Chapter 4: Psychology in

the Laboratory

Contexts Main Features

Resources and infrastructure

• Rapid industrialization and urbanization of society • Sustained technological progress • Massive migration and development of new forms of communication• Initiation of mass public education

Social climateMastery values coexisting with the values of idealism (associated with religious beliefs and practices) and romanticism (a social climate embracing individuality and passion)

Academic tradition

Secularization of social sciences and life sciences Increasing investments in research and education

Psychology: Social, Economic, and Cultural Contexts of the 19th Century

Psychology as a subject of studies developed in the 19th century within at least two fields. One was experimental science, including physics, biology, physiology, or medicine. The other was so-called mental philosophy.

Experimental science

Mental philosophy

Psychology

Clairvoyance or clear seeing, stood for the supposed extrasensory power of an individual, that is, the power to see or feel objects or events that could not be perceived by the senses or measured objectively.

A fashion, a trend, and a faith—spiritualism was a belief that the living could correspond with the deceased through special channels ofcommunication.

Psychology: science and popular beliefs

Psychology: science and popular beliefs

Phrenology (or cranioscopy) A theory connecting the size and shape of the brain with human behavior and the individual’s personality. Gall divided the brain into two large groups and 37 zones representing emotional characteristics (such as desire to live, reverence, or imitation) and intellectual characteristics (such as order, calculation, and comparison).

Phrenology turned into a popular movement, with dozens of phrenology societies formed in Europe and the United States. In the 19th century, phrenology became a big business: people were willing to pay money to get evaluated.

Period and subject Main activities

First month.

Brain physiology.

The class work included recitations, informal lectures, some written work, and the dissection by each student of a lamb's brain.

Second month. Sensation.

About seventy experiments were performed by the students on sensations of contact, pressure, temperature, taste, hearing, and sight. The theory of sensation and perception was discussed.

Second month. Emotion.

The study of the emotions and the will was accompanied by no experimental work. Students were required to read and discuss their reading materials in class and keep written records of their dreams.

Third month.

Space perception

Lectures were offered on the three chief theories, the Empiricist, the Nativist-Kantian, and the Nativist-Sensational.

Last week.

Reaction time.

Students were engaged in reaction time experiments. This work should properly have been scattered through the year but had been postponed due to a delay in procuring the experimental equipment.

Final examination. An essay was required. The immediate topic of the paper was to be decided after the study and not before. Topics: "Association," "Attention," "Memory," "Imagination," "The Psychology of Language," " The Psychology of Childhood," "The Psychology of Blindness," "Aphasia," "Animal Psychology”. No topics in abnormal psychology were originally included, but several students especially interested in the subject could write on "Hypnotism," "Dreams," or "Illusions."

Studying Psychology at Wellesley College. Source: Calkins, 1892 Course: Psychology including Experimental Psychology

Some Discoveries of the 19th Century Physiology that Impacted Psychology

Studies of the speed of nervous

impulses

Theories of the eye convergence, binocular vision, color blindness

The all-or-none principle of nerve

conduction

The membrane theory of nerve

conduction

Studies of dark and light

adaptation

Identification of the visual and speech

centers in the brain

Identification of several motor

areas in the brain

The new method of staining individual nerves and cell structures

Studies of reflexes of the brain and the spinal cord

Early Measurements in Psychology

The beginning of experimental studies of the reaction time. The main finding of these studies was that personal psychological characteristics such as attention or anticipation could significantly affect reaction time and behavior in general.

The existence of remarkably consistent differences in measurement between any two observers had been established in several experiments and was labeled as personal equation.

Early Measurements in Psychology

Psychophysics, according to Gustav T. Fechner (1801–1887) was an exact science of the functional relations of dependency between body and mind.

In 1850, Fechner suggested a possibility that subjective estimations of measurements such as weight or length may develop in an arithmetic series in response to a geometric series of physical changes. He found the supporting evidence in experiments on weights, brightness, tactile perception, and visual differences.

Early Measurements in Psychology

Fechner’s law states that the magnitude of a subjective sensation increases proportional to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity: S = k log I

where S = subjective experience, I = physical intensity, k is a constant

Gustav Fechner was physicist, philosopher, writer, poet, and scientist who wanted us to enjoy the beauty of his carefully crafted experiments

Fechner’s main work, Elements of Psychophysics, was published in 1860.

