The New The New PsychologyPsychology

Structuralism and a Structuralism and a Crash course in GermanCrash course in German

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)

Studied conscious experience by examining its structure or components parts (sensations, feelings) using individuals who were trained in introspection. This "school of psychology" became known as structuralism.

The Founding Father of modern Psychology or experimental psychology.

Voluntarism

• Voluntarism: The idea that the mind has the capacity to organize mental contents to higher level thought processes.

Mediate vs. ImmediateMediate vs. Immediate

Mediate and immediate experiencesMediate and immediate experiences: Mediate : Mediate experience provides information about experience provides information about something other than the elements of that something other than the elements of that experience; immediate experience is unbiased experience; immediate experience is unbiased by interpretation.by interpretation.

Mediate: provides us with information other Mediate: provides us with information other than the direct thing we’re looking. Mediate than the direct thing we’re looking. Mediate experience and data are obtained via experience and data are obtained via measuring devices and thus is not direct.measuring devices and thus is not direct.

IntrospectionIntrospection

Examination of one’s own mind to Examination of one’s own mind to inspect and report on personal inspect and report on personal thoughts and feelings.thoughts and feelings.

Nonsense Syllables

• KZH

• ILR

• YTO

• LOL

• KFC

• JFK

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-

1909)• Nonsense

syllables: syllables presented in a meaningless series to study memory processes.

Nonsense SyllablesNonsense Syllables

More rapid forgetting during the first More rapid forgetting during the first hours following learning and slower hours following learning and slower thereafterthereafter

Overlearning (continuing to study past Overlearning (continuing to study past mastery) decreased the rate of mastery) decreased the rate of forgetting.forgetting.

Distributed practice was more effective Distributed practice was more effective than massed practice than massed practice

Franz Brentano (1838-1917) Mental Acts Brentano’s

System of Psychology, which focused on mental activities (e.g., seeing) rather than mental contents (that which is seen).

Carl Stumpf (1848-1916)

aka Music Guy• Phenomenology• Stumpf’s introspective

method that examined the experience as it occurred and did not try to reduce experience to elementary components. Also an approach to knowledge based on unbiased description of immediate experience as it occurs, not analyzed or reduced to elements.

Clever Hans

• Van Osten• Pfungst and Stumpf

Oswald Kulpe (1862-1915)

• Science is my Bride

• Imageless Thought: meaning in thought can occur without any sensory or imaginal component.

• Mental set

Systematic Experimental Introspection:• Kulpe’s introspective method that used

retrospective reports of subject’s cognitive processes after they completed an experimental task..