Lecture 4 - Introspection, Functionalism,

Question 1

Introspection as a methodology:

Answer 1

• introspection as a methodology is a cornerstone in psychology
• the nature of introspection and how it should be defined, employed, and hence, the implications of any findings have been a hot topic of debate since the inception of our discipline
• some of the figures who conflicted on what introspection is or should be were: Wundt, Kulpe (and the Wurzburg School), William James

** TEST **

Question 2

purpose of activity #3

Answer 2

• the purpose of the activity is to better understand the differences between the different meanings of ‘introspection’ used by:

1. Wundt
2. Kulpe (and the Würzburg school)
3. Titchener* the next slide lists questions for you to answer

• the slide following that shows some key terms to help you organize the information

Question 3

Völkerpsychologie

Answer 3

• i.e. cultural or social or ethnic psychology
• non-experimental methods
• evolution of human processes
• he was not interested in racial or biological differences

Question 4

study higher mental processes like learning? Wundt said no, but …

Answer 4

• Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909) used nonsense syllables to study memory
• Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930) used paired items to study memory and associative learning

Question 5

G. E. Müller (1850-1934)

Answer 5

• Ebbinghaus: memoriser was passive
  > focusing on the study of memory
• Muller: active role
• introspection
• memory drum
• did not use until the early 1990s’
• It would showcase a small portions of words which would allow people to test their memory.
• women in the lab
• included women in his lab. [ahead of his time]

Question 6

2. American Pioneers

Answer 6

• William James
• G. Stanley Hall
• Mary Calkins
• Christine Ladd-Franklin
• James Mark Baldwin

> There was delusion in American psychology, different from what they had been studying.

Question 7

G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924)

Answer 7

• first PhD in psychology?
• Leipzig 1879
• lecture at Harvard
• John Hopkins 1884
• 1883 first experimental psychology lab

> 4 years after Wundt.

• American Journal of Psychology (1887)

> Big P psychology regarding this journal.

• Clark University 1889

> Became president of this university?? Double check

• APA (1892)
• developmental psychology, adolescence

Question 8

Stanley Hall and Black Scholars

Answer 8

• Hall applied to Howard University (an all Black college) in 1872
• solicited Black students, fostered connection with Howard University
• Clark University enrolled Black students, graduating more Black students than anyall other White U.S. colleges combined
• supported and supervised Dr. Cecil Sumners, the first Black American to earn a PhDin Psychology, June 1920
• Hall: eugenics and racist ideas

Question 9

Christine Ladd-Franklin (1847-1930)

Answer 9

• math 1882/1926
• applied to university using the sign off C.Ladd so they didn’t know it was a women
• eventually got her doctorate
• Presented once, at the confrence.
• No access to extend her work beyond theory.
• Muller, Helmholtz
• theory of colour vision
• “men-only” –> challenged sexism

Question 10

James Mark Baldwin (1861-1934)

Answer 10

• bringing it to Canada!
• University of Toronto 1889
• Psychological Review
• Psychological Bulletin

Question 11

the fall of Structuralism

Answer 11

• isolated
• introspection brings it down

Question 12

John Dewey (1859-1952)

Answer 12

• starting point of functionalism
• Chicago Functionalists
• studied with Hall
• “the reflex arc”(1896)- functional vs. structural approach- adaption to the environment

Question 13

James R. Angell (1869-1949)

Answer 13

• studied with James; doctorate in Germany
• Psychology department
• introductory textbook

Question 14

“The Province of Functional Psychology”

Answer 14

1. study of mental operations and functions
2. utilities of consciousness
3. psychophysical

“functionalism seems at present a convenient term, but there is nothing sacrosanct about it …the moment it becomes dogmatic and narrow its spirit will have passed and undoubtedly some worthier successor will fill its place”

Question 15

contributions of functionalism

Answer 15

• many methods; e.g.,
• introspection (Wundt way)
• mental testing
• questionnaires (personality tests)
• many topics

Question 16

indigenization

Answer 16

• resistance against Euro-/German-centric version of psychology
• emergence of a functional and more applied psychology

Question 17

Wundt

Answer 17

> Founded psycholgoy

> Published several papers and two books, even in earlier books his experiemental method became apparent

Question 18

Self-observation

Answer 18

(Wundt made this distinction)

> Self-observation of the sort casually engaged in by every-one cannot be the basis of a scientific psychology because it is open to personal bias.

Question 19

Inner perception

Answer 19

(Wundt)

> Inner perception comes closer to the method required because it involves deliberately observing one’s own mental processes. However, such observations would still be too subjective to be trustworthy unless they were made under strictly controlled conditions.

Question 20

Systematic experimental introspection

Answer 20

(Würzburg group)

> Observation itself is a particular act, a committed activity of the ego. No other activity can be executed next to it at the same time. Our mental efficiency is limited, our person-ality is a unitary whole. But observation can take place after the completion of a function and can make it the object of self perception.

Question 21

Retrospect

Answer 21

The method Külpe described came to be called retrospection (Systematic experimental introspection transformed into this)

> retrospection Looking back on experiences after they have occurred and then describing them (Kűlpe)

Question 22

Fractionation

Answer 22

Fractination is going in and out a state repeatedly in order to reach deeper levels

Question 23

Imageless thoughts

Answer 23

> What the Würzburgers discovered was that the mental operations corresponding to activities such as addition or subtraction were not easy to put into words. Moreover, there did not seem to be any images that consistently corresponded to such activities. Thus, in the previous exercise, you can easily imagine a number (for example, 5), the task (add 3), and the solution (8), but it is not easy to say what comes in between the task and the solution. The Würzburgers were surprised by this result, and they called such experiences imageless thoughts.

Question 23

Determining tendencies

Answer 23

The idea one has of the goal we are trying to achieve. Determining tendencies give thinking a direction (Wűrzburg school).