Oswald Külpe, and it provided an alternative to the structuralism of Edward Titchener and Wilhelm Wundt. Those in the School focused mainly on mental operations such as mental set ( Einstellung ) and imageless thought. Mental set affects perception and problem solving without

4719-428: Is often controversy in the selection of appropriate criteria for a given measure. In addition, a conclusion can only be valid to the extent that the observations upon which it is based are reliable. Several types of validity have been distinguished, as follows: Internal validity refers to the extent to which a set of research findings provides compelling information about causality. High internal validity implies that

4862-587: Is still greatly hampered by misunderstandings, stereotypes and superficial judgements. Wilhelm Wundt conducted experiments on memory, which would be considered today as iconic memory, short-term memory, and enactment and generation effects. Psychology is interested in the current process, i.e. the mental changes and functional relationships between perception , cognition , emotion , and volition / motivation . Mental (psychological) phenomena are changing processes of consciousness . They can only be determined as an actuality , an "immediate reality of an event in

5005-488: Is the only effect detectable in a one-way design. Often more important than main effects are "interactions", which occur when the effect of one independent variable on a dependent variable depends on the level of a second independent variable. For example, the ability to catch a ball (dependent variable) might depend on the interaction of visual acuity (independent variable #1) and the size of the ball being caught (independent variable #2). A person with good eyesight might catch

5148-406: Is the original intensity of stimulation, Δ I {\displaystyle \Delta I\!} is the addition to it required for the difference to be perceived (the jnd ), and k is a constant. Thus, for k to remain constant, Δ I {\displaystyle \Delta I\!} must rise as I increases. Weber's law is considered to be the first quantitative law in

5291-400: Is the single and proprietary method of science, and that experiment, regarded as a scientific method, is nothing else than observation safeguarded and assisted. Titchener believed the mind was the accumulated experience of a lifetime. He believed that he could understand reasoning and the structure of the mind if he could define and categorize the basic components of mind and the rules by which

5434-879: Is to precisely analyse the processes of consciousness, to assess the complex connections ( psychische Verbindungen ), and to find the laws governing such relationships. Wundt's concepts were developed during almost 60 years of research and teaching that led him from neurophysiology to psychology and philosophy. The interrelationships between physiology, philosophy, logic, epistemology and ethics are therefore essential for an understanding of Wundt's psychology. The core of Wundt's areas of interest and guiding ideas can already be seen in his Vorlesungen über die Menschen- und Tierseele (Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology) of 1863: individual psychology (now known as general psychology, i.e. areas such as perception, attention, apperception, volition, will, feelings and emotions); cultural psychology (Wundt's Völkerpsychologie) as development theory of

5577-478: Is typical of all mental processes, it is possible to describe his point-of-view as voluntaristic. Wundt describes apperceptive processes as psychologically highly differentiated and, in many regards, bases this on methods and results from his experimental research. One example is the wide-ranging series of experiments on the mental chronometry of complex reaction times . In research on feelings, certain effects are provoked while pulse and breathing are recorded using

5720-498: The University of Tübingen , at the University of Heidelberg , and at the University of Berlin . After graduating as a doctor of medicine from Heidelberg (1856), with doctoral advisor Karl Ewald Hasse , Wundt studied briefly with Johannes Peter Müller , before joining the Heidelberg University's staff, becoming an assistant to the physicist and physiologist Hermann von Helmholtz in 1858 with responsibility for teaching

5863-477: The Zeitschrift für Völkerpsychologie und Sprachwissenschaft (Journal for Cultural Psychology and Linguistics) in 1860, which gave this field its name. Wundt (1888) critically analysed the, in his view, still disorganised intentions of Lazarus and Steinthal and limited the scope of the issues by proposing a psychologically constituted structure. The cultural psychology of language, myth, and customs were to be based on

Experimental psychology - Misplaced Pages Continue

6006-420: The frontal cortex of the brain system – in line with today's thinking. Apperception exhibits a range of theoretical assumptions on the integrative process of consciousness. The selective control of attention is an elementary example of such active cognitive, emotional and motivational integration. The fundamental task is to work out a comprehensive development theory of the mind – from animal psychology to

6149-502: The 1990s, computers have commonly been used to automate stimulus presentation and behavioral measurement in the laboratory. Behavioral experiments with both humans and animals typically measure reaction time, choices among two or more alternatives, and/or response rate or strength; they may also record movements, facial expressions, or other behaviors. Experiments with humans may also obtain written responses before, during, and after experimental procedures. Psychophysiological experiments, on

6292-1025: The Englishman Charles Spearman ; the Romanian Constantin Rădulescu-Motru (Personalist philosopher and head of the Philosophy department at the university of Bucharest ), Hugo Eckener , the manager of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin – not to mention those students who became philosophers (like Rudolf Eisler or the Serbian Ljubomir Nedić ). – Students (or visitors) who were later to become well known included Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev (Bechterev), Franz Boas , Émile Durkheim , Edmund Husserl , Bronisław Malinowski , George Herbert Mead , Edward Sapir , Ferdinand Tönnies , Benjamin Lee Whorf . Much of Wundt's work

