History of Experimental Psychology PDF

History of Experimental Psychology Tooba Arshad Institute of Professional Psychology, Bahria University- Karachi Campus Ism Cont Main Expla s ribut Concep natio ors ts n   The Defecating Duck and the Glory of France  The Spirit of Mechanis...

History of Experimental Psychology Tooba Arshad Institute of Professional Psychology, Bahria University- Karachi Campus Ism Cont Main Expla s ribut Concep natio ors ts n   The Defecating Duck and the Glory of France  The Spirit of Mechanism Extend human muscle power Machines were accepted as the part of life Mechanical clock has the Philosophi greatest impact on scientific cal thought Influences 200 years before the development of psychology 17th century influenced the direction of psychology 17th Century: Underlying philosophy— the basic contextual force—the spirit of mechanism   The doctrine that held the image of the universe as a great machine. Believed that natural processes are mechanically determined and capable of explanation by the laws of physics and chemistry  The idea of Mechanism originated in Mechanis Physics as a result of work by Galileo & Newton: trained clockmakers m  Observation and experimentation- followed by measurement.  Scholars attempted to define and describe every phenomenon by assigning it a numerical value- a process that was vital to the study of the machinelike universe.  Thermometers, barometers, slide rulers, micrometers, pendulum clocks and other measuring devices were perfected, and they reinforced the notion that it was possible to measure every aspect of the natural universe.  It was thought that once scientists grasped the laws by which the world functioned, they could determine how it would run in the future   Mechanical clock was ideal metaphor for 17th century’s spirit of mechanism  Clock “mother of machines”  Punctuality became part of Life; life The was ‘regularized and became more orderly’; thus, more predictable. Clockwork  Clock - model of physical Universe universe (regularity, predictability and precision)  Boyle, Kepler and Descartes agreed that harmony and order of the universe could be explained in terms of the clock’ s regularity   Clock metaphor - idea of determinism  When seen as a clocklike machine, the universe- once it was created by God and set in motion- would continue to function efficiently without any outside interference.  The belief that every act is Determinis determined or caused by past m events  We can predict the changes that will occur in the operation of the clock—as well as in the universe— because we understand the order and regularity with which its parts function   Easy to Understand - structure and workings of a clock.  Anyone could easily disassemble a clock and see exactly how its springs and gears operated-reductionism Reductionis  As workings of machines could m be understood by reducing its basic components-physical universe can be understood by analyzing or reducing it to its simplest parts  Basis of new psychology Was it appropriate to study human nature with clock metaphor????   Up till 17th century : philosophers had looked to the past for answers Works of Aristotle - other ancient scholars- the Bible A new force became important: Empiricis empiricism, m the pursuit of knowledge through observation and experimentation. How does the mind acquire knowledge? They argued that all knowledge is derived from sensory experiences.  After this, all knowledge handed down from the past became suspect In its place, the golden age of 17th century included discoveries and insights that reflected the changing nature of scientific inquiry The French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes contributed directly to the history of modern psychology   Gave concept of conditioning 200 years before Pavlov René Descartes “After you whip a dog six or eight (1596– times to the sound of a violin, the 1650) sound of the violin alone will make the dog whimper and tremble with fear”  Applied the idea of clockwork mechanism to human body( related that the human beings function in a similar way as machines)  Mathematical principles can be applied to all the sciences   The question of the distinction between mental and physical qualities  Are mind and body—the mental world and the material world— distinct from each other? Mind and Body  For thousands of years, the prior Problem notion-Dualistic position; arguing that the mind and body had different natures.  This raised a lot of questions. If they are of different natures, what is their r/s with one another? Or how do they interact?   