Reading Activity Week #5 (Due Tuesday)

One thing that I found interesting was about how Wundt’s finally got his laboratory after repeatedly asking for space for a year. I thought that it was interesting that his four hundred square feet became so popular with Europe and America that people, mostly students, would travel to come be a part of his research. Wundt was able to create the first experimental laboratory. What is more fascinating is that this became known as the Psychologisches Institut. With so many students becoming attracted to him it lead to the expansion of his lab. To me that is interesting because Leipzig had to of been upset that he delayed it so long.

The second thing that I found interesting was the part on the first American, James McKeen Cattell, to graduate under Wundt’s supervision at Leipzig. It is also interesting that basically his life story was published, “An Education in Psychology: James McKeen Cattell’s Journal and Letter from Germany and England 1880-1888.” and that it was all accounts from his personal journals that he kept that documented his experiences in school. I also thought it was interesting that in one of his letters home he talked about how Wundt was wrong, but that he himself was able to figure out that there was a tenth of a second delay in the magnet. James seems like a very brilliant young man, but a man with a short fuse to say the least. He seems inpatient.

The third thing that I found interesting was about Wundt’s other student Oswald Kulpe. Oswald and his students were able to look at conditions in an experimental laboratory, and were able to come up with the ideas concerning imageless thought, mental sets, and conscious attitudes. Imageless thought was any thought process that could be further reduced to mental images. Even though Kulpe’s friend Titchener disagreed with imageless sets saying all thoughts included images. Mental sets were defined the effect of giving observers some instructions that predispose them to think in certain ways. Conscious attitudes were defined as the mental processes that cause hesitation and doubt. These occurred during imageless thought.

One thing that I didn’t find interesting was the part on education in Germany. It was the beginning of the chapter and getting through that section was a little difficult. I don’t really care about what their education did and didn’t have compared to other areas of the world. I am more interested in what the people were able to discover in their research.

This chapter builds off the last one by staying in the general time line of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This chapter is also moving into different countries and there advancements. Chapter 3 focused on the British area of advancement, while now we have moved east to see what Germany’s advancements were.
Reading about all of it will help me understand the history of psychology. It shows the steps that psychologists were making during the beginning of it all. This chapter was a way of showing that interest in psychology was being spread throughout the world. I think that is one of the most important things to take away from this chapter because it was spreading and getting a lot more notice from the public and other students.

I think after reading this chapter I would be interested in some of the labs that were opened in America. I found it interesting that in the conclusion of the chapter it talked about how Americans basically fed off of Germany’s achievements and wanted to start their own in their country. I would like to no more about why they built them in imitation with Wundt’s and who was it that decided to first build one.

When reading about Wundt’s attempt at getting space for his research I found myself thinking about The Shawshank Redemption because Andy repeatedly asked Congress for a library and finally got it after multiple years of sending letters. It just made me think about how being persistent can be worth it in the long run. I also got to thinking about how it would be difficult to go against what your friend believed as true in the case of Wundt, Kulpe, and Titchener they all seemed to counter each other’s beliefs with something else.

Wundt, laboratory, research, experimental laboratory, psychologisches institut, Leipzig, psychology, James McKeen Cattell, An Education in Psychology: James McKeen Cattell’s Journal and Letter from Germany and England 1880-1888, Oswald Kulpe, Titchener, imageless thoughts, mental sets, conscious attitudes

One thing I found interesting was the development of German Universities. It was basically a competition between ministates to keep people coming into their state. I was even more interested in the fact that some of them were just buildings with only a few classrooms and professors. How could the university possibly make that work? Students were allowed to go from one University to another. I am assuming it made it easier to teach students everything they needed to know, but wouldn't it be easier to have all of the classes in one building?

