History of Psychology 2007
Lecture 9
Professor Gerald C. Cupchik
Office: S634
Email: cupchik@utsc.utoronto.ca
Office Hours:
Wednesdays 1-2 pm
Thursdays 12-1 pm
T.A: Michelle Hilscher
Office: S150
Email: hilscher@utsc.utoronto.ca
Office Hours: Thursdays 11-12; 3-4 pm
Course Website: www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~cupchik
The Rise of American Psychology
Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911)
- Wealthy half-cousin of Darwin and was both a
geographer and explorer (Africa).
- He was also interested in meteorology and
produced the first weather maps of the British
Isles.
- As a result of his extensive travel, his interests turned toward
anthropology.
- He observed differences between (1) cultural groups and (2)
people within a culture.
- His goal was to evaluate individual differences among people
using precise measurements.
- This was the start of the field of psychometrics which is defined
as the application of statistics to measure individual differences
with reference to behavioural variables.
Beyond the special skills recognized by the faculty psychology of
the times (music, math, athletic skills), Galton insisted on a
primary general intellectual ability that he believed was inherited.
This implied that:
(1) behavioural and mental traits could be inherited and
(2) differences between individuals could be measured.
He offered the following proof for his argument:
He selected men of outstanding ability and looked at the
frequency of success among their relatives.
i. 31% had illustrious fathers
ii. 48% had eminent sons
He concluded that outstanding ability is inherited.
Problem: Galton used a restricted sample. In Victorian England
selection for professions depended on connections
and this applied both to education and entry to
key jobs.
Note that Galton did not include either women or
successful businessmen from industry and
commerce.
So: He over emphasized hereditary factors and
under emphasized environmental factors.
Also, elementary education was only made compulsory in 1880
by the Liberal Party in England.
In 1884, at an International Health Exhibition in London, Galton
introduced an Anthropometric Lab with equipment of his own
invention where he started mental testing and collected
individual difference data of diverse attributes:
1. Body measurement and muscular strength
2. Sensory capacities such as the ability to discriminate between
different intervals of pitch
3. Reaction time
Galton’s Lab
Galton had a young American assistant, J.M. Cattell, who had
studied with Wundt and he carried Galton’s work to the USA in
1888. Cattell carried out extensive pioneer work on mental tests
and one of his pupils, E.L. Thorndike, was a major test developer.
So Galton was the source of the American testing movement.
Summary of his contributions:
1. Correlations
2. Rating scales
3. Questionnaires
4. Use of the normal curve
5. Mental tests
COMPARATIVE PSYCHOLOGY
Darwin had directed people’s attention to the problem of
explaining animal behaviour (e.g., how do animals adjust to their
environment?)
Descartes had viewed animals as complicated automatons. But,
do animals have the capacities for learning new habits? Do they
vary in intelligence? How do they compare with humans?
The British started the field of comparative psychology which
considers animals in relation to humans.
Douglas Spalding (1840-1877)
1. He demonstrated instinctual behaviour
in small chicks who reacted defensively
by flying away and hiding upon first
being shown a hawk. This innate fleeing
response was independent of learning or
imitation.
2. He also demonstrated imprinting. Very
soon after emerging from the egg, chicks
demonstrated a following response for
objects or even humans.
G.J. Romanes (1849-1899)
He combined the experimental method with systematic theory. He
regarded adjustment as dependent on the ability to discriminate
and classify stimulus from the senses.
Lloyd Morgan (1852-1936)
He provided the classic cannon for research in animal behaviour.
“In no case can we interpret an action as the outcome of the
higher faculty, if it can be interpreted as the outcome of the
exercise of one which stands lower in the psychological scale.”
So careful observation either under (1) experimental
circumstances or (2) in the field, were the only acceptable data. It
is essential to avoid any form of anthropomorphism which is
attributing human traits to animals.
He distinguished between innate and acquired behaviour.
He formally defined instincts which are an aspect of innate
behaviour.
(1) Common to all members of a species
(2) Fairly uniform and repetitive in nature
(3) Made in response to a specific stimulus
(4) Have a clear connection with the anatomical structure and
physiological functioning of the animal
Morgan disagreed with any implications of mysterious “inner
powers” or unknown neural mechanisms.
He laid the foundation for later work on animal learning.
He used the terms:
(1) “trial and error” to describe how responses which do not
achieve the end required are dropped from the sequence.
(2) “reinforcement” of successful modes of response through the
pleasure-pain mechanism.
So:
(1) He introduced many of the ideas underlying behaviourism and
(2) used the word behaviour to indicate the main data of
psychological research.