6435-783: The Germans Oswald Külpe (a professor at the University of Würzburg), Ernst Meumann (a professor in Leipzig and in Hamburg and a pioneer in pedagogical psychology), Hugo Münsterberg (a professor in Freiburg and at Harvard University , a pioneer in applied psychology), and cultural psychologist Willy Hellpach , and the Armenian Gourgen Edilyan . The Americans listed include James McKeen Cattell (the first professor of psychology in

6578-754: The United States and founded Yale University 's psychological laboratory during his time there (from 1881 to 1905). In 1887, Ladd published Elements of Physiological Psychology , the first American textbook that extensively discussed experimental psychology. Between Ladd's founding of the Yale Laboratory and his textbook, the center of experimental psychology in the US shifted to Johns Hopkins University , where George Hall and Charles Sanders Peirce were extending and qualifying Wundt's work. With his student Joseph Jastrow , Charles S. Peirce randomly assigned volunteers to

6721-479: The United States), Granville Stanley Hall (the father of the child psychology movement and adolescent developmental theorist, head of Clark University ), Charles Hubbard Judd (Director of the School of Education at the University of Chicago), Walter Dill Scott (who contributed to the development of industrial psychology and taught at Harvard University), Edward Bradford Titchener , Lightner Witmer (founder of

6864-579: The abstract to the observable, construct validity is high. Conceptual validity refers to how well specific research maps onto the broader theory that it was designed to test. Conceptual and construct validity have a lot in common, but conceptual validity relates a study to broad theoretical issues whereas construct validity has more to do with specific manipulations and measures. Measurement can be defined as "the assignment of numerals to objects or events according to rules." Almost all psychological experiments involve some sort of measurement, if only to determine

7007-658: The afternoon of Tuesday, August 3" (p. 1). Wundt is buried in Leipzig's South Cemetery with his wife, Sophie, and their daughters, Lilli and Eleanor. Wundt was awarded honorary doctorates from the Universities of Leipzig and Göttingen , and the Pour le Mérite for Science and Arts. He was nominated three times for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Wundt was an honorary member of 12 scientific organizations or societies. He

7150-549: The aid of general psychology in this regard: the development history of the mind and comparative psychology." The Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie ( Main Features of Physiological Psychology ) on general psychology is Wundt's best-known textbook. He wanted to connect two sciences with one another. "Physiology provides information on all phenomena of life that can be perceived using our external senses. In psychology humans examine themselves, as it were, from within and look for

7293-484: The awareness of the individual; it can be triggered by instructions or by experience. Similarly, according to Külpe, imageless thought consists of pure mental acts that do not involve mental images. William Bryan, an American student, working in Külpe's laboratory, provided an example of mental set. Bryan presented subjects with cards that had nonsense syllables written on them in various colors. The subjects were told to attend to

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7436-443: The basis of Wundt's voluntarism. Titchener argued that attention was simply a manifestation of the "clearness" property within sensation. Once Titchener identified the elements of mind and their interaction, his theory then asked the question of why the elements interact in the way they do. In particular, Titchener was interested in the relationship between the conscious experience and the physical processes. Titchener believed that

7579-406: The building as part of the campus until 1883. The laboratory grew and encompassed a total of eleven rooms. The Psychological Institute, as it became known, eventually moved to a new building that Wundt had designed specifically for psychological research. The list of Wundt's lectures during the winter terms of 1875–1879 shows a wide-ranging programme, 6 days a week, on average 2 hours daily, e.g. in

7722-671: The causal role and specific functional contribution of neural regions or modules. Animal cognition refers to the mental capacities of non-human animals, and research in this field often focuses on matters similar to those of interest to cognitive psychologists using human participants. Cognitive studies using animals can often control conditions more closely and use methods not open to research with humans. In addition, processes such as conditioning my appear in simpler form in animals, certain animals display unique capacities (such as echo location in bats) that clarify important cognitive functions, and animal studies often have important implications for

7865-431: The complete works, however, a close relationship between Wundt's theoretical psychology, epistemology and methodology can be seen. English translations are only available for the best-known works: Principles of physiological Psychology (only the single-volume 1st ed. of 1874) and Ethics (also only 1st ed. of 1886). Wundt's work remains largely inaccessible without advanced knowledge of German. Its reception, therefore,

8008-414: The components interacted. The main tool Titchener used to try to determine the different components of consciousness was introspection . Titchener writes in his Systematic Psychology : The state of consciousness which is to be the matter of psychology ... can become an object of immediate knowledge only by way of introspection or self-awareness. and in his book An Outline of Psychology : ...within

8151-555: The conduct of psychological experiments. Their presence is required by law at institutions such as universities where psychological research occurs. Their purpose is to make sure that experiments do not violate ethical codes or legal requirements; thus they protect human subjects from physical or psychological harm and assure the humane treatment of animal subjects. An IRB must review the procedure to be used in each experiment before that experiment may begin. The IRB also assures that human participants give informed consent in advance; that is,

