scientific"; germany's philosophy of education -- encouraged scholars to take a scientific approach to the examination of nature
wissenschaft
wissenschaft established ,,, ,,, for professors to pursue their research interests without fear of administrative or political censure
academic freedom
wissenschaft had a ,,, ,,, atmosphere
research-based
the study of the relationship btwn the perception of a stimulus event and the physical dimensions of the stimulus being perceived
psychophysics
German philosopher and the father (founder) of PEDAGOGY; Wrote Psychology as a Science; Rejected EXPERIMENTAL MEHTOD but theorized about MATHEMATIZATION of the mind
(johann) herbart
herbart's main contribution; Integrated cluster of ideas at the forefront of consciousness -- refers to conscious awareness
apperceptive mass
who conducted sensory threshold research; Mapping the relative sensitivity of various locations on the skin; Demonstrating a mathematical relationship btwn the psychological and the physical that would establish psychophysic
(ernst) weber
the point where the perception changes from feeling one point to feeling 2 of them; weber
two-point thresholds
interest in the "muscle sense" (KINESTHESIS) developed this; How important this sense was for making judgements ab comparative weights; and formula!
weber's law; JND/S = k (just noticeable difference/stimulus magnitude = constant)
weber's law is important because it subjected ,, ,,, to measurement and mathematical formulation making ,,, a key element of new psychology
mental events; psychophysics
JND ,,, as stimulus intensity ,,, , but the ratio of the JND to S is ,,,
increases; increases; constant
Could be called the FIRST EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGIST; Studied visual afterimages -- when a bright light is shined in the eyes -- damaged his own eyes; Mind/body monist and idealist; Believed relation btwn mind and body could be described mathematically
(gustav) fechner
fechner; a stimulus is presented that is well above threshold and then gradually reduced in intensity until the subject reports that it can no longer be heard
method of limits
fechner; sounds of varying intensities are presented in a random order, and the subject's task is to indicate whether or not they are heard -- solves the problem w the method of limits -- the most accurate
method of constant stimuli
fechner; the subject directly varies the intensity of the stimulus until it seems to be at thresholds -- takes least amount of time but is also least accurate
method of adjustment
who wrote principles of physiological psychology; "new domain of science"; opened important lab -- the first one
wundt
year wundt started his lab
1879
2 parts of new psyc
immediate conscious experience and higher mental processes
in new psyc; investigated in the lab -- precise control; use of internal perception
immediate conscious experience
in new psyc; Investigated outside of the lab -- precise control not possible; observation, case study
higher mental processes
wundt; attempt to analyze life's experiences thru introspective reflection -- unsystematic, rely heavily on faulty memory, rejected it as nothing better than philosophical speculation
self-observation
wundt; is like self-observation, but much more narrower process of responding immediately to precisely controlled stimuli; Can yield valid scietnific data only if its results can be replicated
internal perception
what 2 areas did wundt focus on in his lab
sensation and perception & mental chronometry (reaction time)
studying topics of positive and negative afterimages, visual contrast, illusions, and the perception of size, depth, and motion; WUNDT
perception
in wundt's lab the area of study; They examined topics such as the ability to distinguish colors presented to different areas of the retina and tones presented in various combos of pitch and loudness
sensation and perception
in wundt's lab the area of study of reaction time
mental chronometry
measured the time taken for a simple reaction and then the procedure would then be "complicated" by adding other mental tasks; Composed the "discrimination reaction time"; within CHRONOMETRY
subtractive method
abstracting from a subjective factor; The standpoint of NATURAL SCIENCE
mediate experience
Focus is on the subjective factor; Tries to do away w abstraction and its consequences; The standpoint of Wundt's psychology
immediate experience
A chronoscope use to measure simple reaction time (SRT) such as response to a light; Then task would be made more complicated by adding a mental task; this provided a discrimination reaction time (DRT)
subtractive method
formula for discrimination time in subtractive method
discrimination time = DRT - SRT
reasoned that if nerve impulses take a measurable amount of time, and if mental activity is composed of nerve impulses, then the times taken by various mental events could be determined -- subtractive method
donders
the best known of the American students who studied w wundt -- an enthusiastic advocate of the reaction time method using an experimental setup
cattell
Interested in british associationism; Began using experimental approach to study the mental processes of association that are involved in MEMORY was his own subject
ebbinghaus
ebbinghaus is best known for the ,,,
nonsense syllable
correct recall includes accurately reproducing a set of stimuli in the exact order of their presentation -- well suited for examining associations btwn a "meaningless series of syllables"; ebbinghaus
serial learning
finding memory performance is better when spread out over a period of time rather than cramming; ebbinghaus
distribution of practice
the rate of forgetting for info that has already been learned; ebbinghaus
the forgetting curve
the measure he used -- allowed him to measure memory after the passage of time; Info remains in our memory, to some extent, even if we cannot recall it; ebbinghaus
savings method
muller was interested in the possibility that ,, ,,, are involved in memory while ebbinghaus focused on learning that occurred thru ,,, or ,, associations
active processes; automatic; passive
muller Found you can group nonsense syllables in ,,,
clusters
if a second list is learned btwn the learning of list 1 and the subsequent attempt to relearn list 1, the second list interferes w the relearning of list 1; muller
retroactive inhibition
automated the presentation of stimulus materials in memory studies; muller
memory drum
created a brand of experimental psych that earned the label "Wurzburg school"; Declared higher mental processes off limits for lab research bc they are too complex and heavily influenced by language and culture to be controlled
kulpe
observers would experience more complicated events then give a full description of the mental processes involved; kulpe
systematic experimental introspection
a separation of the task into its components each of which could be introspected many times; kulpe
fractionation
determining tendency; their mind was prepared to function in a specific way; when given instruction on how to process stimuli, subjects followed the instruction but reported no conscious awareness of using the instruction kulpe
mental set
a case analysis of thought processes reveals that the essential element in all thinking is an image of some form; kulpe
imageless thought