German physiology psychophysics and science of mind 4

Wundt’s laboratory work involved

Rigorous approaches to modest problems in physiological psychology and sensation and perception: speed of reflexes (in frogs), association.

• He emphasized precise measurement and the importance of inhibitory processes.

What did Wundt define psychology as?

Wundt defined psychology as the science that investigates “the facts of consciousness.”

Psychology must discover the elements of consciousness.

Then, possible combinations of elements.

• An element was a simple sensation.

sensation

Sensation is an element of consciousness, and perception is a combination of outward sense impressions.

• An idea refers to combinations that may arise from memory, early associations, and other sources

What did Wundt question?

wundt questioned the distinction of ideas and perceptions.

Consciousness consists of three act categories

Representation, willing, and feeling

• Representations are representational acts

• Attention is the degree to which representations are present in consciousness

• Consciousness is a function of the scope of attention (broad or narrow)

• Apperception, narrowing of attention, is an act of will

Cognitive processes may be passive or active

Association is the passive combination of elements.

• Apperception is the active combination of elements.

Wundt argued for a tridimensional theory

Tridimensional theory of feeling involving pleasure and pain, strain and relaxation, and excitation and quiescence.

Wundt accepted a principle of creative synthesis.

– This is the belief that there is real novelty and creativity in higher

mental operations.

– wundt argued for heterogony of ends, the emergence of new

motives during the course of a chain of activities.

Wundt’s legacy continues.

wundt leadership guided the emergence of psychology.

• His research findings held up well over time.

Kraepelin (1856-1926)

advanced a theory of mental illness based in Wundt’s system and argued against psychoanalysis.

Witmer (1867 - 1956)

started graduate school under Cattell at U of P, transferred to Leipzig and earned his PhD from Wundt in 1893. He applied Wundt’s ideas to pain and to the special learning problems of children with mental disabilities.

Witmer did what first?

Witmer opened the first clinic run by a psychologist.

• He was the first to see scientific psychology as the basis for a helping profession, seen as founder of both clinical and school psychology.

Was Wundt a monist or a dualist?

Its position was close to Spinoza’s dual-aspect monism

– We can study mental events without understanding their physiological basis

Physical and mental processes are unified and interdependent