a brief history of psychology_part ii

8/3/2019 A Brief History of Psychology_Part II

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A Brief History of

PsychologyPart II: A new discipline

is born

Professor H.C. Hughes

Introductory Psychology

Wilhelm Wundt establishes the firstPsychology Laboratory at the University ofLeipzig in 1879


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Analysis of sensations using

introspection Experimenter: Look at this image

and introspect on your sensations

Subject: I see an apple

Exp: Nein you dummkopf! You aremaking the stimulus error. Dont tell

me about the object, tell me aboutyour sensations

Sub: Sorry Herr Professor Doctor

Wundt, I see curvature, red,specularity, vertical texture


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2 Major Objections to Structuralism

1. It was too narrowly defined Psychology should not justbe the study of the elements of immediate consciousexperience

Psychology should include thoughts, feelings, memories,emotions, and abnormal as well as normal minds. Itshould also consider the development of minds, andperhaps, the minds of animals.

2. Introspection was not a valid scientific method toosubjective


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Reactions against Structuralism

Much of the History of Psychology from 19001940s canbe considered a reaction against Structuralism inPsychology

By 1910, Structuralism had little influence in America ithad been replaced by Functionalism

By 1920, Structuralism had even lost hold in Germany, and

was replaced by Gestalt Psychology


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Functionalism

Changes focus from the structureof the mind to theFUNCTIONSof the minda result of Darwins theory ofevolution mental phenomena evolved, so they must be

the result of processes of natural selection

While structuralists would ask what or how questions ofthe mind, functionalists would ask why, what is thepurpose or what is the evolutionary advantage of the

various properties of mind

Sir Francis Galton (Darwins cousin) was the first great

practitioner of functional psychology


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Sir Francis Galton and the Psychology ofIndividual Differences

A remarkable man

estimated to have an IQ of 200 (


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Differential Psychology Evolution depends upon variation between individualmembers of a species

While Wundt considered individual variability anuisance factor, Galton considered it essential to

human evolution

Galton is most famous for his studies on the

heritability of intelligence


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Galtons studies on genetics and

intelligence Hereditary Genius(1869) : an attempt to establish that intellectualgreatness ran in families

to do this, he studied a sample of 977 individuals noted for theirintellectual achievements

he devised a system for scoring their achievements, and concluded thathis sample was very rare they constituted only 1 in 4000

he noted that, based on chance alone, this sample was expected toproduce only 1 gifted child (0.00025 x 977 = 0.24) but according toGaltons analysis, the sample produced 332 gifted offspring

concluded that intelligence was inherited


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Galtons Controversial

Ideas

Galton also collected evidence thatinherited intelligence could be very specifici.e., scientific intelligence, literaryintelligence, or artistic intelligence

He argued that, if intelligence is inherited,then we should have programs of selectivebreeding designed to enhance theintelligence of the human race a programhe called eugenics

He founded the Eugenics Laboratory at

University College, London, in 1904 it stillexists

Eugenics was embraced by the Nazis themoral implications should be obvious


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The moral implicationsof Eugenics has been a

popular theme in filmsand literature


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A little more on EugenicsPositive Eugenicsencourage breeding among the geneticallyadvantaged Applications in animal husbandry

Negative Eugenicsdiscourage (and often forbid) breeding amongthe genetically disadvantagedthis lead to forced sterilizations of 60,000 Americans DURING THE

20th CENTURY! The practice continued into the early 1960s in the US, andinto the 1980s in some other countries

During the 20th century, researchers became interested in the

idea that mental illness could run in families and conducted anumber of studies to document the heritability of such illnessesas schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. Their findingswere used by the eugenics movement as proof for its cause.State laws were written in the late 1800s and early 1900s toprohibit marriage and force sterilization of the mentally ill in orderto prevent the "passing on" of mental illness to the nextgeneration. These laws were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Courtin 1927 and were not abolished until the mid-20th century. By

1945 over 45,000 mentally ill individuals in the United States hadbeen forcibly sterilized. All in all, 60,000 Americans weresterilized. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wir_stehen_nicht_allein.jpg

AT RIGHT: "We do not stand alone". Nazi propaganda poster from 1936. Thewoman is holding a baby and the man is holding a shield inscribed with thetitle of Nazi Germany's 1933 Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily DiseasedOffspring (their compulsory sterilization law). The couple is in front of a map ofGermany, surrounded by the flags of nations which had enacted (to the left) orwere considering (bottom and to the right) similar legislation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germanyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Germany


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An experimental confirmation of

the heritability of intelligence

Tryon (1942) breeds a strain of Maze Bright and Maze Dullrats from the same original stock

It only took 7 generations

However, further selective breeding had no additional effect

Reference: Tryon, R.C. Individual differences. In F. A. Moss(Ed.), Comparative Psychology. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1942

