Chapter 9 Flashcards
(94 cards)
Describe Wilhelm Wundt’s experiment
Wilhelm Wundt’s Experiment (1862): Wundt conducted an experiment using a specialized apparatus, leading him to believe in the possibility of a fully- fledged discipline of psychology.
o Apparatus Used: Featured a pendulum, a scale, and a bell.
o Key Finding: It took roughly 1/10 of a second to shift attention between the sound of the bell and the pendulum’s position.
What were the implications of this experiment?
Central Mental Process Measurement: Wundt realized he was measuring the speed of a central mental process, marking a significant moment in experimental psychology.
Selective Attention and Voluntary Control: The experiment highlighted the speed of selective attention and introduced the concept of a central voluntary control process.
Distinction in Psychological Actions: Wundt emphasized the difference between voluntary and involuntary actions in his psychological framework.
What were Wundt’s theoretical developments?
Contributions to the Theory of Sense Perception (1862a): Wundt advocated for a new field of experimental psychology focused on human consciousness.
Principles of Physiological Psychology (1874/1904): A seminal work where Wundt aimed to establish experimental psychology.
o Clarification of ‘Physiological’: In Wundt’s context, ‘physiological’ paralleled ‘experimental’, differing from today’s association with biological correlates.
Describe Wundt’s school’s achievements
o Global Impact: By 1890, students globally were drawn to Leipzig to train under Wundt.
o Prolific Research Output: A significant volume of research emerged from Wundt’s laboratory, inspiring the establishment of similar labs worldwide, including in the U.S.
What is a school?
A school is a collective of individuals with shared assumptions, working on common problems and methods, akin to Kuhn’s concept of a paradigm.
Describe Wundt’s thought meter apparatus
Design and Function: The apparatus included a swinging pendulum, a calibrated scale, and a bell.
Observation: When the bell sounded, the pendulum was never at the anticipated positions (d or b) but always some distance away.
Conclusion: This discrepancy, about 1/10 of a second, led to the understanding that one could not simultaneously attend to both the pendulum’s position and the bell sound.
Describe voluntarism’s ideas and influences
Empirical and Rationalistic Blend: Wundt’s focus combined empirical methods with the German rationalistic tradition to understand consciousness.
Influences from Philosophers:
o Herbart and Kant: Wundt acknowledged a significant intellectual
debt to these philosophers.
o Leibniz’s Impact: Wundt felt a special affinity with Leibniz, as
evident from numerous references in his theoretical works.
Opposition to Materialism and Empiricism
Against Materialism: Wundt argued that materialistic psychology contradicted the very fact of consciousness, which couldn’t be derived from physical properties of matter.
Critique of Empiricism: He viewed empiricism as lacking in central volitional processes, which impart unique forms, qualities, or values beyond external stimulation or elemental events.
Pursuit of Understanding Consciousness
Goal: To comprehend not just the experience of consciousness but also the mental laws governing its dynamics.
Central Concept - Will:
o Will in Attention and Volition: Will, as reflected in attention and volition, was crucial for understanding major psychological problems.
o Human Decision in Perception: Wundt believed humans could decide what to attend to and thus perceive.
o Motivation in Behavior and Attention: He posited that behavior and selective attention are often purposeful and motivated.
Describe voluntarism’s tenets and how is it distinct from structuralism?
Definition and Focus: Voluntarism, named for its emphasis on will, choice, and purpose, was the first school of psychology, preceding structuralism.
Contrast with Structuralism: Structuralism, often mistakenly cited as the first school, was actually the approach of Edward Titchener, a student of Wundt, in the United States.
What did Wundt contribute to psych?
o Contributions to the Theory of Sense Perception (1862a): Laid the foundation for his lifelong psychological plan.
o Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology (1863): Explored both experimental psychology and naturalistic observation or historical analysis for higher mental processes.
Areas of Study: Included aesthetics, religious feelings, moral judgments, societal development, comparative religion, language, and will.
Völkerpsychologie: His monumental work spanning 10 volumes, encapsulating many themes from his earlier ‘Lectures’.
Establishment of Laboratory (1876): Gained the required space a year later, leading to teaching experimental psychology.
First Dedicated Psychology Laboratory (1879): His laboratory, termed the Institute for Experimental Psychology, marked the founding of the first lab exclusively for psychological research.
Who did Wundt disagree with?
Disagreements with Predecessors:
o Galileo, Comte, and Kant: Challenged their view that psychology could never be a science.
o Herbart: Disputed Herbart’s belief that psychology could be mathematical but not experimental.