8294-643: The connections between these processes to explain which of them represent this inner observation." "With sufficient certainty the approach can indeed be seen as well-founded – that nothing takes place in our consciousness that does not have its physical basis in certain physiological processes.". Wundt believed that physiological psychology had the following task: "firstly, to investigate those life processes that are centrally located, between external and internal experience, which make it necessary to use both observation methods simultaneously, external and internal, and, secondly, to illuminate and, where possible, determine

8437-474: The considerations of both complement one another in the sense that only together can they create for us a potential empirical knowledge." He claimed that his views were free of metaphysics and were based on certain epistemological presuppositions , including the differentiation of subject and object in the perception, and the principle of causality. With his term critical realism , Wundt distinguishes himself from other philosophical positions. Wundt set himself

8580-411: The creation of joint intellectual results that are of generally recognised value" are to be examined. Stimulated by the ideas of previous thinkers, such as Johann Gottfried Herder , Johann Friedrich Herbart , Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Wilhelm von Humboldt (with his ideas about comparative linguistics ), the psychologist Moritz Lazarus (1851) and the linguist Heymann Steinthal founded

8723-445: The design. For example, a 2x3 factorial design has two independent variables (because there are two numbers in the description), the first variable having two levels and the second having three. The effects of independent variables in factorial studies, taken singly, are referred to as main effects. This refers to the overall effect of an independent variable, averaging across all levels of the other independent variables. A main effect

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8866-588: The detection of odors; such measurement involves the use of instruments such as the oscillator, attenuator, stroboscope, and many others listed earlier in this article. Experiments also probe subtle phenomena such as visual illusions, or the emotions aroused by stimuli of different sorts. The behavioristic approach to psychology reached its peak of popularity in the mid-twentieth century but still underlies much experimental research and clinical application. Its founders include such figures as Ivan Pavlov , John B. Watson , and B.F. Skinner . Pavlov's experimental study of

9009-403: The development of thought, language, artistic imagination, myths, religion, customs, the relationship of individuals to society, the intellectual environment and the creation of intellectual works in a society. "Where deliberate experimentation ends is where history has experimented on the behalf of psychologists." Those mental processes that "underpin the general development of human societies and

9152-417: The digestive system in dogs led to extensive experiments through which he established the basic principles of classical conditioning. Watson popularized the behaviorist approach to human behavior; his experiments with Little Albert are particularly well known. Skinner distinguished operant conditioning from classical conditioning and established the experimental analysis of behavior as a major component in

9295-418: The doctrine that the power of the will organizes the mind's content into higher-level thought processes. Structuralism has faced a large amount of criticism, particularly from functionalism , the school of psychology which later evolved into the psychology of pragmatism (reconvening introspection into acceptable practices of observation). The main critique of structuralism was its focus on introspection as

9438-402: The effect of conformity to specific roles in society and the social world. Milgram's study looked at the role of authority in shaping behavior, even when it had adverse effects on another person. Because of possible negative effects on the participants, neither of these experiments could be legally performed in the United States today. These two experiments also took place during the era prior to

9581-408: The emergence principle (creative synthesis), the principle of unintended side-effects (heterogony of ends) and the principle of contrast (see section on Methodology and Strategies ). The ten volumes consist of: Language (Vols. 1 and 2), Art (Vol. 3), Myths and Religion (Vols. 4 – 6), Society (Vols. 7 and 8), Law (Vol. 9), as well as Culture and History (Vol. 10). The methodology of cultural psychology

9724-708: The evolution of Arts, Law, Society, Culture and History , is a milestone project, a monument of cultural psychology , of the early 20th century. The dynamics of cultural development were investigated according to psychological and epistemological principles. Psychological principles were derived from Wundt's psychology of apperception (theory of higher integrative processes, including association, assimilation , semantic change ) and motivation (will), as presented in his Grundzüge der physiologischen Psychologie (1908–1910, 6th ed., 3 Vols.). In contrast to individual psychology, cultural psychology aims to illustrate general mental development laws governing higher intellectual processes:

9867-464: The existence of IRBs, and most likely played a role in the establishment of such boards Instruments used in experimental psychology evolved along with technical advances and with the shifting demands of experiments. The earliest instruments, such as the Hipp Chronoscope and the kymograph, were originally used for other purposes. The list below exemplifies some of the different instruments used over

10010-516: The expansion of psychology as a discipline and the growth in its sub-disciplines. Experimental psychologists use a range of methods and do not confine themselves to a strictly experimental approach, partly because developments in the philosophy of science have affected the exclusive prestige of experimentation. In contrast, experimental methods are now widely used in fields such as developmental and social psychology , which were not previously part of experimental psychology. The phrase continues in use in

10153-490: The experimental design of a study excludes extraneous influences, such that one can confidently conclude that variations in the independent variable caused any observed changes in the dependent variable. External Validity refers to the extent to which the outcome of an experiment can be generalized to apply to other situations than those of the experiment - for example, to other people, other physical or social environments, or even other cultures. Construct validity refers to

