Chapter 8: Psychology in Europe Between the World Wars Flashcards
Who is Stahlin and what did he contribute to German psychology?
A theologian who emphasized the connection between religion and psychology
Society for Religious Psychology
Who is Karl Girgensohn and what did he contribute to German psychology?
Investigated religious experience and what they felt like through experimental introspection
He felt that religious experiences were complex phenomenon with cognitive, emotional, and existential elements should be understood in whole configuration (can’t be broken down).
Who is Schneider and what did he contribute to Germann psychology?
Used empirical methods (questionnaires and statistical techniques) to understand religion.
He studied individual differences in religious experiences.
Two main types:
Mystical: immediate experience of the divine (feel)
Rational: accept religious experience as reasonable (think about and understand).
What happened to German Psychology post 1933?
National Socialists took over psychology
Many eminent academics dismissed because of their religious affiliation, others immigrated to U.S. or Argentina.
However psychology in the military flourished.
Tests of spatial orientation and sensorimotor coordination
Personality assessment - unified understanding of the person.
Psychology becoming institutionalized - A Diploma examination in psychology, apart from philosophy or pedagogy was established
What kind of work was being done at the Vienna Psychological Institute by Karl and Charlotte Bühler?
Mental development of children
Evolutionary progression: controlling instincts, mastery of sensorimotor, true intelligence through language, active learning
What were the three main areas being researched at the Vienna Psychological Institute?
- Experimental research (visual perception)
- Child and youth psychology cognitive and personality development
- Economic and social (issues) psychology impact of unemployment
All were respected fields
What kind of psychological research was being done in Continental Europe?
Experimental psychology closely linked to philosophy, trying to answer philosophical questions about how we perceive (ex. cognition)
Aside from that there was diverse subject matter:
-Developmental
-Social issues
-Impact of capitalism on families
-Interpersonal relations
What was distinct about the development of psychology in France?
Institutionalization as part of philosophy and psychology in clinical settings.
Who was Henri Piéron and what did he contribute to French psychology?
Had personal interest in Wundt’s tradition, sensation, perception and cognition.
Developed a multi-faceted program (other areas)
Psychophysiology: lab based experimentation
Continued Binet’s work on intelligence testing
He established the first graduate study program in France
How was the development of psychology in Europe different from psychology in the U.S.?
Developed more diversely much faster (U.S. focused mainly on behaviourism and “white rat” psychology).
Clinical psychology was institutionalized much quicker.
Who were Janet and George Dumas and what did they contribute to French Psychology?
Working in Piéron’s lab they suggested that psychopathology a natural experiment to understand mental processes.
Pathological method - when something breaks down in a system, you really understand the role it plays.
Observational/empirical methods
Who were Henri Wallon and Jean Piaget and what did they contribute to French psychology? What did they agree and disagree on?
Psychological development of children
Wallon was more dialectical. Emphasized that children learn through stages but those stages are not smooth. They go back and forth because development was happening in so many different areas.
Piaget felt it was smooth.
Both believed learning happens though interaction with the environment. Construct your own personal experiments
What model of stages did Jean Piaget develop?
Piaget Moral Development
Premoral period: 0-5 years, little understanding
Heteronomus morality: first stage, adult rules sacred/unalterable
Autonomous morality: rules arbitrary, can be challenged/changed with consent
Who were two big philosophers and how did their theorizing contribute to France psychology?
Jean-Paul Sartre: influential in emergence of existential psychology. Human existence has no meaning, the purpose is to find meaning. We experience existential anxiety. -> Existential psychology
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
Children’s acquisition of language
Developed Gestalt psychology
What kind of ideas influenced the development of psychology in the Netherlands?
Pillarization: educational, social, cultural, political, and economic life divided into autonomous and separate religious spheres: -Catholic -Protestant -Neutrals Emphasis on wholeness
What changes ocured in the approach to psychology in the Netherlands?
Empirical approach replaced with German philosophy of
Geisteswissenschaftliche: wholeness of soul leading to self-understanding
Applied to:
-education
-business
-vocational guidance
-pastoral work
Despite the changes to a more holistic approach to psychology in the Natherlands, which two researchers continued empirical work and what did they do?
Géza Révész
Studied music, musical talent and gifted children
Frederik J. J. Buytendijk
Did comparative studies working with animals in habit formation and form perception in different species
What kind of psychology was popular in Russia and why?
Objective psychology: psychological phenomenon in physiological terms
Classical conditioning model stimulus-response
Ivan Sechenov
Ivan Pavlov
Matched Russian public - meshed with their world view.
Who were two influential researchers in the Soviet Union and what did they do?
Georgy I. Chelpanov
Developed Institute of Psychology in Moscow
Pluralistic Approach: diverse subject matter, behaviorism, memory, phenomenology.
Was a follower of Wundt and psychophysiology
Encouraged students to study whatever they wanted
Konstantin Kornilov: succeeded Chelpanov
Wanted to incorporate Marxist psychology: elements of behaviorism, Pavlovian reflexive psychology and Gestalt theory.
Deterministic vs. Predetermined trajectory of evolution towards a socialist society. Tension
Who was Lev Vygotskii and what did he contribute to psychology in the Soviet Union?
Asked to Develop a Marxist Psychology
Moved away from it and felt instead that Psychology was the study of the conscious mind through study of children:
-Application to children’s education
-Cultural historical approach
-Memory and attention
-Brain damage and cognitive development
-Practical intelligence
Effect of birth place and time (context of culturally experiences) on development.
Critical of Stimulus-Response, felt it was to reductionist.
For learning to happen you must teach material within the Zone of proximal development (balance between the level of challenge and competence)
Had a multi-faceted rersearch program
When Vygotskii died, what did his students do to continue his work? Soviet Union
Vygotskii died young so many of his students went to study at the Kharkov School
They developed his cultural–historical approach :
-Activity theory (to understand human behavior we have to understand the activity: who is doing what, why and how?) Human activity is goal directed and situated within a social environment. We have tools to help us achieve these goals.
Researched:
-Brain damage
-Concept formation
-Play
-Memory
What kind of psychology developed in continental Europe and Russia in response to industrialization? What kind of problems did it seek to address?
Psychotechnik: applications of psychology to industry, business, work, law, and education
Coined and influenced by Stern’s differential approach
Understanding individual differences for human management - each person is unique Germany
Russian Bolshevik revolution (fear it would spread)
Labor shortage and unrest
Destroyed and deficient infrastructure - Looked to psychology to help them do that.
How did Psychotecnics develop in Germany?
Study of work in Europe: mid-19th century to address industrialization related problems
Kraepelin and Mosso: studied fatigue and other issues that decrease productivity
Post WW1: study of work merged with differential psychology and developed into Psychotecnics
Initially as lab experimentation later paper and pencil tests
How was Psychotechnics used in Germany? What led to its downfall?
- Positive labor relations
- Improve working conditions through workplace analyses
- Ergonomic planning to improve productivity
- Aptitude tests and personnel selection
- Personnel selection strategies
- Time and motion studies
Workers distrustful of psychotecnics, felt they were being exploited so it declined by 1930s