Darwin and his followers, through their observation of
phenomena, emphasis on behaviour and openness to new ideas,
had a strong influence on the development of psychology in the
USA.
PSYCHOLOGY IN THE USA
The earliest teaching of psychology in the USA was undertaken
by philosophers who adhered to the beliefs of the Scottish School
and used the texts of Thomas Brown and Thomas Reid.
A distinctive tradition emerged in the USA which broke free from
British Empiricism in theory and German experimentalism in
method, resembling more closely Galton and Darwin.
American psychology dealt with the mind in use - a pragmatic
and functional approach. By 1910, the earliest American
psychology included: (1) experimental human, (2) experimental
animal, and (3) mental tests, and they were becoming aware of
Freud.
It may be noted that the first lab in Canada was established at
the University of Toronto in 1890 by Alfred Baldwin.
Why did American psychology deviate from the German pattern?
Many had travelled to Leipzig to learn from Wundt and were
enthusiastic about the experimental method and laboratory
techniques. But ultimately they evolved from a description of the
generalized mind to the assessment of personal abilities in the
successful adjustment of the individual to the environment.
The determining factor was the American adoption of ideas about
evolution. But why then did the English lag behind the
Americans? The answer is that America was ready for ideas about
evolution because it was a pioneer country and the strong
pioneer would be the only person able to survive. This stress on
individualism pushed the philosophy of pragmatisim (do what
works) and functionalism (what works, is!). From the perspective
of pragmatism the validation of any knowledge must be in terms of
its consequences, values and utility.
This represents a modern form of the sources of change present
in the Renaissance.
(1) forces against hereditary right and for the recognition of
personal achievement.
(2) forces against theological dogma and for scientific inquiry
(3) forces reinforced by the discovery of new land and wealth in
the New World and Far East.
THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF FUNCTIONALISM
What and why did the functionalist movement grow up in
America? How was it replaced by behaviourism?
Definition: What is a functionalist psychology?
According to Woodworth (1948), “A psychology that attempts to
give an accurate and systematic answer to the question “What do
men do?” and “Why do they do it?”
More specifically, it is concerned with the function of an
organism’s behaviour and consciousness in its adaptation to its
environment. So a concern is displayed for the utility of
consciousness and behaviour.
William James (1842-1910)
He was the father of American psychology. He
was an intellectual force who demonstrated
that there is a science of psychology and
illustrated its scope and method. He came from
a wealthy and gifted family. Henry James, the
novelist, was his brother.
He set up a laboratory at Harvard University in 1875-76 and
taught the relations of physiology and psychology.
Major contributions:
(1) He opposed the rigidity and narrowness of Wundt’s German
experimentalism.
(2) He sketched out fruitful lines of development which pointed
ahead to the two American movements of functionalism and
behaviourism.
(3) He laid the foundation for individual psychology typical of
personality and clinical psychology (as distinct from
psychometrics).
(4) He made the biological sciences the main foundation and
model for psychology.
William James’ Approach
Approached materials free from the straight jacket of
sophisticated theories or questions based on technical jargon. He
avoided structuring raw data in terms of hidden assumptions.
Wundt, for example, pressed his data into an elaborate
framework constructed to conform to abstract and fashionable
canons of “scientific method”.
James’ desire to view data as raw and unprocessed reflected the
biological scientist’s insight that a natural history phase precedes
a more sophisticated laboratory experiment phase in the
development of life sciences.
As psychology was just beginning, James wanted simple
description and classification of basic facts together with the
definition of crucial problems. This attitude determined (1) the
wide variety of data in his books and (2) his freedom from the
philosophical theories behind British Empiricism and German
experimentalism.
So James collected a wide variety of empirical data including
experimental results, anthropology and clinical reports,
physiological and zoological knowledge. This directed his thinking
toward:
(1) defining the
interrelated data.
problems
that
arise
directly
from
such
(2) showing what are the gaps in empirical evidence related to a
specific problem and
(3) suggesting what sort of data are relevant toward filling them in
He always avoided unobservable operations or processes which
cannot be even indirectly tested. He stuck close to his facts.
Discipline versus Problem Orientation.
He disposed of all fashionable theories about the nature of the
“mind” as irrelevant to psychology and argued that “there is an
unmediated correspondence between the succession of states in
consciousness with the succession of total brain processes.” This
affirmed the biological nature of psychology.
He studied the purpose of consciousness (its biological use).
Conscious choice versus habit. Consciousness becomes involved
when there is a new problem and a need for a new adjustment.
