A History of Psychology
Chapter 4:
The New Psychology
The founding father of modern
psychology

Who?

Gustav Fechner (1801-1887)

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)

William James (1842-1910)
The founding father of modern
psychology
Fechner: originator
Gustav Fechner

1st time demonstrated how to make
precise measurements of mental
quantities

His goal was to understand the
relationship between the mental and
material world.
The founding father of modern
psychology



Wilhelm Wundt
Wundt: Founder & promoter
Established the world’s 1st experimental
psychology laboratory, edited the 1st
Journal, began experimental psychology
as science
His goal was to promote psychology as
an independent science
The founding father of modern
psychology
William James

William James

First true American
psychologist

Turn psychology from
Europe to the U.S.
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
-----His life
Wilhelm Wundt

1. Childhood was lonely, 1st grades in
school were poor, always disliked
school

2. Did not get along with classmates,
ridiculed by teachers

3. Decided to be a physician to work in
science and make a living
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
-----His life

4. Disliked medicine, switched to
physiology
a.
b.
c.
Student of Johannes Muller
Complete his doctorate in 1855 at U. of
Heidelberg
Lab assistant to Hermann Helmholtz
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
-----His life

5. While working in physiology, he thought the study
of psychology as an independent, experimental, and
scientific discipline.

6. 1858-1862: Contributions to the Theory of Sensory
Perception
a. described his own original experiments
b. offered methods for psychology
c. first used the term of “experimental psychology”
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
-----His life
Experiment on Reaction time

7. 1863: Lectures on the
Minds of Men and Animals.

A study of Reaction Time

Influence cognitive science,
dominate experimental
psychology in 1970s, 1980s,
and 1990s
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
-----His life

8. Offered the first formal course on
“physiological psychology”


“physiological” = “experimental”
9. Productivity

54,000pages (1853-1920), an output of 2.2
pages per day
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
-----His life

10. 1873-1874: Principles of Physiological
Psychology
a. his masterpiece
b. established psychology as an independent
laboratory science
c. became the record of psychology
research: six editions
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
----The Leipzig years

1. Professor of philosophy at Leipzig: 1875-1920

2. First psychology lab: model for psychology labs
everywhere

3. First journal for psychology research
 a. 1881: Journal of Philosophical Studies
 b. 1906: new title-Journal of Psychological
Studies
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
----The Leipzig years

4. Trained first generation of experimental
psychologists

5. Trained several Americans and most of them
returned to the US to begin laboratories of their
own.

6. Also, his students established laboratories in
Italy, Russian, and Japan.

7. He was not himself a laboratory worker even
though his faith in laboratory research.
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
----Cultural psychology

1. 1880-1891: wrote on ethics, logic,
systematic philosophy

2. 1900: Cultural Psychology

The creation of social psychology


3. Concerned with stages of human mental
development
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
----Cultural psychology

4. Focus on language, art myths, social,
customs, law, and morals.

5. Divided psychology in two:


Experimental Psychology
Social Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
----Cultural psychology

6. Experimental psychology



Simpler mental function such as sensation and
perception
Must be studied through experimental/laboratory
methods.
7. Non-experimental methods



higher mental processes such as learning and memory
cannot be studies experimentally
can be studied using methods of sociology
anthropology, social psychology
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
----Cultural psychology

8. Citations:



Cultural Psychology: < 4%
Principles of Physiological Psychology: >61%
9. Reasons for the lack interest in cultural
psychology


Little need to pay attention to developments
from Europe
Less concern to cultural issues
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---The study of conscious experience

1. Wundt adapted scientific methods (in nature
science) to study psychology

2.Subject matter in Wundt psychology:
consciousness
 studied by the methods of analysis or reduction
 reduction to its elements
 active in organizing its contents
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---The study of conscious experience

3. Voluntarism:




The mind has the capacity to organize
mental contents into higher-level through
process.
emphasized the process, not the elements
however, recognized the elements
Provide only a beginning to understanding
psychological processes.
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---The study of conscious experience

4. Mediate experience:



Mediate experience provides information about
something other than the elements of that experience
E.g., The flower is red; I have a toothache
5. Immediate experience:


unbiased by any personal interpretations
Our experience of redness or our feeling of discomfort
from a toothache
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---The study of conscious experience

6. Analyze the mind into its
elements and its component parts
like nature science (chemical
elements)
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---The method of introspection

1. The method of a scientific psychology
requires observation of conscious
experience

2. Method of observation: Introspection:

is the examination of one’s own mental state,
“internal perception”, and report on personal
thoughts or feelings
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---The method of introspection

4. Its use is derived from physics and physiology


Fechner: subjects compared two weights and reported
whether one is heavier, lighter, or equal. They were
introspecting and reporting on their conscious
experiences.
3. Required subjects to complete 10,000
introspective observation before ready to be
Wundt’s subjects.


