Task 5 experimental psychology

Question 1

Wundt

Answer 1

o Father of experimental psychology
o Studied with von Helmholtz (measurement of reaction time)
o At first mainly promoted experimental methods (reaction time measurement, psychophysics, memory performance). Later stressed the importance of introspection for the study of higher mental processes. Towards the end of his life invested heavily in the historical method.

Question 2

Experimental methods (Wundt)

Answer 2

 Psychophysical methods to study the connection between physical stimuli and their conscious state (emphasis on just noticeable difference by Fechner)
 The measurement of the duration of simple mental processes
 The accuracy of reproduction in memory tasks

Question 3

Introspection (Wundt)

Answer 3

consisted of a process by which a person looked inside and reported what he/she was sensing, thinking or feeling. It is based on the belief that people have conscious access to (parts of) their own mental processes and can report them
 Tried to get more validity by discriminate between Innere Wahrnehmung und Experimentelle selbstbeobachtung with the use of more controlled settings

Question 4

the historical method (Wundt)

Answer 4

the study of mental differences between cultures (both in time and space). This method was particularly well suited to studying higher psychological functions, such as the social aspects of human thought and behaviour

Question 5

Case study

Answer 5

within medicine and clinical psychology, the intensive study of an individual patient within the context of his/her own world and relations, to understand and help the individual patient (Freud started it)

Question 6

University reform in Germany

Answer 6

o The Enlightenment ideas mainly came from a group of academics who had been expelled from the University of Leipzig, because of their critical attitude and modern ways of thinking
o New type of University: based on Wissenschaft (scholarship and scientific research) and Bildung (the making of good citizens). With one professor in charge who were given academic freedom

Question 7

starting psychology in University

Answer 7

James wrote a book that accomplished what Wundt never could it described the accessible and clear account of what was known and conjectured about psychology at the end of 19th century (starter of psychology in America)
 Introspection is the best measurement despite its limitations (more reliability because of statistical methods and large subject scales)
 Saw continuity between animal behaviour and human behaviour and, therefore, was receptive to comparative psychology

Question 8

James and Functionalism

Answer 8

o For James the precise contents of the mind were less important than what consciousness did, what functions it served for man and animal (in particular with respect to survival)
o Functionalism: name given to an approach in early American psychology research, that examined the practical functions of the human mind inspired by the evolutionary theory

Question 9

Structuralism

Answer 9

o Name given by Titchener to his approach to psychology, consisting of trying to discover the structure of the human mind by means of introspection (inspired by empiricism and associationism)

Question 10

Critics on structuralism

Answer 10

 Introspection did not intuitively give rise to the experience of elementary sensation (people come to conclusions without knowing the underlying process that let to this conclusion)
 Did not focus on ,at this time, important issues such as how could psychology advance the conditions of individuals and of American society
 You cant break down the human mind into atoms (gestalt psychology was opponent theory)

Question 11

Titchner

Answer 11

 Student of Wundt
 Came up with structuralism, based on introspection
 Proposed training of training of subject to increases consciousness about themselves

Question 12

Würzburg school

Answer 12

group of psychologists at the University of Würzburg who used introspection as a research method, but came to different conclusions from those of Wundt and Titchener; in particular they claimed that many thought processes were not available to introspection (imageless thoughts)

Question 13

Gestalt psychology

Answer 13

group of psychologists who argued that the human mind could not be understood by breaking down the experiences into their constituent elements; perception is more than the sensation of stimuli, it involves organisations

Question 14

Psychology in france

Answer 14

o Ribot: wrote books about Fechner and Wundt and praised the establishment of psychology in Germany
 Focused on pathological psychology, that is psychology affected by disease
 Phases of epilepsy
o Binet: founder of intelligence test

Question 15

Neurologists

Answer 15

name used at the end of the nineteenth century by physicians who were interested in the treatment of milder forms of mental problems outside the asylum; the term was later used to refer to specialists of the nervous system, when the original neurologists merged with the psychiatrists and took up the latter’s name

Question 16

Psychological treatment

Answer 16

treatment of mental health problems consisting of conversations between the patient and the therapist; initiated by Freud as an alternative to the prevailing medical and educational treatments

Question 17

Psychoanalysis

Answer 17

Freud’s theory and therapy became called, provided the first coherent framework for the treatment of nervous disorders and, therefore, received a warm welcome among the neurologists

Question 18

Psychology in the UK

Answer 18

o Psychology had a hard time becoming an academic discipline in the UK. This largely had to do with the fact that the universities did not encourage the new discipline. Although there is no evidence for active opposition, every bit of progress required substantial effort
o Much science took place outside of universities (despite UC London)
o Important characters Locke, Hume, Mill, Spencer, Bain, Darwin
o First laboratories were paid with private money
o London was leading in statistical methods, especially correlation

Question 19

Scotland

Answer 19

 Bain: strong interest in biology and experimental research, emphasised on intelligence measurement

Question 20

The Psychological society of Great Britain

Answer 20

o research about the powers and virtues of extraordinary phenomena such as hypnotism, spiritualism and other paranormal events
o Spiritualism: belief that the spirit of the dead can be contacted by mediums; flourished in English speaking countries at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century

Question 21

The British Psychological society

Answer 21

o did more scientific studies

o combined different sciences because thy all have parts that are interesting for psychology

Question 22

Classic division of early psychology

Answer 22

o Structuralism (was the first founded by Wundt)
o Functionalism
o Gestalt psychology
o Behaviourism
o Psychoanalysis (non-scientific outsider but steady growth)

Question 23

Hegelian sequence

Answer 23

o Thesis: psychology, as instituted in the universities, began as the study of mind, based, almost exclusively, on the unreliable method of introspection (structuralism, functionalism, Gestalt psychology)
o Antithesis: in reaction to the blatant unreliability of the introspective method, behaviourism then redefined psychology as the study of behaviour, based primarily on the objective method of experimentation
o Synthesis: in reaction to the limited research agenda and the theoretical bankruptcy of behaviourism, the ‘cognitive revolution’, in turn, restored the mind as the proper subject of psychology (but now with the benefit of the rigorous experimental methods developed within behaviourism)

Question 24

Individualisation

Answer 24

shift from group-focus to individual
 Social mobility led to focus on individual differences  cultural focus on individual
 “me decade” 1970s onward – increased focus on personal emotional life as the ultimate reference point (rather than wealth/ social status)

Question 25

Social management

Answer 25

 Introduction of welfare state after WW2  responsibility of state for “mental health” of the people
 Care rather than control – programs of social management offered as services for sake of well-being rather than forced on people
 Moved from disciplinary style of intervention to more subtle ways of influencing behaviour
 Expansion of “helping professions”  psychotherapy
 Psychology was introduced as part of training in helping professions