10296-422: The extent to which the independent and dependent variables in a study represent the abstract hypothetical variables of interest. In other words, it has to do with whether the manipulated and/or measured variables in a study accurately reflect the variables the researcher hoped to manipulate. Construct validity also reflects the quality of one's operational definitions. If a researcher has done a good job of converting

10439-435: The first laboratory ever to be exclusively devoted to psychological studies, and this event marked the official birth of psychology as an independent field of study. The new lab was full of graduate students carrying out research on topics assigned by Wundt, and it soon attracted young scholars from all over the world who were eager to learn about the new science that Wundt had developed. The University of Leipzig assigned Wundt

10582-492: The first person to call himself a psychologist . He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology ". In 1879, at the University of Leipzig , Wundt founded the first formal laboratory for psychological research . This marked psychology as an independent field of study. He also established the first academic journal for psychological research, Philosophische Studien (from 1883 to 1903), followed by Psychologische Studien (from 1905 to 1917), to publish

10725-430: The first psychological clinic in his country), Frank Angell , Edward Wheeler Scripture , James Mark Baldwin (one of the founders of Princeton's Department of Psychology and who made important contributions to early psychology, psychiatry, and to the theory of evolution). Wundt, thus, is present in the academic "family tree" of the majority of American psychologists, first and second generation. – Worth mentioning are

10868-659: The first social psychology experiments conducted in 1898 by Norman Triplett , noticed that the presence of others had an effect on children's performance times. Other widely cited experiments in social psychology are projects like the Stanford prison experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971 and the Milgram obedience experiment by Stanley Milgram . In both experiments ordinary individuals were induced to engage in remarkably cruel behavior, suggesting that such behavior could be influenced by social pressure . Zimbardo's experiment noted

11011-513: The formulation "the human as a motivated and thinking subject" in order to characterise features held in common with the humanities and the categorical difference to the natural sciences . Influenced by Leibniz, Wundt introduced the term psychophysical parallelism as follows: "… wherever there are regular relationships between mental and physical phenomena the two are neither identical nor convertible into one another because they are per se incomparable; but they are associated with one another in

11154-436: The highest cultural achievements in language, religion and ethics. Unlike other thinkers of his time, Wundt had no difficulty connecting the development concepts of the humanities (in the spirit of Friedrich Hegel and Johann Gottfried Herder ) with the biological theory of evolution as expounded by Charles Darwin . Wundt determined that "psychology is an empirical science co-ordinating natural science and humanities, and that

11297-409: The history of psychology. Fechner published in 1860 what is considered to be the first work of experimental psychology, "Elemente der Psychophysik." Some historians date the beginning of experimental psychology to the publication of "Elemente." Ernst Heinrich Weber was not a psychologist, but it was Fechner who realized the importance of Weber's research to psychology. Weber's law and Fechner's law

11440-528: The human mind); animal psychology ; and neuropsychology . The initial conceptual outlines of the 30-year-old Wundt (1862, 1863) led to a long research program, to the founding of the first Institute and to the treatment of psychology as a discipline, as well as to a range of fundamental textbooks and numerous other publications. During the Heidelberg years from 1853 to 1873, Wundt published numerous essays on physiology, particularly on experimental neurophysiology,

11583-669: The important categories are to be emphasised in order to prevent category mistakes as discussed by Nicolai Hartmann . In this regard, Wundt created the first genuine epistemology and methodology of empirical psychology (the term philosophy of science did not yet exist). Apperception is Wundt's central theoretical concept. Leibniz described apperception as the process in which the elementary sensory impressions pass into (self-)consciousness , whereby individual aspirations (striving, volitional acts) play an essential role. Wundt developed psychological concepts, used experimental psychological methods and put forward neuropsychological modelling in

11726-451: The innovations of Jerzy Neyman and Ronald Fisher in agriculture. Peirce's pragmaticist philosophy also included an extensive theory of mental representations and cognition, which he studied under the name of semiotics . Peirce's student Joseph Jastrow continued to conduct randomized experiments throughout his distinguished career in experimental psychology, much of which would later be recognized as cognitive psychology . There has been

11869-492: The institute's research. A survey published in American Psychologist in 1991 ranked Wundt's reputation as first for "all-time eminence", based on ratings provided by 29 American historians of psychology. William James and Sigmund Freud were ranked a distant second and third. Wundt was born at Neckarau , Baden (now part of Mannheim ) on 16 August 1832, the fourth child to parents Maximilian Wundt (1787–1846),

12012-585: The laboratory course in physiology. There he wrote Contributions to the Theory of Sense Perception (1858–1862). In 1864, he became associate professor for anthropology and medical psychology and published a textbook about human physiology. However, his main interest, according to his lectures and classes, was not in the medical field – he was more attracted by psychology and related subjects. His lectures on psychology were published as Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology in 1863–1864. Wundt applied himself to writing

12155-403: The language of ordinary people, who merely invoked their personal experiences of life, criticized naive introspection, or quoted the influence of uncritical amateur ("folk") psychology on psychological interpretation. His Beiträge zur Theorie der Sinneswahrnehmung (1862) shows Wundt's transition from a physiologist to an experimental psychologist. "Why does not psychology follow the example of