Before Descartes, the accepted theory was that the interaction b/w mind and body was one directional. The mind had influence on the body, but the body had little effect on the mind  Acc. To Descartes, Mind and Mind and body has mutual interaction- the Body mind influences the body, but Problem the body exerts greater influence on the mind than previously supposed. (highlighted the importance of body)  Physical-psychological duality- study of mind and mental processes- observation and experimentation   Believed that if body is composed of physical matter than it must possess that characteristics common to all matter:  It takes up space  Have capacity for movement  (laws of physics and mechanics of movement and action in the physical The nature world must be applied) of the  Explained the physiological functioning Body of the body in terms of physics  body’ s nerves - pipes  muscles and tendons - engines and springs  Movements of the automata were involuntary (pressure of water)- bodily movements frequently occur without a person’ s conscious intention   Precursor of the basis for many experiments on Stimulus-Response (that came in the 20th century)  The idea that an external object (a stimulus) can bring Reflex about an involuntary response Action  Eg: the jerk on your leg when Theory the doctor taps your knee with a hammer.  Reflexive behavior doesn’t involve cognitive processes; appears completely mechanical and automatic  Human behavior is predictable   The mind is nonmaterial—but it is capable of thought and other cognitive processes  Mind provides information about external world(when stimulated by light or heat, the mind recognizes and interprets these sensory data- determine appropriate responses) The Mind-  Where does the mind and body Body mutually interact? Interaction  The interaction occurs some where in brain-sensations travel to the brain and movement originates within the brain- focal point.  Unitory body: interaction with the body only at a single point   Mind produces two kinds of ideas  Derived ideas: arise from the direct application of an external stimulus, such as the The sound of a bell. They are Doctrine of products of the experiences of Ideas the senses.  Innate ideas: developed out of mind or consciousness- rely on the presence of appropriate experiences. Includes the idea of God, perfection, infinity  Inspired Gestalt Psychology   Middle of 19th century-200 years after Descartes death- end of Positivism: prescientific psychology Auguste  Positivism: The doctrine that Comte recognizes only (1798– natural phenomena or facts 1857) that are objectively observable  Recognize only those things that can be scientifically verified or which is capable of logical or mathematical proof  Limited his work to the facts that had been determined solely through the methods of science   Facts of the universe could be described in physical terms and explained by the properties of matter and energy  Human consciousness could be understood in terms of the Materialis principles of physics and chemistry m  Mental processes focused on physical properties— the anatomical and physiological structures of the brain  knowledge is derived from sensory experience Positivism, materialism, and empiricism became the philosophical foundations of the new science of psychology   An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690); culmination of 20 years of study.  How the mind acquires knowledge John Locke  Concerned with cognitive functioning particularly, the ways in which mind acquires (1632- its knowledge 1704)  Rejected the existence of innate ideas (Descartes)  Argued that humans are born without any knowledge whatsoever  Aristotle- held a similar notion centuries before- mind at birth was a tabula rasa; a blank or clean slate on which experience would write  Admitted that some ideas seems to be innate; b/c those ideas are taught in childhood and cannot remember a time when were unaware of them  Mind acquired knowledge through experience.  sensation and reflection.  The ideas from sensation— direct sensory input from physical objects in the environment—are simple sense impressions.  These sense impressions operate on the mind, and the mind itself also operates on the sensations, reflecting on them to form ideas. Sensation  Reflection based on impressions already experienced through the senses and  Sensations always comes first. They are reflection forerunner of reflections b/c there must be a reservoir of sense impressions for the mind to be able to reflect on.  While reflecting, we recall past sensory impressions and combine them to form abstractions and other higher level ideas  Thus, all ideas arise from sensation and reflection, but ultimate source remains our   Simple ideas: can arise from both sensation and reflection and are received passively by the mind  They are Elemental; they Simple cannot be analyzed or Ideas and reduced to even simpler Complex ideas. Ideas.  Complex ideas: Through the process of reflection; mind actively creates new ideas by combining simple ideas  Compounded of simple ideas   The notion that knowledge results from linking or associating simple ideas to form complex ideas  Early name of Learning; center of new scientific psychology  Human ideas can be disassembled and than Associatio reassembled like clock n  Locke treated the mind acc. To the laws of mechanism.  Basic particles or atoms of the mental world are Simple ideas; equivalent to atoms of matter in the mechanistic world.  