Describe experimental psychology’s scope
Experimental Psychology’s Scope: Asserted that psychology had indeed become an experimental science, but with limitations.
o Basic Mental Processes: Experimentation was suitable for studying fundamental mental processes.
o Higher Mental Events: Deemed experimentation unsuitable for studying complex mental events, socio-cultural, and historical matters.
Describe Wundt’s methods
Experimental and Naturalistic Methods:
o For Basic Processes: Utilized experimental methods.
o For Complex Phenomena: Advocated for naturalistic observation.
Understanding Simple Before Complex: Emphasized the necessity of grasping simpler conscious processes to comprehend more complex ones.
o Foundational Rule in Psychology: Stressed that understanding simple phenomena is a prerequisite for understanding complex phenomena.
Describe Wundt’s goals for psych
Dual Objective: Aimed to understand both simple and complex psychological phenomena.
o Use of Experimentation: Appropriate for studying simpler aspects of the mind.
o Beyond Experimentation: For complex phenomena, alternative methods like naturalistic observation were essential.
Describe Wundt’s Approach to Mediate and Immediate Experience in Psychology
All Sciences Based on Experience: Wundt emphasized that all sciences, including psychology, are grounded in experience.
Type of Experience in Psychology: Differentiated between ‘mediate’ and ‘immediate’ experience as the basis for psychology.
Mediate vs. Immediate Experience
Mediate Experience:
o Used in Other Sciences: Examples include physics, where experience is mediated through devices like spectrometers or sound spectrographs.
o Characteristics: Involves data recorded and analyzed via instruments, leading to an indirect understanding of the physical world.
Immediate Experience:
o Central to Experimental Psychology: Focuses on direct human consciousness as it occurs, without mediation by devices.
What were the goals of experimental psychology?
- Discover Basic Mental Elements: Identify the fundamental components of thought.
- Understand Mental Combinations: Determine laws governing the combination of these elements into complex mental experiences.
Describe Wundt’s use of introspection
Methodological Diversity: Utilized various methods, including introspection, to study basic mental processes.
Experimental vs. Pure Introspection:
o Pure Introspection: Earlier, less structured self-observation used by philosophers.
o Experimental Introspection: Wundt’s scientifically rigorous approach, employing laboratory instruments for precise internal perception, akin to external perception.
Implementation in Experiments:
o Simplification: Often required only “yes” or “no” responses or pressing a telegraph key.
o Comparison with Physiology and Psychophysics: Similar to methods used by Helmholtz and others for studying sensations and thresholds.
Critique of Philosophical Introspection: Wundt was critical of less objective, philosophical uses of introspection.
How did Wundt contribute to sensory studies?
Replication of Physiological and Psychophysical Work: Conducted extensive studies on audition, vision, and sensory thresholds, building upon existing physiological and psychophysical research.
Describe Wundt’s sensations
- Definition: Occur when a sense organ is stimulated, and the impulse reaches the brain.
- Characteristics: Can be described in terms of modality (e.g., visual, auditory) and intensity.
- Within Modality: Further analysis of qualities such as hue and saturation for visual sensations, pitch and timbre for auditory sensations, and various taste characteristics.
Describe how Wundt viewed feelings
- Association with Sensations: Accompany all sensations.
- Tridimensional Theory of Feeling: Feelings can be described along three dimensions: pleasantness-unpleasantness, excitement-calm, and strain- relaxation.
What was perception, according to Wundt?
A passive process influenced by physical stimulation, anatomical makeup, and past experiences. It involves experiencing many elements simultaneously.
What is apperception, according to Wundt?
Active and voluntary attention to a part of the perceptual field. It’s under individual control and integral to Wundt’s concept of voluntarism.
Describe creative synthesis
o Critique of “Mental Chemistry”: Wundt opposed John Stuart Mill’s idea of passive idea synthesis.
o Active Role of Attention: Emphasized the active arrangement and rearrangement of elements by the individual’s will, leading to new, never- before-experienced arrangements.
o Unique to Psychology: Distinguished psychology from physical sciences, where phenomena like color are created by the individual’s cortex.
How did Wundt view the mind?
Contrary to Static Mind View: Wundt saw the mind as active, creative, dynamic, and volitional rather than just searching for cognitive and emotional elements.
Apperception in Mental Functioning: Essential for ordinary mental processes; loss of apperceptive ability could lead to disorganized thoughts, as in schizophrenia.
How did Wundt influence theories of mental illness?
Expansion by Emil Kraepelin: Wundt’s student Kraepelin expanded on the idea that schizophrenia could be a breakdown of attentional processes, citing dysfunctions in the “central control process.”
