His 10-volume work has been ignored by historians of psychology. His 10-volume work has been ignored by historians of psychology.- It may be ignored because most of our knowledge of the history of psychology comes from one person (Boring) who does not mention it.
- Republished in 1990, it got favorable reviews.
Wundt was fascinated by the topics that he felt could not be studied experimentally.Wundt advocated studying animals & children too.
Many of his students wrote unflattering descriptions of him has a humorless drone. Many of his students wrote unflattering descriptions of him has a humorless drone.- Wundt was generous in his support of Cattell who was haughty and unfair in describing him back.
- Hall called him hardworking but inept with his hands.
- Titchener called him humorless, indefatigable and aggressive.
Students also wrote warmly of experiences with him.Wundt had a sense of humor, was a lively lecturer and used demos in class.
Wundt is credited with founding experimental psychology. Wundt is credited with founding experimental psychology.He is mischaracterized as narrow in approach but was actually quite broad in his interests and writing.We get many of our ideas about Wundt from Titchener who was the things Wundt was not (an elementist interested only in the structure of mind).His many students founded labs and departments of psychology & influenced modern psychology.
Edward Titchener & Hugo MunsterbergBoth emigrated to the USA and conducted psychology labs:- Titchener at Cornell University in NY.
- Munsterberg at Harvard University.
Titchener is not as similar to Wundt as he has been portrayed in some histories of psychology.Munsterberg was more famous but also infamous – is he a victim or a visionary?
Titchener refined Wundt’s technique of introspection and to study sensation and it Structuralism. Titchener refined Wundt’s technique of introspection and to study sensation and it Structuralism.He defined this as the study of the structure of the conscious mind.Titchener translated Wundt’s major work “Principles of Physiological Psychology” into English.He considered himself a “true Wundtian” all his career.
Like Wundt, Titchener presented demos during his lectures and attracted many undergrads. Like Wundt, Titchener presented demos during his lectures and attracted many undergrads.Like Wundt, Titchener was a prolific writer:- 216 works including 6 major books.
- “Experimental Psychology” – a 4-volume lab manual.
Like Wundt, he dictated the problems his students should study. - Unlike Wundt, he was inflexible when his basic assumptions about psychology were challenged and considered his approach a “model laboratory.”
For Titchener, psychology was the study of the mind. For Titchener, psychology was the study of the mind.- He rejected the idea of a homunculus (mental mannikin) – a mind within the mind that doing the thinking.
Psychology has a three-fold task:- Analyze the sum total of mental processes, their elements and how they go together.
- Discover the laws determining the connections between these elements.
- Work out in detail the correlations of mind and nervous system.
To accomplish psychology’s tasks, experiments must be conducted. To accomplish psychology’s tasks, experiments must be conducted.- For Titchener, experiments consisted entirely of introspections made under standard conditions.
- This approach became known as structuralism.
Mental processes must be observed, interrogated and described in terms of observed facts.- He used Wundt’s techniques to carry out introspection.
- Observers needed extensive training (10,000+ controlled observations) to peform correct introspection.
Titchener’s views of the elements of consciousness were influenced by the British associationists. Titchener’s views of the elements of consciousness were influenced by the British associationists.- Sensations are the “feels” of the perceptual world.
- Images comes from objects not present – ideas.
- Both sensations and ideas have describable qualities.
The third mental element is feelings – emotional reactions accompanying mental experience.- Complex mental states combine sensations, ideas and feelings via attention.
- Meaning comes from context and is lost with repetition.
Over the years his approach using introspection became more rigid and limited. Over the years his approach using introspection became more rigid and limited.
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