Like body; mind is also machine   Applied to simple sensory ideas  Primary qualities exist in an Primary object whether or not we perceive and them; inherent Secondary  Secondary qualities do not Qualities exist in the object but in a person’s perception of the object. Eg: color, odor, sound, taste  Eg: the size and shape of a building are primary qualities whereas, the building’s color is a secondary quality. Color is not inherent in the object itself, it depends on the person experiencing it- not all person a particular color in the same way  Primary quality of feather could be being long, short or soft. The tickle of a feather is not in the feather but in our reaction to the feather’s touch.  Primary and secondary quality of a knife??  Builds our perception- paradox of basins   An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision (1709) George  A Treatise Concerning the Berkeley Principles of Human (1685– Knowledge (1710) 1753) Perception is the only Reality  All knowledge of the external world comes from experience (Locke)  Berkeley; there were no primary qualities only secondary qualities  All knowledge was a function of— or depended on—the experiencing or perceiving person; mentalism  function of mental phenomena and dependent on the perceiving or experiencing person  Perception is the only reality of which we can be sure  Perception is subjective— that is, within ourselves— therefore, it does not mirror the external world precisely.  No material substance of which we can Mentalism be certain b/c without perception- the quality disappears.  Not saying that real objects exist in physical world only when they are perceived.  Believed, all experience is within ourselves, relative to our own perception, we can never know precisely the physical nature of   Applied the principle of association to explain how we come to know the objects of real world  construction or composition of simple ideas (mental elements) bound by the mortar of association The  Complex ideas are formed by Associatio joining the simple ideas that are n of received through the senses Sensations  Used association to explain Visual depth perception  Question: 3D perception with 2D retina? Answer: we perceive depth as a result of our past experience  Physiological cues of accommodation and convergence   A Treatise of Human Nature (1739)  Supported Locke’s ideas of simple ideas- complex ideas  Revised theory of association  Supported Barkley’s ideas of perception is the only reality – David material world did not exist for Hume the individual until it was perceived.  Went a bit further “if there is no God”  There may be a real world; there may not; but we have no way of knowing   Distinguished between two kinds of mental contents  Impressions are the basic elements of mental life(sensations and perceptions)  Ideas are the mental experiences we have in the absence of any immediately present stimulating Impression object (image) s and  Not define impressions and ideas in ideas physiological terms or in reference to external stimuli.  The impressions differed from ideas - relative strength  Impressions are strong and vivid  Ideas are weak copies of impressions.  Both of these mental contents may be simple or complex.  1. Similarity 2. Contiguity 3. Cause and effect  Mechanist framework Laws of  Argued that just as Associatio astronomers had determine n Laws of astronomy- it is possible to determine the laws of mental universe  Additional support for complex and simple ideas   Observations on Man, His David Frame, His Duty, and His Hartley Expectations; considered by (1705– many scholars to be the first systematic treatise on association 1757) Association by contiguity and repetition  Fundamental law of association is contiguity  Attempted to explain the process of Memory, reasoning, emotion, and voluntary and involuntary action by contiguity.  Ideas or sensations that occur together, simultaneously or successively, become associated so that the occurrence of one is connected with the occurrence of the other.- Contiguity Repetition  Repetition of sensations and ideas is necessary for associations to be formed  Knowledge are derived from experiences conveyed to us through the senses  First to apply the theory of association to explain all   Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind (1829) James Mill  Goal: mind is nothing more (1773– than a machine 1836)  The mind was a machine—it functioned in the same predictable, mechanical way as a clock. It was set in operation by external physical forces and run by internal physical forces.  Mind is a totally passive entity –that is acted on by external stimuli  analysis - Reducing mind into elementary components  Sensation and ideas: only mental elements  All knowledge begins with Sensation. Through the Study process of association, higher or complex ideas are mind with formed. method of analysis  Mind is not creative b/c association is automatic and passive process.  