History of Experimental Psychology
Classic Reference on this Topic:
A History of Experimental
Psychology
By
E. G. Boring
Published 1929, 1950
First Line Reads: “Psychology has a long
past but only a short history”
Where did Psychology Come From?
Psychologists did not originate the problems that
came to define the field (Problems of Philosophy)
Psychologists did not originate the methodologies
that would make the field successful (Methods of
the Physiologist and Physicist)
An application of the scientific methodologies of
the physicist and the physiologist to the problems
of philosophy
Prehistorical Figures in Psychology
Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-1894)
Ernst Weber (1795-1878)
Gustav Fechner (1801-1887)
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
Prehistorical Figures in Psychology
Hermann von Helmholtz
Measured Speed of Neural Impulse
Invented Opthalmascope
Trichromatic Theory of Color Vision
Prehistorical Figures in Psychology
Ernst Weber & Gustav Fechner
Psychophysics
Study of the interrelationship between
physical properties of a stimulus and
their perceptual consequences
Sensory Thresholds
Absolute Threshold
Difference Threshold
The Discipline of Psychology Begins
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) University of Leipzig
•“Father of Psychology”
•The “First Psychologist”
•Taught the first University courses in Psychology
•Conferred the first Degrees in the field (PhD). Trained psychologists who
spread throughout Europe and North America
•Established the first laboratory for the study of psychology in 1879
•First definition of psychology: “psychology is the study of the structure of
the mind”
•First methodology in psychology: Introspection
SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY
PROPONENTS
Major method or Emphasis
Structuralism
(1879)
Wilhelm Wundt
E. B. Titchener
G. Stanley Hall
Introspection of Conscious
Experience
Functionalism
(1906)
William James
E. L. Thorndike
Search for survival function of
mental processes
Behaviorism
(1914)
John B. Watson
Ivan Pavlov
Clark Hull
B. F. Skinner
Objective Observation of Overt
Action
Gestalt Psychology
(1915)
Wolfgang Kohler
Max Wertheimer
Kurt Koffka
Wholistic Approach
Psychoanalysis
(1895)
Sigmund Freud
Unconscious Determinants of
Behavior
Cognitive Psychology
(1955)
Ulrich Neisser
George Miller
Gordon Bower
Inferred Mental Processes
American Psychological Association
Founded in 1892 with a total of 35 members
G. Stanley Hall elected first president
Currently there are approximately 250,000
psychologists in America.
About 2,000 new psychologists added each year