12298-426: The laws of motion. And these two realms, that of efficient causes and that of final causes, harmonize with one another." (Monadology, Paragraph 79). Wundt follows Leibniz and differentiates between a physical causality (natural causality of neurophysiology ) and a mental ( psychic ) causality of the consciousness process. Both causalities, however, are not opposites in a dualistic metaphysical sense, but depend on

12441-491: The loudness of a sound can be measured on a ratio scale. The simplest experimental design is a one-way design, in which there is only one independent variable. The simplest kind of one-way design involves just two-groups, each of which receives one value of the independent variable. A two-group design typically consists of an experimental group (a group that receives treatment) and a control group (a group that does not receive treatment). The one-way design may be expanded to

12584-434: The main pages of the topics just listed. In addition to studying behavior, experimenters may use EEG or fMRI to help understand how the brain carries out cognitive processes, sometimes in conjunction with computational modelling . They may also study patients with focal brain damage or neurologic disease (see cognitive neuropsychology ) or use brain stimulation techniques like transcranial magnetic stimulation to help confirm

12727-429: The major topics studied by cognitive psychologists are memory , learning , problem solving , and attention . Most cognitive experiments are done in a lab instead of a social setting; this is done mainly to provide maximum control of experimental variables and minimal interference from irrelevant events and other aspects of the situation. A great many experimental methods are used; frequently used methods are described on

12870-418: The memory of a sensation rather than the sensation itself. Behaviorists , specifically methodological behaviorists, fully rejected even the idea of the conscious experience as a worthy topic in psychology, since they believed that the subject matter of scientific psychology should be strictly operationalized in an objective and measurable way. Because the notion of a mind could not be objectively measured, it

13013-435: The method by which to gain an understanding of conscious experience. Critics argue that self-analysis was not feasible, since introspective students cannot appreciate the processes or mechanisms of their own mental processes. Introspection , therefore, yielded different results depending on who was using it and what they were seeking. Some critics also pointed out that introspective techniques actually resulted in retrospection –

13156-505: The mind), experiment (e.g., in hypnosis or neurology), and comparison (i.e., the use of statistical means to distinguish norms from anomalies) which gave it somewhat of an edge. Functionalism also differed in that it focused on the how useful certain processes were in the brain to the environment you were in and not the processes and other detail like in structuralism. Researchers are still working to offer objective experimental approaches to measuring conscious experience, in particular within

13299-488: The name of the object (pencil) because that did not describe the raw data of what the subject was experiencing. Titchener referred to this as stimulus error. In his translation of Wundt's work, Titchener illustrates Wundt as a supporter of introspection as a method through which to observe consciousness. However, introspection fits Wundt's theories only if the term is taken to refer to psychophysical methods. Introspection literally means 'looking within', to try to describe

13442-452: The natural sciences? It is an understanding that, from every side of the history of the natural sciences, informs us that the progress of every science is closely connected with the progress made regarding experimental methods." With this statement, however, he will in no way treat psychology as a pure natural science, though psychologists should learn from the progress of methods in the natural sciences: "There are two sciences that must come to

13585-556: The other hand, measure brain or (mostly in animals) single-cell activation during the presentation of a stimulus using methods such as fMRI , EEG , PET or similar. Control of extraneous variables , minimizing the potential for experimenter bias , counterbalancing the order of experimental tasks, adequate sample size , the use of operational definitions , emphasis on both the reliability and validity of results, and proper statistical analysis are central to experimental methods in psychology. Because an understanding of these matters

13728-660: The participants are told the general nature of the experiment and what will be required of them. There are three types of review that may be undertaken by an IRB - exempt, expedited, and full review. More information is available on the main IRB page. Sound methodology is essential to the study of complex behavioral and mental processes, and this implies, especially, the careful definition and control of experimental variables. The research methodologies employed in experimental psychology utilize techniques in research to seek to uncover new knowledge or validate existing claims. Typically, this entails

13871-452: The peculiarities of the method as the most important factor then our science – as experimental psychology – differs from the usual science of the soul purely based on self-observation." After long chapters on the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system, the Grundzüge (1874) has five sections: the mental elements, mental structure, interactions of the mental structure, mental developments,

14014-412: The phenomenon under study. However, the within-subject design has the serious disadvantage of possible sequence effects. Because each participant serves in more than one condition, the passage of time or the performance of an earlier task may affect the performance of a later task. For example, a participant might learn something from the first task that affects the second. The use of experimental methods

14157-406: The physical processes provide a continuous substratum that gives psychological processes a continuity they otherwise would not have. Therefore, the nervous system does not cause conscious experience, but can be used to explain some characteristics of mental events. Wilhelm Wundt instructed Titchener, the founder of structuralism, at the University of Leipzig . The 'science of immediate experience'

