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Summary 2.2 Problem 3: The Birth of Psychology

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Course
FSWP2-032-A

Institution
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (EUR)

These are the notes of Problem 3 of course 2.2: History of Psychology. These notes consist of notes from literature as well as additional class notes, diagrams and tables. Using these notes, I obtained a grade 7.0 in the final exam. Good luck!

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Uploaded on October 27, 2022
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Type Summary

psychology
philosophy
history
psych
wundt
of

Institution
Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (EUR)
Education
BSc Psychology
Course
FSWP2-032-A

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2.3 Problem 3: Birth of Psychology

Understanding the Brain & Nervous System

Gall

 Localization of function = functions located in particular regions of brain
Assumed that well-developed faculties in the brain would correspond with well-
developed parts of the brain. ‘Organs’ corresponding to well-developed faculties in
brain would be larger than organs corresponding to less-developed faculties, size
registered on skull as bumps
// pseudoscience; focused on bumps on brain rather than introspection
 Nativistic; compared humans w/other animals
Behaviouristic rather than introspectionistic
Psychology of individual differences – rejected idea of generalizing
 Phrenology = conformation of the skull as indicative of mental faculties & traits of
character

Donders
 Time between stimulus & response could quantify speed of mental processes
Simple reaction time = turning on small light bulb above a response key
Compound reaction time = two lights & two keys. Subject must discriminate, make
judgment, about which light has come on and respond
If compound reaction is longer than simple, then mental action of judgment takes
longer
This is called mental chronometry
E.g., Stroop task: simple reaction time when congruent, compound reaction time
when incongruent

Psychophysics

Fechner: founder of experimental psychology
 Carried out first research in experimental psychology
 Saw that consciousness can be manipulated by controlling stimuli to which person is
exposed to
 Non-linear relationship between psychological sensation & physical intensity
 Weber-Fechner law:
JND between 2 stimuli varies in direct proportion to size of stimuli (s)
Constant = JND/s
When stimulus size becomes larger, JND is larger (more difficult to discriminate)
E.g., dot illustrations – harder to distinguish between 110 & 120 vs. 10 & 20

Francis Galton

- Wanted to measure intelligence
- Developed correlation coefficient = Pearson product-moment correlation
- Found strong correlation among exam grades = intelligence is a single mental ability

, - Controversy over general intelligence;
Galton: most intelligence = psychometric factor, g
Critics: intelligence = lots of skills, intelligences
- Measures of sensory acuity = measure of intelligence
- Size of head = measure of intelligence
- // His tests of intelligence were failures. Sensory acuity is not basis of intelligence,
and correlation between brain size & intelligence is small
The Spirit of Darwinian Psychology: Francis Galton
- Wanted to focus on improving human species  eugenics, selective breeding

Wilhelm Wundt’s Psychology of Consciousness

 Father of Psychology
 Principle of Physiological Psychology: “an alliance between two sciences”
1) Physiology: “informs us about those life phenomena that we perceive by our
external senses”
2) Psychology: “the person looks upon himself from within”
Result = physiological psychology

 By insisting nervous system is basis of all mentality, and by defining psych as
investigation of physiological conditions of conscious events, new field of
physiological psychology could establish itself as a science
 Investigated through experiments, focused on normal mind
Trained subjects
 Study the building blocks of the mind
 Psychology as study of conscious experiences
 Method of introspection

Wundt’s 2 systems of psychology: Heidelberg & Leipzig
 Heidelberg program  psychology = natural science, experimental method – bc
psychology is more than an extension of science. Focus on unconscious
 Leipzig  ‘spiritual science’ – different from natural science, so different way of
researching
 Eventually rejected his Heidelberg system

Research Methods for Psychology

 Introspection
 Science of consciousness could only be based on objective, replicable results based on
standardized conditions capable of duplication & systematic variation
 ‘Internal perception’  traditional, prescientific method of armchair subjective
introspection. Uncontrolled, can’t hope to yield results useful to a scientific
psychology
 ‘Experimental self-observation’  Wundt preferred, scientifically valid form of
introspection where ‘observers’ are exposed to standard, repeatable situations, asked
to describe resulting experience

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