4. Accurate observation and replication
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---The method of introspection

5. Wundt’s four rules and conditions

Observers must be able to determine when the process
is to be introduced

Observers must be in a sate of readiness


It must be possible to repeat the observation several
times

It must be possible to vary the experimental conditions
in terms of the controlled manipulation of the stimuli.
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---The method of introspection

6. Required quantitative and objective
measurement (e.g., reaction time), not
qualitative introspection

7. Used sophisticated equipment for
objective measurement
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---elements of conscious experience

1. Wundt’s three goals for psychology



Analyze conscious processes into elements
Discover how elements are organized
Determine the laws of connection governing the
organization of the elements
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---elements of conscious experience

2. Two elements of conscious experience:



Sensations
Feelings
Both are immediate experience
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---elements of conscious experience

3. Tridimensioal theory of feelings


From Wundt’s own experiences as a subject.
Wundt concluded three independent dimensions
of feelings:
 pleasure/displeasure
 tension/relaxation
 excitement/depression
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---Organizing the elements of conscious experience

1. Reality: Whole: tree
2. Lab: report elements of conscious experience:
color, shape, or brightness

3. Doctrine of apperception




The process of organizing mental elements into a
whole.
is a creative synthesis.
Impacted Gestalt psychology (the whole is different
from the sum of its parts)
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---The fate of Wundt’s psychology in Germany

1. 1941: psychology: subspecialty in philosophy

2. Some against to separate psychology and
philosophy

3. Lack of funds for a separate discipline

Government officials did not see the practical value in
psychology and were hesitant to provide enough
financial support
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---The fate of Wundt’s psychology in Germany

4. Wundt’s psychology, focusing on organizing the
elements of consciousness, was not appropriate for
solving real-world problems.

5. Slow develop as a distinct science in Germany

6. 1910: 4 psychologists
1925: 25 psychologists
14 of 23 universities: separate psychology
department
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---Criticisms of Wundtian psychology

1. Criticisms of method of
introspection


Not objective
2. Focus on conscious experience
and avoid soul
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
---Criticisms of Wundtian psychology

3. Not applicable to practical problems

4. Decline of Wundt’s system



his personal opinions regarding World War I
Wundtian research and writing disappeared in
English-speaking world.
Wundt’s lab was destroyed during WWII
overshadowed by Gestalt psychology (in Germany)
and psychoanalysis (in Austria)
Other Developments in German
Psychology

Others in England:
 Charles Darwin: a theory of evolution
 Francis Galton: a psychology of individual differences

Others in Germany
 Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)
 Franz Brentano (1838-1917)
 Carl Stumpf (1848-1936)
 Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915)
Others in German Psychology
---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)

Hermann
Ebbinghaus
A. In general

1. Born in Germany in 1850

2. Impacted by Fechner, Elements of
Psychophysics

3. using himself as the only subject

4. In 1880, taught at U. of Berlin; was not
promoted there (lack of publication).

5. In 1894-1905, accepted a position at U. of
Breslau. After 1905, moved to U. of Halle.
Others in German Psychology
---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)

B. Research on learning

1. first to apply the experimental method to
study higher mental processes (learning and
memory)

(Wundt thought that higher mental
processes is impossible to study
experimentally)

2. Study learning was to examine
association
Others in German Psychology
---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)

B. Research on learning

3. Measuring memory: counting the number of trials
and repetitions required to learn the material.

(Like Fechner, measuring sensations indirectly through by
measuring the stimulus intensity to produce a just noticeable
difference in sensation)

4. Recall: through the frequency of associations

5. Provided quantification of learning, memory, recall,
and forgetting
Others in German Psychology
---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)

C. Research with nonsense syllables

1. Nonsense syllables

a. meaningless material is 9 times harder to
learn than meaningful material

b. found longer material requires more
repetitions
Others in German Psychology
---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)
2. Most significant
a. influence of experimental conditions on
human learning and memory.
b. quantitative analysis of the data
c. finding that time to learn is a function of
the number of syllables
Others in German Psychology
---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)