Association is mechanical, and the resulting ideas are merely the accumulation or sum of the individual mental Physiological Influence   Late 19th century  Physiology became an experimentally oriented discipline during the 1830s Developme  German physiologist Johannes nts in Early Müller (1801– 1858) Physiology  Theory of specific energies of nerves : stimulation of a particular nerve always leads to a characteristic sensation, because each sensory nerve has its own specific energy  Helped in localizing functions within the nervous system and pinpointing sensory receptor mechanisms on the periphery of the organism.   Conducting research directly on brain tissues  Specific parts of brain controlled different cognitive functions- Research physiological psychology on Brain  Marshall Hall (1790–1857) Functions:  Reflex behavior Mapping Decapitated animals would from the continue to move for some time Inside when he stimulated various nerve endings Concluded that different levels of behavior arise from different parts of the brain and nervous system  Voluntary movement cerebrum Reflex movement Hall spinal cord Postulatio Involuntary movement n direct stimulation of muscles Respiratory movement medulla.   Systematically destroying parts of the brain and spinal cord in pigeons and observing the consequences Pierre  Cerebrum - higher mental Flourens processes (1794– 1867)  Parts of the midbrain - Extirpation visual and auditory reflexes Method  Cerebellum – coordination  Medulla - heartbeat, respiration, and other vital functions  Used extirpation method  The findings of Hall and Flourens, although generally considered valid are second in importance because of their use of extirpation.  In extirpation, the researcher attempts to determine the function of a given part of the brain by removing or destroying it and observing the resulting changes in the animal’s behavior.   Clinical Method: Paul Broca (1961) Autopsy on a man who was unable to speak intelligibly A lesion in the third frontal convolution of the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex- left frontal lobe of the brain Mid 19th Broca labeled this section of the brain the speech center (Broca’s area) Century Supplement to extirpation because it is Clinical difficult to secure human subjects who Method agree to the removal of parts of their brain As a sort of posthumous extirpation, the clinical method provides the opportunity to examine the damaged area of the brain, the area assumed to be responsible for a behavioral condition that existed while the patient was still alive   Gustav Fritsch and Eduard Hitzig (1870)  the use of weak electrical currents to explore the cerebral cortex Electrical  Stimulating certain cortical areas Stimulati in rabbits and dogs resulted in on motor responses: movements of the front and back legs.  With the development of increasingly sophisticated electronic equipment: productive technique for studying brain functions   German physician Franz Josef Gall (1758–1828)  Dissected the brains of deceased animals and Research on humans Brain  His work confirmed Functions: the existence of both white and Mapping gray matter in the brain from the the nerve fibers connecting Outside each side of the brain to the opposite side of the spinal cord the fibers connecting both halves of the brain   Paid attention to outside of the brain; shape & size would reveal information about brain faculties.  His study on animals showed the tendency for species with larger brains to display more intelligent behavior than species with smaller brains  Shape of the brain-controversial Phrenolog territory y  He founded a movement called Cranioscopy, later known as phrenology the shape of a person’s skull revealed his or her Intellectual and emotional characteristics While promoting his concept, he lost his respect amongst his colleagues - Fraud and quack Believed that when a mental characteristic (benevolence or self- esteem) was well developed- protrusion or bulge on the surface of the skull in the area controlling that characteristic If that ability was weak - indentation in the skull at that spot Gall mapped the location of 35 human attributes  Johann Spurzheim and George Combe popularized the movement  Traveled and gave lectures and demonstrations on phrenology  Their success was overshadowed by Fowler brothers- developed business enterprise  American businessmen used this technique to select employees  Phrenology applied to the practical problems (to assess a child’s intelligence and to counsel couples experiencing marriage difficulties)  Charles Lavery and Frank White (1929): Psycograph Company- developed a machine to read the bumps on people’ s heads   Pierre Flourens  Through extirpation found that: shape of the skull did not match the contours of the underlying brain tissue brain tissue was too soft to Criticism produce changes such as bulges and dents in the bony surface of the skull. Gall’s designated area for specific mental functions were in error Gall failed but reinforced: extirpation, clinical, and electrical stimulation methods   There is not necessarily a relationship between the popularity of an idea, trend, or school of Moral of thought and its validity the Story Just because something is popular does not mean it is true………!!!!!!!!