Galton also believed that high intelligence was associated withgreater sensory abilities


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Galton characterizes the Normal

Distribution

Galton developed the mathematics underlying the NormalDistribution, noted that it was completely determined by two

variables (the mean and standard deviation), and noted that thevariety of attributes he measured in large numbers of people areaccurately described by the normal distribution


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William James: theoretician James did not have the patience to be anexperimentalist his contributions were theoretical

claimed consciousness was dynamic by trying tostudy its structure (through introspection), youchanged it

coined term stream of consciousness

argued a one-to-one correspondence betweenmental states and brain states

argued that through practice certain reactionscould come to occur automatically subconsciousprocessing


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The Gestalt Revolution

The revolt against Wundt in Germany

Gestaltshape, whole, the opposite of structuralism = the whole

is primary, the whole is more than the sum of its parts

Primary examples in perception, but original Gestalt psychologywas more general than that

Example: Kohlers work on insight a instantaneousreorganization of a problem Sultan


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Max Wertheimers Insight:

Apparent Motion


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Domonstration of Apparent Motion

http://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcr
http://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcr


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Why apparent motion was so

damaging to structuralism The percept is more than the elements(individual stimulus frames in thesequence)

Spatio-temporal parameters are critical(changing them can destroy the motionpercept)

When the right spatio-temporalparameters are used, no amount of

introspection would produce a report of avertical and a horizontal rectangle (thecomponents are not cognitively

penetrable cannot be furthersubdivided by introspection)
http://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcr


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Foundations of

Visual Perception:The Gestalt laws ofPerceptual

Organization
http://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcr


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Why do we not see this as a collection

of disks? How do these picture

elements interact to make a cube?

Subjective Contours

Our perceptual system cant

simply combine sensations intomore complex percepts here

we see how our perceptualsystems can add contourswhere they dont even exist!
http://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcr


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More examples of Subjective contours
http://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcr


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Gestalt Theory saw similarities

between perceptual organization and

the organization of other aspects ofmental activity

Memory and Learning werealso thought to be resistant

to reductionism

A classic example was heldto be the demonstration ofinsight in humans andanimals...

Wolfgang Kohlers famous demonstration of

insight in his chimpanzee Sultan .Kohler concluded his very illustrious career

as a professor in the Psychology Departmentat Dartmouth
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John B. Watson and the

Behaviorist Revolution

Primary tenants emphasis on consciousness is a

mistake it is too subjective, not scientific

emphasis should be onobjective, observable

phenomena goal of psychology should be on

establishing lawful relationshipsbetween stimuli and responses(S-R psychology)
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Dont Look inside the Black Box

Watsons Behaviorism had no interest in trying to

infer what mental or cognitive processes mediate S-R relationships it was only interested in what thoserelationships were prediction of behavior ratherthan understanding it in terms of mediatingprocesses

stimulus response
http://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcr


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The Cognitive Revolution

Reawakening of interest in mental processesand cognitive operations NOT based onsubjective measures like introspection but onobjective measures like REACTION TIMESand RESPONSE ACCURACY

A child of the 1960s

As in Descartes time, models of mind aremetaphors for our most sophisticatedtechnology

The new Cognitive Psychology made heavyuse of computer metaphors for mental events
http://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcr


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A Classic Example:High Speed Scanning of Human

Short-term memory

Saul Sternberg, 1966

The Task Present a set of numerals to be held in STM. This is called the

Memory Set

Subject memorizes the items via rehearsal

Memory set disappears

Present a single test item

Was the test item in the memory set?

Reaction time is the dependent measure
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An example of a trial.

IMPORTANT POINT: In the real experimentalprocedure, the number of items in the memory setvaries over trials (between 1 to 6)

5 9 2 4 1

4
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Results of High-speed memory scanningexperiment

There are two kinds ofjudgments : YES (the

item was in the set) andNO (it was not in the

set)

Mean reaction timesincrease linearly with setsize for both judgments
http://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcrhttp://vision.psy.mq.edu.au/~peterw/bistable.dcr


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What did Sternberg

Conclude from these results?

Items held in STM are comparedwith test item one at a time (serialprocessing)

Search through STM isexhaustive, not self-terminating (allitems are compared, even if amatch is found!

Time taken to make onecomparison (i.e. retrieve an itemand make the comparison) is givenby slope of the set-size function -about 40 ms (0.040 seconds). Short-term memory

6 3 9 1 5

5

Test item

Comparison Process

= 5 ?

Retrieval

Process
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsidDezFKAQ

Human vs. Chimp Visual Stort-term Memory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsidDezFKAQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsidDezFKAQ


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Today we define Experimental

Psychology as theSCIENTIFIC STUDY OF THE

MIND AND BEHAVIOR


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Next Time: Research Methods

in Psychological ScienceReading: Chapter 2

a brief history of psychology_part ii

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