3: Experimental Psychology Flashcards
(24 cards)
What is the difference between monism and dualism?
- Monism - Materialist (everything is physical) and idealist (everything is psychological)
- Dualism - Psychophysical interactionism - mind and body are two seperate substances affecting the other and psychophysical parallelism - mental process and bodily processes are taking place simultaneously (no interaction). Descartes believed the mind is non material and the body is 3D connected by the pineal gland.
Who started time reaction measurements?
Astronomers like Bessel who found time reaction to be a problem in time measurement and making calculations. Originally, reaction time was called personal equations.
How did the idea of reaction time develop?
A dutch physiologist (Donders) researched reaction time experiments for psychological purposes and research. Making a device called a Hipp chronoscope.
Who was Hermann Von Helmholtz?
He measured the action current (later action potential) which determined the speed at which a nerve signal travels. He also made a theory about Unconcious Inference - perception was messages from the senses that were being reinterpreted from the mind; he argued that they are learned. He also made the Young-Helmholtz theory of colour vision (3 detectors for 3 primary colours) and hearing (different areas respond to different sound wavelengths)
Who was Gustav Fechner?
He was a physicist and physiologist who almost died and realised that he could not think well in this time - therefore, sickness of the body would also mean sickness of the soul which is impossible in dualism. He formed the Double Aspect Theory and Fechner law (mathmatical relation between mind and matter: Sensation = k log physical intensity.) This led to psycho-physics.
What is the Double Aspect View?
It is the combination of monism (idealism specifically) and psychological parallelism - the idea that the mind and body are two aspects of the same thing
Who was Wilhelm Wundt?
In 1879, he founded the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig. He studied medicine, physiology and philosophy. He also forms physiological psychology (the starting point for experimental psychology) and social psychology.
What did Wundt want to study?
He wanted to study consciousness and measure inferior psychological processes like sensations, perceptions, apperceptions and feelings using methods like psychophysics, mental chronometry and introspection. He was also often the subject of his own experiments.
What does Wundt’s pscyhology look like?
Voluntaristic psychology:
Normally we form perceptions from sensations but when we have psychic causality (implement our will) sensations then become apperceptions.
How did Wundt introspect?
He let thoughts and ideas flow normally and then only after conciously recall them to prevent biases.
What was the Three Dimensional Theory of Feeling?
We can understand ourselves in a place in these states:
1. Pleasant - unpleasant
2. Active - passive (In the moment)
3. Tense - relaxed (broader)
Who was Gerard Heymans?
He established the first dutch psychology laboratory. He was a student of Wundt and was internationally renowned - starting with general psychology (based on the 5 senses and Heymans law) and later special psychology. He was mainly a philosopher who also had interests in logic, ethics and aesthetics. He wanted to categorise and understand the different elements that made up the conscious experience through empirical methods.
Why did Heyman’s go into psychology?
Despite new technology and inventions, people were not happier. Therefore, psychological knowledge was to examine how we differ from one another and how we can improve happiness.
What is the Cube of Heymans?
A distillation of personality traits to 3 dimensions - emotionality, activity, primary/secondary functioning (aftereffects - where does an experience keep you hooked or do you forget it over time? Is someone preoccupied with gathering new impressions or processing old ones?)
What are the Three Surveys of Heyman?
- Hereditary survey - asked GPs personality surveys to correlate parent to child hereditary traits.
- Puberty survey - asked teachers on personality correlates due to puberty
- Study survey - asked professors on personality
How did Heyman form the Heyman cube?
Heymans read biographies and distilled personality qualities into 80-90 traits and aligned them with other personality theorists.
How did Heymans view consciousness?
Mental contents > central consciousness (ur current experience) > periferal consciousness (limitless)
What was the mind problem?
The question of whether we learn or have innate tendencies to certain behaviours/senses
Who was Ernst Weber?
Weber stated that what we percieve isn’t an actual quantity of anything but a proportion. He came up with jnd, which is the amount of change we need to percieve a difference which depends on the quantity we compare it with.
Who was William James?
William James was an American psychologist who criticised Wundts work as being reductionist and his introspectionism as lacking scientific rigour. He also criticised psychophysics as being meaningless. But he did develop radical empiricism and started the first psychology (but not experimental psychology) department in the U.S. His theory of emotion was also significant, where he saw progressive steps (arousing stimuli, physical reaction, emotional reaction).
Who was Ebbinghaus?
A german psychologist who justified experimental psychology with his own work and identified 3 ways of remembering: recognition, re-learning savings and redintegration.
What were the two major perspectives in the 19th century?
Structuralists who were interested in how the mind was organised and functionalists who were interested in what mental processes were used for.
What was a significant metaphysical research Heymans did?
He had a theory called psychic monism. While materialism was the main ideology at the time, he suggested the idea of material qualities being psychological.
What was the use of Heyman’s cube?
Despite claiming himself that he did not want his theory to be considered true or correct but rather useful, they were kind of used by the wider public as a fun categorising act then something useful.