14300-448: The postulate of parallelism, he developed his principles of mental causality in contrast to the natural causality of neurophysiology, and a corresponding methodology. There are two fundamentally different approaches of the postulated psychophysical unit, not just two points-of-view in the sense of Gustav Theodor Fechner's identity hypothesis. Psychological and physiological statements exist in two categorically different reference systems;

14443-431: The principles and laws of mental causality. Through his insistence that mental processes were analysed in their elements, Wundt did not want to create a pure element psychology because the elements should simultaneously be related to one another. He describes the sensory impression with the simple sensory feelings, perceptions and volitional acts connected with them, and he explains dependencies and feedbacks. Wundt rejected

14586-500: The psychological experience". The relationships of consciousness, i.e. the actively organising processes, are no longer explained metaphysically by means of an immortal ' soul ' or an abstract transcendental ( spiritual ) principle. Wundt considered that reference to the subject (Subjektbezug), value assessment (Wertbestimmung), the existence of purpose (Zwecksetzung), and volitional acts (Willenstätigkeit) to be specific and fundamental categories for psychology. He frequently used

14729-531: The psychophysical method of limits, the method of constant stimuli, and the method of adjustment, which are still in use. Oswald Külpe is the main founder of the Würzburg School in Germany. He was a pupil of Wilhelm Wundt for about twelve years. Unlike Wundt, Külpe believed experiments were possible to test higher mental processes. In 1883 he wrote Grundriss der Psychologie, which had strictly scientific facts and no mention of thought. The lack of thought in his book

14872-413: The reliability and validity of results, and of course measurement is essential if results are to be relevant to quantitative theories. The rule for assigning numbers to a property of an object or event is called a "scale". Following are the basic scales used in psychological measurement. In a nominal scale, numbers are used simply as labels – a letter or name would do as well. Examples are the numbers on

15015-462: The same findings without being aware of Bell's research. As a result of Bell not publishing his research, this discovery was called the Bell–Magendie law to honor both individuals. Bell's discovery disproved the belief that nerves transmitted either vibrations or spirits. Ernst Heinrich Weber , a German physician, is credited as one of experimental psychology's founders. Weber's main interests were

15158-653: The sensations which he could get at through introspection . The second issue in Titchener's theory of structuralism was the question of how the mental elements combined and interacted with each other to form conscious experience. His conclusions were largely based on ideas of associationism . In particular, Titchener focuses on the law of contiguity , which is the idea that the thought of something will tend to cause thoughts of things that are usually experienced along with it. Titchener rejected Wundt's notions of apperception and creative synthesis ( voluntary action ), which were

15301-449: The sense of touch and kinesthesis. His most memorable contribution to the field of experimental psychology is the suggestion that judgments of sensory differences are relative and not absolute. This relativity is expressed in "Weber's Law," which suggests that the just-noticeable difference or jnd is a constant proportion of the ongoing stimulus level. Weber's Law is stated as an equation: where I {\displaystyle I\!}

15444-402: The shirts of football or baseball players. The labels are more useful if the same label can be given to more than one thing, meaning that the things are equal in some way, and can be classified together. An ordinal scale arises from the ordering or ranking objects, so that A is greater than B, B is greater than C, and so on. Many psychological experiments yield numbers of this sort; for example,

15587-440: The sphere of psychology, introspection is the final and only court of appeal, that psychological evidence cannot be other than introspective evidence. Titchener had very strict guidelines for the reporting of an introspective analysis. The subject would be presented with an object, such as a pencil. The subject would then report the characteristics of that pencil (e.g., color and length). The subject would be instructed not to report

15730-524: The standpoint. Causal explanations in psychology must be content to seek the effects of the antecedent causes without being able to derive exact predictions. Using the example of volitional acts, Wundt describes possible inversion in considering cause and effect, ends and means , and explains how causal and teleological explanations can complement one another to establish a co-ordinated consideration. Wundt's position differed from contemporary authors who also favoured parallelism. Instead of being content with

15873-430: The structures of the mind in a similar way to how chemists classify the elements of nature , into the nature . Titchener said that only observable events constituted that science and that any speculation concerning unobservable events has no place in society (this view was similar to the one expressed by Ernst Mach ). In his book, Systematic Psychology , Titchener wrote: It is true, nevertheless, that observation

16016-420: The subsequent development of experimental psychology. Social psychologists use both empirical research and experimental methods to study the effects of social interactions on individuals' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Social psychologists use experimental methods, both within and outside the laboratory, and there have been several key experiments done in the past few centuries. The Triplett experiment, one of

16159-429: The survival and evolution of species. Experiments on sensation and perception have a very long history in experimental psychology (see History above). Experimenters typically manipulate stimuli affecting vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste and proprioception . Sensory measurement plays a large role in the field, covering many aspects of sensory performance - for example, minimum discriminable differences in brightness or

16302-407: The syllables, and in consequence, they did not remember the colors of the nonsense syllables. Such results made people question the validity of introspection as a research tool, leading to a decline in voluntarism and structuralism. The work of the Würzburg School later influenced many Gestalt psychologists , including Max Wertheimer . George Trumbull Ladd introduced experimental psychology into