So, in sum, he treats psychology as a natural science concerned
with the living organism as it strives to adjust to its environment.
Psychological functions are refinements of basic biological
functions. Mental life is a biological function which enables
man to adjust to the environment.
He distinguished:
(1) peripheral sensory system
(2) perceptual organization of sensory stimuli (afferent process)
(3) cognitive function as the refinement of perceptual organization
(4) movement, the afferent process, is a basis for the treatment of
instinct, emotion and voluntary action.
Note also the ideomotor theory whereby sensory and ideational
processes spontaneously express themselves in action unless
inhibited.
Hugo Münsterberg (1863-1916)
He was a pupil of Wundt who strongly emphasized motor activity
as against sensory processes… this is the forerunner of
behaviourism.
He comments on the Wundtian approach: “A world of
impressions and ideas exists in us entirely independently of our
actions and, when they are complete and perfect, they send their
message to some motor apparatus which carries out the order.”
He points out that “In every moment the motor situation decides
the possibilities in the sensory sphere. Our ideas are a product of
our realities of our readiness to act…”
He distinguished between scientific and humanistic psychology.
(1) scientific psychology stresses physiological processes and
experiments
(2) humanistic psychology is concerned with problems in which
value judgments are unavoidable (e.g., mental health and norms
about appropriate behaviour)
Münsterberg was a pioneer
distinguished between:
in
applied
psychology
who
(1) experimental or statistical study of basic problems arising
from practical affairs
(2) the application to practical activities or methods and
techniques developed in psychology (selection of personnel,
vocational guidance, psychotherapy).
He initiated the study of the effects
of
advertising
on
purchasing
habits, personnel skills tests,
efficiency
in
industrial
work,
criminology.
He also wrote popular articles in
weeklies and magazines dealing
with psychology.
THE CENTRE OF FUNCTIONALISM:
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO - 1892
John Dewey (1859 - 1952)
He was a leading philosopher who did not intend to but in fact
founded the school of functionalism.
It was:
(1) a reaction against Titchener’s Structuralism and
(2) clarified early tendencies of James and others.
He wrote an article in Psych. Review (1897) called The Reflex Arc
Concept in Psychology
He argued against breaking down activity into parts or elements
which are then interrelated. Rather, activity is continuous so that
stimulus and response or sensation and movement are artificial
units.
These concepts merely show that different phases in a
continuous process serve different functions. In fact, the process
taken as a whole can only be defined in terms of its final result or
function which the activity achieves.
Why distinguish between “sensation” and “movement” since one
has visual sensations only as a result of “looking at” or
discriminating part of the environment.
The stimulus - response relation is a hold over of the mind - body
dualism. The stimulus can be related to the perceiving mind
while the response is associating with an acting body.
In addition, responses or behaviour must be considered in
context (e.g., gun fire associated either with (1) sentry duty or (2)
the start of a race.
How a stimulus affects ongoing activity depends on the context.
1. We must think about the S-R sequence in terms of the
consequences of the response for the needs and adaptation of the
organism. So we see behaviour from the point of view of function
and this is the start of the Chicago School.
2. Molar units of analysis should be used to prevent too much
elementaristic analysis (this is similar to the basic assumptions
of Gestalt psychology).
J. R. Angell (1869-1949)
He studied with James and Wundt and disagreed with their
approach to psychology. Functionalism deals with the basic
operations
rather
than
the
abstracted
“contents”
of
consciousness.
One should ask about:
(1) what an operation accomplishes rather than about the mental
elements and
(2) under what conditions.
The function continues but the specific contents of consciousness
change.
So functionalism studies the total relation of the organism to the
environment including all mind-body functions including
unconscious behaviour.
The functionalist emphasis on the study of the utility of actions
in their total context led to attempts to study practical problems
(e.g., education)
It also encouraged flexibility in the design of lab experiments
during simple problem solving.
The experimenter observes whether the subject succeeded or
failed in the task along with what variables facilitated or inhibited
success. Subjects were also encouraged to think aloud while
solving the puzzles. As a consequence of this strategy, the
Americans were less rigorous but more interesting than the
Germans.
The functionalists adopted a more inductive viewpoint than the
Germans by emphasizing empirical findings over theoretical
constructs.
In conclusion: We observe a shift from the study and analysis of
perceptual data toward the study of actions and their effects on
the subjects’ relations to their environment.
(1) adaptive acts
(2) empirically demonstrated functional relations
Each act must be explained in terms of the immediate situation
and the animal’s organization with reference to it.