Chapter 9 - Early approaches to psychology Flashcards
What is Wundt’s claim to fame?
Founder of psychology
Thought meter
Wundt found that it took 1/10 of a second to shift attention from sound of bell to position of pendulum
What was Wundt measuring using his thought meter?
Speed of selective/voluntary attention
Divided attention
Person can attend to pendulum or to bell, but not to both at same time
When people think they are multitasking, what are they actually doing?
Constantly switching their attention back and forth between stimuli
Did Wundt believe that consciousness can be measured and quantified?
Yes
Wundt’s Principles of Physiological Psychology goals
To create a new field of experimental psychology
To uncover the fundamental facts of human consciousness
What was the original name of Wundt’s journal, and what was it changed to?
Philosophical Studies to Psychological Studies
What is often considered as psychology’s DOB?
1879
Why is 1879 considered psychology’s DOB?
Opened the very popular “Institute for Experimental Psychology” lab at University of Leipzig
What did Wundt oppose?
Opposed materialism and aspects of empiricism
What did Wundt believe about consciousness?
It is immaterial and that people do not passively/automatically sense and perceive stimuli
Believed we play an active role in synthesizing sensory info
What did Wundt believe about empiricism?
Couldn’t account for human will/volition
What is the first technical school of thought in psychology?
Voluntarism
What did Wundt see will as?
A central concept in psychology/consciousness
What did Wundt include in will as?
Attention
Volition
Motivation
What did voluntarism seek to do?
Understand mental laws governing consciousness
What kind of mental processes did Wundt believe could be studied experimentally/scientifically?
Only basic mental processes/immediate experience (e.g., sensation, perception)
What were Wundt’s beliefs on studying more complex mental processes?
Believed that understanding things like morality, language require naturalistic observations and historical analysis
What were Wundt’s two major goals?
To discover the basic elements of thoughts
To discover the laws by which mental elements combine into more complex mental experiences (i.e., perception)
How did Wundt seek to discover the basic elements of thought?
Through experimental rather than pure introspection
What were the 2 basic elements of thought, according to Wundt?
Sensations
Feelings
Sensations
Sense organ is stimulated and resulting impulse reaches brain
What are the three aspects of sensations?
Modality
Intensity
Qualities