16445-470: The task of redefining the broad field of psychology between philosophy and physiology, between the humanities and the natural sciences. In place of the metaphysical definition as a science of the soul came the definition, based on scientific theory, of empirical psychology as a psychology of consciousness with its own categories and epistemological principles. Psychology examines the "entire experience in its immediately subjective reality." The task of psychology

16588-443: The theory to be meaningless. Testability implies falsifiability , which is the idea that some set of observations could prove the theory to be incorrect. Testability has been emphasized in psychology because influential or well-known theories like those of Freud have been difficult to test. Experimental psychologists, like most scientists, accept the notion of determinism . This is the assumption that any state of an object or event

16731-426: The three main areas of general psychology: imagining and thought, feelings, and will (motivation). The numerous mental interrelations and principles were to be researched under the perspective of cultural development. Apperception theory applied equally for general psychology and cultural psychology. Changes in meanings and motives were examined in many lines of development, and there are detailed interpretations based on

16874-467: The titles of a number of well-established, high prestige learned societies and scientific journals , as well as some university courses of study in psychology. In 1974, the National Research Act established the existence of the institutional review board in the United States following several controversial experiments. Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) play an important role in monitoring

17017-463: The translation of Wundt's writings. When Titchener brought his theory to America , he also brought with him Wundt's work. Titchener translated these works for the American audience, and in so doing misinterpreted Wundt's meaning. He then used this translation to show that Wundt supported his own theories. In fact, Wundt's main theory was that of psychological voluntarism ( psychologischer Voluntarismus ),

17160-400: The use of factorial designs. Factorial designs contain two or more independent variables that are completely "crossed," which means that every level each independent variable appears in combination with every level of all other independent variables. Factorial designs carry labels that specify the number of independent variables and the number of levels of each independent variable there are in

17303-430: The way that certain mental processes regularly correspond to certain physical processes or, figuratively expressed, run 'parallel to one another'." Although the inner experience is based on the functions of the brain there are no physical causes for mental changes. Leibniz wrote: "Souls act according to the laws of final causes, through aspirations, ends and means. Bodies act according to the laws of efficient causes, i.e.

17446-539: The widespread association theory , according to which mental connections ( learning ) are mainly formed through the frequency and intensity of particular processes. His term apperception psychology means that he considered the creative conscious activity to be more important than elementary association. Apperception is an emergent activity that is both arbitrary and selective as well as imaginative and comparative. In this process, feelings and ideas are images apperceptively connected with typical tones of feeling, selected in

17589-605: The winter term of 1875: Psychology of language , Anthropology , Logic and Epistemology ; and during the subsequent summer term: Psychology , Brain and Nerves, as well as Physiology . Cosmology , Historical and General Philosophy were included in the following terms. Wundt was responsible for an extraordinary number of doctoral dissertations between 1875 and 1919: 185 students including 70 foreigners (of whom 23 were from Russia, Poland, and other east-European countries and 18 were from America). Several of Wundt's students became eminent psychologists in their own right. They include

17732-412: The world. This notion of empiricism requires that hypotheses and theories be tested against observations of the natural world rather than on a priori reasoning, intuition, or revelation. Closely related to empiricism is the idea that, to be useful, a scientific law or theory must be testable with available research methods. If a theory cannot be tested in any conceivable way then many scientists consider

17875-399: The years. These are only a few core instruments used in current research. Wilhelm Wundt Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt ( / w ʊ n t / ; German: [vʊnt] ; 16 August 1832 – 31 August 1920) was a German physiologist, philosopher, and professor, one of the fathers of modern psychology . Wundt, who distinguished psychology as a science from philosophy and biology , was

18018-450: Was a British physiologist whose main contribution to the medical and scientific community was his research on the nervous system . He wrote a pamphlet summarizing his research on rabbits . His research concluded that sensory nerves enter at the posterior (dorsal) roots of the spinal cord, and motor nerves emerge from the anterior (ventral) roots of the spinal cord. Eleven years later, a French physiologist , Francois Magendie , published

18161-623: Was a corresponding member of 13 academies in Germany and abroad. For example, he was elected an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1895 and of the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1909. Wundt's name was given to the Asteroid Vundtia (635). Wundt was initially a physician and a well-known neurophysiologist before turning to sensory physiology and psychophysics. He

18304-421: Was clear from his memoirs, where he proclaimed that Weber should be regarded as the father of experimental psychology: "I would rather call Weber the father of experimental psychology…It was Weber's great contribution to think of measuring psychic quantities and of showing the exact relationships between them, to be the first to understand this and carry it out." In 1879, at the University of Leipzig, Wundt opened

18447-578: Was convinced that, for example, the process of spatial perception could not solely be explained on a physiological level, but also involved psychological principles. Wundt founded experimental psychology as a discipline and became a pioneer of cultural psychology . He created a broad research programme in empirical psychology and developed a system of philosophy and ethics from the basic concepts of his psychology – bringing together several disciplines in one person. Wundt's epistemological position – against John Locke and English empiricism ( sensualism ) –