Wundt is someone from this chapter who interested me as well. He developed experimental psychology. His goal was to develop a new psychology. To do this he was going to use experimental methods contributed from physiology. Under controlled lab conditions he studied immediate conscious experience. He measured the amount of time it took for different mental activities to occur. He was fascinated by how the mind stored and organized information. He termed voluntarism and apperception. Voluntarism reflects the active nature of the mind, the mind actively organizes its experiences through an act of will. Apperception is when something is perceived with full clarity.

Another thing from chapter four that interested me was Ebbinghaus' study on memory. He is famous for the forgetting curve. To observe this he came up with nonsense syllables. He was more interested in the associations that occurred when the syllables were used rather than the meaning of the syllables. The forgetting curve showed that after learning occurred forgetting followed not too long after that. Forgetting would pick up speed then slowly tapper off. He measured what was remembered by the amount of effort saved in relearning.

I found that Ernst Weber's study on psychophysics to be the most boring. I am not really interested in the tactile senses. However, I do understand why they would be important. I think all of these experiments on sensory, perception and memory and contributions each of these men made are important to understanding the history of psychology. This chapter shows how fast the field of psychology spread through out the world.

While reading this chapter I found myself curious as to how many universities were actually developed around 1871. I was also wondering how many of those universities are still functioning today. I am also interested in learning more about Ebbinghaus and his studies on memory.

The ideas I had while reading this chapter was why wouldn't they just combine some of the Universities so they students wouldn't have to go from one school to another? Also, I thought about how interesting it was that all of these people were working on experiments that would be so important today, did they think that they would come to be so important and necessary?

Chapter 4 had several interesting information about the beginning of New Psychology and its German roots. The first thing that was interesting to me was the term Wissenschaft. Due to the growing popularity of a more scientific approach to psychology along with the growing numbers of Universities in Germany, Wissenschaft was created to give professors freedom to both research and teach what they wanted to without the fear of being fired or given a bad name. In the first three chapters of our textbook, we learned about several influential leaders in psychology being condemned from the church for their research ideas and theories. For the first time, scholars were given freedom to search beyond what society was preaching as reality. Wissenschaft also reminded me of tenure that professors are rewarded today, and it was interesting to see that its roots date back to the nineteenth century.

The next part of Chapter 4 that struck me as particularly interesting was the Two-point threshold research done by Ernst Weber. A two point threshold is described, in our textbook, as “the point where the perception changes from feeling “one” point to feeling “two.” In his research, Weber was interested in tactile sensitivity. It was interesting to me that something seemingly so simple produced such profound results. In areas of high sensitivity rates, the threshold distance is very small and vice versa in areas of low sensitivity. In the section, I wondered if a “three point” would a center point with two equidistant points on either side. Even more interesting to me was the although Weber’s explanation of the sense of touch was too simplistic for reality, much of it holds common grounds with what we learn today as true about the sense of touch.

Chapter 4 devotes a lot of its pages to Wilhelm Wundt. I found Wundt to be very fascinating. Both his basic personality traits and his research/leadership into the world of new psychology struck me as intriguing. On page 107 the book says this about Wundt. “ …founders are promoters; they might not be the first to accomplish something, but they are the first to proclaim loudly that their accomplishment breaks dramatically new ground. They might make some important scientific contribution, but their talent lies in their ability to propagandize. Wundt had that talent.” In previous chapters, we have learned about many contributions from several of individuals. However, these individuals were different from Wundt because at the time of their work, they did not realize its importance like Wundt did. It was moving to learn about someone who believed in themselves and their work to the extent that Wundt did. It was even more so moving to learn about the compelling work that Wundt was able to accomplish over just one life time. Wundt knew that an experimental approach to psychology and its basic questions would be very insightful long before other scholars caught on. However, Wundt believed that laboratory investigation was only plausible when dealing with what he called; “immediate conscious experience” such as perception and that it could not be used to examine high mental processes. This intrigued me – a scholar who was liberal for his time was still not as “liberal” as scholars are today. Our world and the focus of psychology are continually evolving.