D. other contributions to psychology
1. 1890, founded the Journal of Psychology and
Physiology of the Sense Organs
2. Emphasized relationship between psychology and
physiology
3. Developed a sentence-completion test
Others in German Psychology
---Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)

D. other contributions to psychology
4. In 1920, The Principles of Psychology;
In 1908, A Summery of Psychology.
5. Many of his conclusion about learning and
memory remains valid now. He expanded the
experimental psychology.
6. More influential than Wundt
Others in German Psychology ---Franz Brentano (1838-1917)

A. Career
Was prepared to be a priest

1864, received his degree

1866, taught philosophy at U of
Wurzburg

1874, published Psychology from an
Empirical Standpoint and moved to
U. of Vienna

Franz Brentano
Others in German Psycholo
---Franz Brentano (1838-1917)

His students, Carl Stumpf, Sigmund Freud

Precursor of Gestalt and humanistic psychology

Shared Wundt’s goal: psychology as a science

1874: Psychology From an Empirical Standpoint
 in direct opposition to Wundt’s view
 was empirical, not experimental
 method was observation, not experimentation
 did not reject experimentation
 data are from observation and individual experience
Others in German Psychology
---Franz Brentano (1838-1917)

B. Brentono: Act
psychology

Wundt: conscious
experience

1. Rejected study of the
content of conscious
experience

1. Accepted Study the
content of conscious
experience

2. Subject matter: Mental
content

3. Experience as structure


2. subject matter: mental
activity
3.experience as activity
Others in German Psychology
---Franz Brentano (1838-1917)
4. Requires new methods
a. acts are not accessible through introspection
b. study of mental acts requires empirical
observation
5. Relied on systematic observation
6. Two methods: through memory and imagination
Others in German Psychology ---Carl Stumpf (1848-1936)

A. In general
1. Born in medical family

2. Interested in music

3. Studied with Brentano and interested
in philosophy and science

4. 1868, received his degree; 1894,
taught at U. of Berlin

Carl Stumpf

5. Wundt’s major rival
Others in German Psychology ---Carl Stumpf (1848-1936)
B. Research
1. Perception of space
2. 1883, 1890: Psychology of Tone
a. second only to Helmholtz in work on acoustics
b. pioneer in psychological study of music
Others in German Psychology ---Carl Stumpf (1848-1936)

C. Phenomenology
 1. Argued primary data for psychology are
phenomena

2. Phenomenology:

Knowledge based on unbiased description of
immediate description of immediate experience
at it occurs, not analyzed or reduced to elements.
Others in German Psychology ---Carl Stumpf (1848-1936)

3. Analysis of experience into elements makes that
experience artificial and no longer nature

4. Bitter debate with Wundt re: introspection of
tones
a. highly trained lab observers (Wundt)
b. expert musicians (Stumpf)
Others in German Psychology ---Carl Stumpf (1848-1936)

D. Other works
 1. Founded Berlin Association for Child Psychology


2. Established center of music collection from the world

3. Published a theory of emotions, his idea relevant to
contemporary cognitive theory of emotion
Others in German Psychology --Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915)

A. In general

1. Student and colleague of Wundt

2. “Kind mother” “science as my bride”

Oswald Kuiilpe

3. 1893: Outline of Psychology

a. Psychology is the science of the facts of
experience

b. as dependent on the experiencing person
Others in German Psychology --Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915)
B. Kulpe’s differences with Wundt




Kulpe
1. Thought processes should be
studied experimentally
2. Developed systematic experimental
introspection
 a. involved performance of a
complex task
 b. subjects gave retrospective
report of the cognitive processes
experienced during the task

Wundt

1. Impossible to
experimentally
study about high
mental process

2. Introspection
Others in German Psychology --Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915)
B. Kulpe’s differences with Wundt

Kulpe

Wundt

3. Subjective &
qualitative
4. Detail
5. Describe the complex
mental operations

3. Objective &
quantitative
4. Not detail
5. Reaction time or
judgment of weights




Others in German Psychology --Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915)
B. Kulpe’s differences with Wundt


Kulpe
6. Experimenter:
 active role

Directly ask questions
of the observers to
facilitate the details of
their reactions


Wundt
6. Experimenter:
 Limited to presenting
the stimulus material
and recording results

Not intrude on the
actual observations
Others in German Psychology --Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915)
C. imageless thought

Kulpe
 Thought can occur
without any sensory
or imaginal content

Wundt
 All experience is
composed of
sensations and images