Splitting From Wundt:Psychology Comes to

the USPSYC540

History and Systems of Psychology

Forget About It…Herman Ebbinghaus

(1850 – 1909) • Herman Ebbinghaus• Independent study in

England• Picked up Principles of

Psychophyiscs at a bookshop– Really liked Fechner’s

mathematical approach• Over the course of about

5 years, began to apply these methods to higher mental capacities– Memory…the Wunditan

no-no

Nonsense? Nonsense!

• No University, no lab, no funding, only himself as a subject

• 3-letter nonsense syllables– 2,300 of them on index cards– Fluent in 3 languages and

studied 2 others– Not may syllables were

nonsense to him• Drew at random to create

lists• How many readings does it

take to memorize Don Juan?• Legnth of material• Numbers of repetition• Overlearning

T O P

The Forgetting Curve

Forgetting Ebbinghaus

• Though Ebbinghaus’ work is destined to sit on a shelf for the next 60 years, it did inspire a few individuals

• Muller decided that Ebbinghaus’ mechanism was too passive

• Posited and demonstrated the interference model of forgetting

Former Father Brentano

(1838-1917)• Former Priest and later Professor at U. of Wurzburg

• In about 1874, he published Psychology from a Phenomenological Standpoint– Directly opposing Wundt

the Great• It’s not the elements that

should be studied, but the act of collecting these elements– Study Seeing, not that

which is Seen– Hence Act Psychology

• Acts harder to study• Wundt was gaining popularity• Brentano kind of faded out

Stumpfing Wundt(1848-1936)

• Carl Stumpf was greatly influenced by Franz Brentano (U of W student)

• Formed new kind of introspection called Phenomenology

• Examines experience as it happens– By breaking experience down

to elements, you distort it• Expert musician

– Used musicians to introspect tones

– Wundt used trained introspectors

– Wundt took Stumpf’s use of musicians as a personal slight

– Bitter feud

Oswald Kulpe• One of Wundt’s students

– Was the head of his lab for a while

– Very elemental at first– No higher mental

processes• Got corrupted by

Ebbinghaus– Let an “Anti-Wundt

Revolt” at U of W– Began what is later

referred to as the Wurzburg School of Thought

– If you can study memory, why not thought?

Systematic Experimental Introspection

• Subject performs a complex task• Then makes a retrospective report of

what they were thinking, judging, etc.• Developed a huge lab that attracted a

lot of followers– James Roland Angell (will see more of him

later)• Imageless thought• Wundt felt deeply betrayed

Psychology Comes to America

Edward Bradford Titchener

(1867-1927)• Wundt focused on organization of the elements of consciousness via apperception

• Titchener avoided apperception and focused on elements themselves

• Structuralism

Margaret Floy Washburn

(1894-1937)• 1st Female Ph.D. in

Psychology• One of Titchener’s

Students at Cornell U.• More than 1/3 of the

56 doctorates Titchener awarded were women

• Women, however were not allowed to join the Titchener Experimentalists

The Experimentalists

• A discussion group formed in 1904• Women not allowed due to cigar smoke

and coarse language– “No man can hope to become a

psychologist until he has learned to smoke”• Several Experimentalists smuggled

girlfriends in and hid them behind doors and cabinets so they could listen in

• They emerged unscathed

“Excuse me, Dr. Titchener sir…but

your whiskers are on fire.”• Titchener

maintained a very imposing presence

• Cora Friedline was afraid to interrupt while he was speaking as ash from his cigar fell into his beard and smouldered

Psychology with Titchener

• Stimulus error– The introspectionist’s screen

• No mediate experiences allowed• Other no-no’s

– No application of psychology– No child or animal psychology– A science of discovery only, not application

• Psychology is the study of the healthy, adult (usually male) human mind via introspection

Titchener’s Goals for American Psychology

1. Reduce conscious processes to their simplest components

2. Determine the laws by which they are associated

3. Connect these to physiological conditions

• His main focus was on Goal 1

Defining Titchener• Inspection: “Looking at” appropriate for physics• Introspection: “Looking in” approprite for

psychology• Consciousness: Sum of experiences at the moment• Mind: Sum of experiences over a lifetime• Sensations: Elements of perception (sounds, sights,

smells, etc)• Images: Elements of ideas—reflections of

experiences not present• Affective states: elements of emotional experiences

Elemental Attributes

• Titchener felt that elements can be categorized into attributes• Quality

– Clearly distinguishes one element from the other– “Cold” or “Red”

• Duration– Course over time

• Intensity– Strength of element– Loudness, brightness

• Clarity– Role of attention: How much of our consciousness is focused

on it– Affective states have no clarity

• Extensity– For sensory experiences such as vision or touch– Extent to which it takes up space

An Outline of Psychology

(1896)• Titchener describes:

– 32,820 visual sensations

– 11,600 auditory sensations

• Photographic Album on Psychological Instruments (1895)– Interesting collection of

photographs of psychological equipment around the world

Titchener Softens Up

• Later in life, Titchener drops mental elements from lectures– Starts focusing more on

attributes• Wrote to a student to stop

thinking in terms of sensations and affection (it’s out of date)– “Speak more in terms of

dimensions [attributes]”• Dropped the term “structural”

in favor of “existential”– Began to change his

introspection techniques to a more phenomenological method (without reducing it to elements

Too Little, Too Late

• Titchener’s changing view of psychology was not made public or radical enough before he died

• Times changing, but his public model of psychology was not

• His forceful personality kept structuralism alive, but it died with him

• He maintains residence at Cornell University

Questions? Thoughts?