Of the many subjects in Chapter 4, Wundt’s work on discrimination time and choice time was, I wouldn’t say least interesting, but the most complicated for me to comprehend which made the text harder to get through. It was hard for me to understand some of the results given in the book without further explanation. However, in the section the textbook explained how, in early experimental psychology, experiments consisted of very few participants who put forth a lot of data and how there was no clear distinction between the subject and the experimenter. I wonder, if some of the research done in Wundt’s days would have similar results to the research done today, giving it validity. Also, I wondered if, under Wissenschaft, researchers had to get permission to carry out their research beforehand. Did ethics matter as much as they do now?

This chapter built on the previous chapters’ idea of “presentism”. By explaining how previous historical accounts of Wundt had been wrong, we learned that in not only Wundt’s case. but in all cases of historical accounts, it is important to examine how you get your information. (Who is telling you it, how long ago did it happen, first or second hand, etc...?) In the case of Wundt, no one purposely gave misinformation about him, it was just different perceptions and it is important to keep this in mind as we go further into the textbook.

Towards the end of the chapter, we learn about Hermann Ebbinghaus and his work with memory. I found interesting that most of his work is material that we still learn to be true today in introductory psychology courses. The forgetting curve is a concept that Ebbinghaus coined, depicting how the longer one goes after originally learning something, the less they remember. I am interested in Alzheimer’s and I would like to learn more about memory and how it relates to the aging human brain.

Terms: Forgetting curve, Ebbinghaus, memory, new psychology, Weber, two point threshold, discrimination time, choice time, Wissenscraft, immediate conscious experience, tactile senses, perception

Chapter 4 had a few interesting things to offer to the reader. The first thing that struck me as interesting was Fechner's work and studies as well as the damage the studies caused. Fechner discovered the relationship between brightness of light and strength of the afterimage. Fechner associated the quality of the aftermath resulting from a quick glance at the brightest of all lights - the sun. I never really thought that in this time and history many experimented on themselves adn dealt with the results. In this case, Fechner's studies led him to damage his eyesight. To me, this shows dedication to his work. However, without their discoveries, protective eye wear may not have been discovered.
The second thing I found interesting was Ebbinghaus's involvement in memeory. Ebbinghaus pointed out that little was known about memory, and what was known was known through common sense along side extreme causes. His idea of non meaningful objects had a huge significance later. These objects, or nonsense syllables, helped with his studies. I find his experiments interesting, mostly because he not only came up with the experiment, but performed and participated in the experiment himself. Although this goes against what can make a great experiment, Ebbinghaus did great work towards memory. I have taken a few memory tests, one in particular similar to the test Ebbinghaus performed. For the test, my teacher made two different lists of random words, showing us each list at a different time. Afterwards, we were asked to write down as many words and we can, putting each word into the appropriate list. I was able to list almost every word that was on each list, but I did not do well putting each word in the appropriate list. At the end of the class, the teacher asked us to write down as many words as we could again, this time without looking at the list. Again, I was able to list almost all the words, but struggle to associate a word with the list. From this, a few of us in the class found we had a great ability to recall a set of words, similar to serial learning. Along side of this, I find Ebbinghaus's concern of the rate of forgetting the information interesting. Ebbinghaus's saving method brings attention to measuring memory after a passage of time has passed. From my example, there were a few of us in my class that had a greater saving method than others in our class.
The third thing I found interesting how much work may have been lost due to lack of translation. In this chapter, is mentioned a few times about works being translated by multiple people. It makes me wonder how many things were possibly mistranslated or were not translated at all and lost due to the lack of translation.
One thing I did not find interesting was Weber's ideas of a two-point threshold. I found this section to be related to a few things I had learned in biopsychology, a class I hated. I don't know if comparing that to what I learned in biopsych caused me to not like it, or if was the fact that this section seemed to drag on and keep on repeating itself. Weber's mention of jnd's was the most uninteresting part of this section. I struggled to finish reading it because it seems so unimportant and obvious to me.
I feel that this chapter is important because it focuses a lot on memory, an important aspect in psychology. In order to understand concepts within psychology, like Alzheimer's or Dementia, one must understand memory. It is also important to understand where the studying of memory began, for then we can understand the changes, or lack of changes, that may be occurring in memory.
In one section of this chapter, it builds on "materialism". Fechner added to this idea with ideas of the mind and body, and focusing on the idea of defeating materialism. He referred to "materialism" as "Night View" and "Day View". Fechner built on this idea, concluding that the mind and body could be harmonious.
One thing I would like to learn more about what Ebbinghaus's idea of nonsense syllables and serial learning. These were both very interesting to me and would like to find out more about his work on these topics.
Like I stated before, I found myself wondering what tranlational errors could have occurred while translating experiments and articles. I also wonder if there are any works that have been lost due to translation or lack of adequate storage.

