Chapter 8: Psychology in Europe Between the World Wars

Question 1

Who is Stahlin and what did he contribute to German psychology?

Answer 1

A theologian who emphasized the connection between religion and psychology
Society for Religious Psychology

Question 2

Who is Karl Girgensohn and what did he contribute to German psychology?

Answer 2

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).

Question 3

Who is Schneider and what did he contribute to Germann psychology?

Answer 3

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).

Question 4

What happened to German Psychology post 1933?

Answer 4

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

Question 5

What kind of work was being done at the Vienna Psychological Institute by Karl and Charlotte Bühler?

Answer 5

Mental development of children
Evolutionary progression: controlling instincts, mastery of sensorimotor, true intelligence through language, active learning

Question 6

What were the three main areas being researched at the Vienna Psychological Institute?

Answer 6

1. Experimental research (visual perception)
2. Child and youth psychology cognitive and personality development
3. Economic and social (issues) psychology impact of unemployment
   All were respected fields

Question 7

What kind of psychological research was being done in Continental Europe?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

What was distinct about the development of psychology in France?

Answer 8

Institutionalization as part of philosophy and psychology in clinical settings.

Question 9

Who was Henri Piéron and what did he contribute to French psychology?

Answer 9

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

Question 10

How was the development of psychology in Europe different from psychology in the U.S.?

Answer 10

Developed more diversely much faster (U.S. focused mainly on behaviourism and “white rat” psychology).
Clinical psychology was institutionalized much quicker.

Question 11

Who were Janet and George Dumas and what did they contribute to French Psychology?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Who were Henri Wallon and Jean Piaget and what did they contribute to French psychology? What did they agree and disagree on?

Answer 12

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

Question 13

What model of stages did Jean Piaget develop?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Who were two big philosophers and how did their theorizing contribute to France psychology?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

What kind of ideas influenced the development of psychology in the Netherlands?

Answer 15

Pillarization: educational, social, cultural, political, and economic life divided into autonomous and separate religious spheres:
-Catholic
-Protestant
-Neutrals
Emphasis on wholeness

Question 16

What changes ocured in the approach to psychology in the Netherlands?

Answer 16

Empirical approach replaced with German philosophy of
Geisteswissenschaftliche: wholeness of soul leading to self-understanding
Applied to:
-education
-business
-vocational guidance
-pastoral work

Question 17

Despite the changes to a more holistic approach to psychology in the Natherlands, which two researchers continued empirical work and what did they do?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

What kind of psychology was popular in Russia and why?

Answer 18

Objective psychology: psychological phenomenon in physiological terms
Classical conditioning model stimulus-response
Ivan Sechenov
Ivan Pavlov
Matched Russian public - meshed with their world view.

Question 19

Who were two influential researchers in the Soviet Union and what did they do?

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Who was Lev Vygotskii and what did he contribute to psychology in the Soviet Union?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

When Vygotskii died, what did his students do to continue his work? Soviet Union

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What kind of psychology developed in continental Europe and Russia in response to industrialization? What kind of problems did it seek to address?

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

How did Psychotecnics develop in Germany?

Answer 23

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

Question 24

How was Psychotechnics used in Germany? What led to its downfall?

Answer 24

• 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

Question 25

How did psychotecnics continue to gain footing and become institutionalized in Germany?

Answer 25

Psychologist Moede and engineer Schlesinger cofounded
Institute for Industrial Psychotechnology
Limited positions for lecturers and professors in psychology
Academic positions in psychotecnics, at technical colleges were available

Law requiring psychologists consultation for occupational and employment agencies for hiring purposed in 1919
Eventually declined because workers became distrustful

Question 26

What kind of work did Henri Piéron and colleagues do at the National Institute of Labor Studies and Vocational Guidance in France?

Answer 26

Psychology: study and improvement of work
Psycotechnique
Tests to improve personnel selection and labor processes
Psychophysiological functions tests e.g., reaction time, fatigability, ambidexterity

Question 27

What kind of work did Psychotecnics do in France?

Answer 27

Paris public transport system - Screened drivers, efficiency increased, accidents reduced, saved money
French railroads, national education system
Established: Travail Humain Psychotechnics journal

Question 28

What kind of work did psycholigists do in the Netherlands? How were they influenced by German holistic movement Dutch?

