Wilhelm Wundt & The Birth of Experimental Psychology Flashcards Preview

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Flashcards in Wilhelm Wundt & The Birth of Experimental Psychology Deck (18)
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1
Q

What century was Wundt born in?

A

1800 (1832 to be exact).

2
Q

What was the Thought Meter (Wundt)?

A

Thought Meter: Perception timing is different in different sense modalities.
There is a creative combination of apperceived experiences.
Wundt also believed in focussing on immediate experience and Folk Psychology.

3
Q

What is Folk Psychology?

A

Things that can’t be studied experimentally.

4
Q

Name three of the methods in Wundt’s institute.

A
Psychophysics (e.g. graphical mapping). 
Mental chronometry (e.g. reaction times like the Hipp's chronoscope). 
Self-observation of introspection.
5
Q

What was James Cattell interested in?

A

Mental chronometry of words and letters.

Created a new apparatus for reaction time studies.

6
Q

Explain the social organisation of self-observation in Wundt’s laboratory.

A
Experimenter = lowest status (usually students). 
Subject = highest status (sometimes it was Wundt himself!).
7
Q

Why is it a weakness that Wundt was the subject of his own studies?

A

This is a very subjective way of studying psychology.

8
Q

Name three of Wundt’s followers.

A

Hermann Ebbinghaus.
Edward Tichener.
Oswald Kulpe.

9
Q

What is the Forgetting Curve (Ebbinghaus)?

A

Forgetting slows down over time. Extends psychophysics to a higher mental function.

10
Q

Why was Tichener important to Wundt’s work?

A

Tichener introduced Wundt’s ideas (e.g. the introspective method) to the US.

11
Q

Why is Oswald Kulpe relevant?

A

Developed the Wurzburg School (a school dedicated to the formation and development of concepts).
Debated with Wundt about imageless thoughts + introspection.

12
Q

What is Gestalt psychology?

A

Gestalt psychology attempts to understand the ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in a chaotic world.

13
Q

What is the Phi Phenomenon (Max Wertheimer)?

A

The optical illusion where when stationary objects are shown in rapid succession they appear to be moving in a fluid motion (we can no longer perceive them separately).

14
Q

Where was Gestalt psychology originally developed?

A

Berlin, 1912.

15
Q

What is one of the most famous ideas in Gestalt psychology?

A

“The whole is different (originally ‘something else’) than the sum of the parts.”

16
Q

What did Fechner mainly critique?

A

Point-by-point mapping of nuemoneal and phenomenal worlds.

17
Q

Did Gestalt psychology believe in reductionism or holism?

A

Holism - qualities that can’t be broken down into smaller introspective elements.

18
Q

What is the Zeigarnik effect?

A

The idea that people remember uncompleted tasks better than completed tasks.
Bonus: Zeigarnik has been used to demonstrate the presence of Gestalt phenomena!