Terms Used: Fechner, Ebbinghaus, nonsense syllables, serial learning, saving method, Weber, two-point threshold, jnd, materialism

In this chapter I found Ernst Weber’s two-point threshold interesting. I thought it was interesting because I touch things everyday but I’ve never thought about how my body perceives what I touch. I found internal perception interesting. I liked this because in my social work practice II class we practice interviewing. We always say that you have to assume that you don’t know anything about your client until they tell you and their perception of their world if what you have to go on. Everyone’s perception is different because you perceive things with past experiences in mind. Also I found apperception interesting. I was intrigued by this because I am interested in ADHD. Kids with ADHD pay attention to everything and that is why they can’t focus on one thing because they are taking too much in at once. They don’t have many things that are apprehended. I am interested in memory but Hermann Ebbinghaus’s study on memory was kind of boring to me. I like to learn about what type of memory we have and what information we store not how to memorize it.

I think the most useful thing in this chapter was the apperception. Everyone perceives and notices different things. I think it is important in studies and research to factor in what the people in the studies perceive. Last chapter we focused on the brain and the nervous system and now were working to the body; so we started internal and where working out way out. I would like to learn more about apperception and how it affects ADHD children. So many kids are diagnosed with ADHD I want to learn more about it because I want to work with kids someday. While reading this chapter I was thinking about how many studies psychologist have done to discover the knowledge we know now. Some of the studies weren’t even done by psychologists. There had to be so many studies. Then I thought they are going to be never ending. There will always be a study going on in the field of psychology.

Terms: two-point threshold interesting, internal perception, apperception, ADHD (attention deficient hyperactive disorder)

One topic that I found interesting was that of Wilhelm Wundt. Known for his views on new psychology and as the founder of experimental psychology. After receiving his M.D. from the University of Heidelberg and brief practice of medicine, than a semester under the great Muller in Berlin, he finally returned to Heidelberg as a professor. As a professor I found it interesting how he was inspired by Bunsen’s techniques of visual displays and Weber’s two-point threshold technique enough to use them in his projects and dissertation. While there he was offered a position of Privatdozent, the offering of courses to students, but due to a sickness and lack of student enrollment he had to withdrawal for some time. Between 1858-1864 he published at an astounding rate that produced him two books that marked the emerging of experimental psychology; Contributions to a Theory of Sensory Perception and Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology. Later in 1871 he set up his first laboratory where he was rewarded the rank of Extraordinary Professor by the university. After only a year he was offered a position at the University of Leipzig, Germany. Once there, it took a year of repeatedly asking for space for a laboratory big enough to hold his equipment. I thought that it was interesting that he left his already established lab for a four hundred square foot lab, one that was promised but that took so long to get at a prestigious school. Also how his lab became so popular with Europe and America that students, that they would travel to come be a part of his research. Wundt was able to create this first experimental laboratory that later became known as the Psychologisches Institut.