Answer 28

Applied in business and industry
Vocational guidance for individuals
Personnel selection for businesses
Sensorimotor, cognitive and intellectual tests for placement

Foundation for Psychotechnics
assessment based on total character

Question 29

What did the trajectories of psychology look like in Italy, Spain, Denmark?

Answer 29

Italy:
Sancte de Sanctis - vocational choice, developed a graph depicting fatigue ‘‘psychoergographic’’ productivity decline

Spain:
Psychologists addressed traffic problems, personnel selection, vocational guidance

Denmark:
Alfred Lehman - career guidance, personnel selection, and work efficiency

Question 30

What kind of psychology was in demand in Europe post WW1?

Answer 30

Post WW1 applied psychology in demand, (academic psychology took some time to develop in Europe)

• Improvement of work efficiency
• Increase in labor productivity
• Social management of labor force

Question 31

What was the trajectory of psychology in Britain, what kind of work was being explored? What kind of institutions were being established?

Answer 31

Moral psychology of the protestant Church dominated until WW1
Psychology gained respect as academic and applied discipline after WW1
Practical psychology: everyday psychologies continued till WW2:
-Pelmanism - different sets of exercises to improve brain power
-Increase brain efficiency
-Psycho-therapeutic Society
-Federation of British Practical Psychologists.

Question 32

Cambridge was the center of Academic Psychology in Britain. Who were two influential researchers and what kind of work did they do?

Answer 32

James Ward: helped establish groundwork for emergence of Psychology at Cambridge Wrote about experimental psychology and psychophysics

William H. R. Rivers: Lecturer in Experimental Psychology and Physiology of the Senses in 1897. Treatment of veterans with “shell shock”/hysteria

Question 33

Who is Charles S. Myers and what did he contribute to psychology in Britain?

Answer 33

River’s student: director Cambridge Psychological Laboratory in 1913. Credited with establishing psychology as a strong scientific discipline.
Coined “Shell-shock” thought it was a mental injury

National Institute of Industrial Psychology 1921 Successful commercial enterprise - could be hired to advise on multiple topics:
-productivity
-vocational guidance
-human factors in accidents
-malingering (faking it)
-psychology of worker and work place
-case studies
Largest organization of psychologists

Question 34

Who was Cyril Burt and what did he contribute to psychology in Britain?

Answer 34

Director of vocational guidance program
Used intelligence testing
Studied heredity and intelligence

Question 35

Who was Frederic Bartlett and what did he contribute to psychology in Britain?

Answer 35

Academic research on memory, forgetting
Repeated production: Tell a story and then you’ll repeat it back to me in a week
Serial reproduction: broken telephone, how stories change
“War of Ghosts Experiment” - story became more consistent with cultural values
Transformed memory of drawings, Social nature of memory
Felt memory was socially constructed (reconstucted)
Working memory is a precursor to cognitive psychology

Question 36

What Social Psychology movement took hold in Britain?

Answer 36

Mass observation movement
Input of common people about their lives
Observations of social behavior 
Statistics on pub behavior
The “In” and “Out” columns refer to whether the cigarette butts, spits, and matches made it into the spittoon or landed on the floor.

Question 37

Which psychologists were influential in post-war Britain? What kind of work did they do?

Answer 37

Rivers: successful psychoanalytic treatment for shell-shock
Psychoanalysis thrived in Britain between the wars
Melanie Klein
John Bowlby, Freud and his daughter Anna moved to Bitain
Offered servies to veterans
Psychoanalytic research
Tavistock Clinic (1920)
Emotions and warfare
Services for combating stress
Malingering

Created lots of space of psychology, lots of psychological casualties because of war

Question 38

What kind of work did psychologists contribute to the war effort in Britain?

Answer 38

Academic expertise for war: Royal Air Force’s Flying Personnel Research Committee.
Applied Psychology Research Unit: Craik and Bartlet
training for fighter pilots
fatigue and performance

Question 39

Who was Susan Isaacs and what did she contribute to psychology in Britain?

Answer 39

Effects of children’s separation from families following the London evacuation

Question 40

Who is Heymans and what did he contribute to psychology in the Netherlands?

Answer 40

Established psychology laboratory in 1892
Popularized psychology by developing theory of personality - typology of character
Empirical approach (questionnaires, statistical methods)
Came up with 8 personality types
Popular among public