Early Measurements in Psychology

Major Findings by Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)Findings Brief Descriptions

The learning curve

The time required to memorize an average nonsense syllable increases sharply as the number of syllables increases.

Learning trials Distributing learning trials over time is more effective in memorizing nonsense syllables than massing practice into a single session.

Practicing Continuing to practice material after the learning criterion has been reached enhances retention. A small amount of initial practice, far below that required for retention, can lead to savings at relearning.

Primacy and recency effects

Early and late items in a list are more likely to be recalled than middle items.

Associations Contrary to the prevailing philosophical position, Ebbinghaus observed that items exceeding this span, namely those separated from each other by more than the limit of five intervening syllables, could nonetheless become directly associated.

First Psychological Laboratories

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) was founder of the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany. Thirty-three American and scores of students from other countries worked on their doctoral degrees under Wundt’s supervision.

First Psychological Laboratories

Wilhelm Wundt’s Academic Accomplishments

A new research program for psychology that became a model to follow. According to this method, the researcher had to carefully observe his own experience as a response to a physical stimulus. Wundt’s method involved evaluations of quality, intensity, and duration of such experiences.

First Psychological Laboratories

Wilhelm Wundt’s Academic Accomplishments

The first psychological laboratory on theuniversity campus in Leipzig. No one before Wundt was capable of undertaking a project of similar scale and significance. His lab (founded in 1879) and the Institute for Experimental Psychology (founded in 1894) in Leipzig became a precedent for others to look at, admire, and repeat.

First Psychological Laboratories

Wilhelm Wundt’s Academic Accomplishments

The academic study of scientific psychology in Europe.In 1874 he wrote Principles of Physiological Psychology. He created a doctoral program in experimental psychology. In 1879, Wundt assisted his first graduate student at “pure” psychological research. Many prominent psychologists of the early 20th century have been his graduate students or worked in his laboratory. In 1881, he started the journal Philosophische Studien (Studies in Philosophy), which became an early academic publication for psychology research. In 1883, he taught the first course titled experimental psychology.

First Psychological Laboratories

In the United States, psychologists found a favorable environment. A combination of public financial support, tuition, and private donations created an infrastructure with available resources for experimental research and training of future psychologists. Two great psychologists, Stanley Hall and James Cattell, were among the first returning American students who, after studying with Wundt, brought back their experiences and aspirations.

The first laboratory of psychology was organized by G. Stanley Hall at the Johns Hopkins University in

Maryland early in 1883.

James Cattell formally opened a psychology lab in 1887 at the University of Pennsylvania.

Wilhelm Wundt’s Views

Sensations Feelings

Apperception: selective and constructive process

of attention

ExperienceMethod: Experimental Introspection

Psychology: an experimental science of experience

Wilhelm Wundt’s Views

Physiological Psychology:

The study of experiences functionally related to

physiological processes.

“Second Psychology”:

The psychological study of experiences that are

incarnated in the brain and the nervous system and

appear in the form of myths, fairy tales, and

beliefs.

Wilhelm Wundt’s Legacy

Theory

Practice

Physiological Psychology

“Second Psychology”

Creation of the Laboratory

Education and Training of Psychologists

Lasting Influence

Limited Influence

William Titchener (1867-1927)

The nature of psychological phenomena is in mental elements, those elementary “bricks” from which the larger mental structures are created. The problem was to identify how these complex structures were formed.

The task of the psychologist is to describe these elements and learn how they interconnect. In the process of introspection, a scientist should not use common labels, such as, “I see the table and it is brown.” Instead, the scientist should describe the elements of his or her conscious experience.

Sensations as mental elements have four basic characteristics: quality, intensity, duration, and clearness

In December 1892 at the University of Pennsylvania, the first annual meeting of the American Psychological Association took place, representing 31 original members (18 had attended the first meeting). The composition of the association was diverse and included psychiatrists, philosophers, experimental psychologists, and experts in education (called pedagogists). They were all men. The average age of the members was 35, with the most mature 54 years old.

Birth of the American Psychological Association