18590-498: Was criticized for excluding and ignoring important developments happening outside of structuralism. For instance, structuralism did not concern itself with the study of animal behavior , and personality . Titchener himself was criticized for not using his psychology to help answer practical problems. Instead, Titchener was interested in seeking pure knowledge that to him was more important than commonplace issues. One alternative theory to structuralism, to which Titchener took offense,

18733-411: Was derided mid-century in the United States because of a lack of adequate translations, misrepresentations by certain students, and behaviorism 's polemic with Wundt's program. Wundt retired in 1917 to devote himself to his scientific writing. According to Wirth (1920), over the summer of 1920, Wundt "felt his vitality waning ... and soon after his eighty-eighth birthday, he died ... a gentle death on

18876-438: Was functionalism (functional psychology). Functionalism was developed by William James in contrast to structuralism. It stressed the importance of empirical, rational thought over an experimental, trial-and-error philosophy. James in his theory included introspection (i.e., the psychologist's study of his own states of mind), but also included things like analysis (i.e., the logical criticism of precursor and contemporary views of

19019-442: Was known to assign an instrument to various graduate students with the task of developing uses for future research in experimentation. Between 1885 and 1909, there were 15 assistants. In 1879, Wundt began conducting experiments that were not part of his course work, and he claimed that these independent experiments solidified his lab's legitimacy as a formal laboratory of psychology, though the university did not officially recognize

19162-420: Was less the case, as European psychology was influenced by psychologists such as Sir Frederic Bartlett , Kenneth Craik , W.E. Hick , and Donald Broadbent , who focused on topics such as thinking , memory , and attention . This laid the foundations for the subsequent development of cognitive psychology. In the latter half of the 20th century, the phrase "experimental psychology" had shifted in meaning due to

19305-403: Was made clear in his book Beiträge zur Theorie der Sinneswahrnehmung (Contributions on the Theory of Sensory Perception) published in 1862, by his use of a quotation from Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz on the title page: "Nihil est in intellectu quod non fuerit in sensu, nisi intellectu ipse." (Leibniz, Nouveaux essais, 1765, Livre II, Des Idées, Chapitre 1, § 6). – Nothing is in the intellect that

19448-426: Was made professor of philosophy at the University of Leipzig where Ernst Heinrich Weber (1795–1878) and Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801–1887) had initiated research on sensory psychology and psychophysics – and where two centuries earlier Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz had developed his philosophy and theoretical psychology , which strongly influenced Wundt's intellectual path. Wundt's admiration for Ernst Heinrich Weber

19591-499: Was mainly described later, in Logik (1921). Wundt worked on, psychologically linked, and structured an immense amount of material. The topics range from agriculture and trade, crafts and property, through gods, myths and Christianity, marriage and family, peoples and nations to (self-)education and self-awareness, science, the world and humanity. Structuralism (psychology) Structuralism in psychology (also structural psychology )

19734-512: Was making advances in experimental psychology and psychophysics , he was also developing a theory of statistical inference , which was published in " Illustrations of the Logic of Science " (1877–78) and " A Theory of Probable Inference " (1883); both publications that emphasized the importance of randomization-based inference in statistics. To Peirce and to experimental psychology belongs the honor of having invented randomized experiments decades before

19877-464: Was not first in the senses, except the intellect itself. Principles that are not present in sensory impressions can be recognised in human perception and consciousness: logical inferences , categories of thought, the principle of causality , the principle of purpose ( teleology ), the principle of emergence and other epistemological principles. Wundt's most important books are: These 22 volumes cover an immense variety of topics. On examination of

20020-517: Was not worth further inquiry. However, radical behaviorism includes thinking, feeling, and private events in its theory and analysis of psychology. Structuralism also believes that the mind could be dissected into its individual parts, which then formed conscious experience. This also received criticism from the Gestalt school of psychology , which argues that the mind cannot be broken down into individual elements. Besides theoretical attacks, structuralism

20163-499: Was perhaps the main characteristic by which psychology became distinguishable from philosophy in the late 19th century. Ever since then experiments have been an integral part of most psychological research. Following is a sample of some major areas that use experimental methods. In experiments, human participants often respond to visual, auditory or other stimuli, following instructions given by an experimenter; animals may be similarly "instructed" by rewarding appropriate responses. Since

20306-457: Was published in Fechner's work, "Elemente der Psychophysik," and Fechner, a student of Weber named his first law in honor of his mentor. Fechner was profoundly interested in establishing a scientific study of the mind-body relationship, which became known as psychophysics . Much of Fechner's research focused on the measurement of psychophysical thresholds and just-noticeable differences . He invented

20449-614: Was stated by him. This simply means that the complex perceptions can be raised through basic sensory information. Wundt is often associated in past literature with structuralism and the use of similar introspective methods. Wundt makes a clear distinction between pure introspection, which is the relatively unstructured self-observation used by earlier philosophers, and experimental introspection. Wundt believes this type of introspection to be acceptable since it uses laboratory instruments to vary conditions and make results of internal perceptions more precise. The reason for this confusion lies in

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