The second thing I found interesting was Ernst Weber on his two-point threshold. The approach of touching the skin with a two-pointed drawing compass, shows his out of the box thinking. All to measure if an individual could feel whether one or two points where being felt, with varying distances. He came to notice the further up the arm one went the less sensitive, further distances apart, perceiving two separate points. This lead him to come to the conclusion that the difference in threshold is due to different sizes of what he called sensory circles. These circles encompassed areas of the skin and areas with smaller circles were more sensitive than those with bigger circles. Only with the compass points touched two different sensory circles did you get the sense of two points. What he is most known for is what we now call Weber’s Law. This law along with his other works made psychophysics an essential element to science, showing that mental and physical events could be related mathematically.

The final topic I found to be intriguing was that of Oswald Kulpe. Earning his doctorate under Wundt ,also his mentor, he created his own laboratory in Wurzburg. A lab that produced experimental psychology that competed against both his mentor and close friend Titchener. Although Kulpe did little research in his own name he challenges Wundt procedures. His first was what he liked to call systematic experimental introspection, the observation of more complex events, followed by a full description the mental process involved. This created potential memory problems with time and accuracy. So to fix this and prove he was right Kulpe and his students developed fractionation, a way to break down complicated events into sections for further separating. In Kulpe’s attempt to improving introspective procedure and proving his mentor wrong, he was rejected by Wundt. Having thrown out the technique himself years earlier.

The thing I didn’t find interesting was the education in Germany. Not being one for history, I didn’t really care for how education came to be in Germany. But more so I found the reading to be dry and boring, and all together hard to get through. Geography isn’t really my strong suit when it came to pointing out the different universities in Germany. I find it more interesting to know what and how the individuals came about their theories and methods. The one thing I noticed when it came to the overlapping or building on from the last chapter was how Wundt, Weber, Fechner, and the rest built their experiments/studies off of those before then during that same time. From Descartes theory on animal spirits to for reflex to a new approach that became known as reaction time, taking that presentisum point of view on how they came to their conclusions. I didn’t have to many thoughts or ideas cross my mind while I read but the few that I did were mostly on the material itself. Chapter 2 started off pretty good full of juicy details on people and their experiments, but as I read chapter 4….most of the material to me seemed dry and a little boring. There was no detail into any of their experiments aside from saying they just performed them.

Terms: Wilhelm Wundt, Heidelberg, Muller, Bunsen’s techniques, two-point threshold, Contributions to a Theory of Sensory Perception and Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology, Privatdozent, Extraordinary Professor, Leipzig, experimental psychology, Psychologisches Institut, Ernst Weber, sensory circles, Weber’s Law, Titchener, Oswald Kulpe, fractionation, systematic experimental introspection

While reading chapter 4 there was somethings I did not like and some things that I found interesting. I liked the section of the chapter that discussed Ernst Weber and his two-point threshold theory. I remembered doing an experiment in science class so time ago, and it was fun to learn the history on it. Second, I liked the jnd that Weber discovered using the weight experiment. Third, I liked the creative synthesis section of the chapter. The difference between appreception and apperceived was something I found interesting. One thing that I did not like about the chapter was, well, pretty much the rest of it. I could not get myself to stay interested in the rest as much. Maybe because most of the chapter was about Weber.

Like I said earlier I had done the two-point threshold experiment before, but never knew the history. It was interesting to learn about the man that discovered the experiment and what he was like. In the science class that I did the experiment I learned that there were different sensory nerves and some parts of the body had more than others. I never knew that Weber had discovered these sensory circles in the body. The sensory circles are basically these circles that have a certain amount of sensory nerves and pertain to certain sections of the body. Once you cross into another circle you have two different sensations. While doing this experiment in 9th grade science class I am sure I had no clue what I was doing, but know its good to know the history of the experiment and the contribution it had to science and psychology, and then further experiments that Weber conducted.

The second thing that I found interesting in the chapter was just noticeable difference section. This was interesting to me because while I learned about the experiment in intro to psychology I never quite understood the concept all to well. Under Weber's law there is this 'jnd' that he talks about when looking at muscle sense (kinesthesis). Weber says that there is no noticeable difference between 30 grams and 31 grams. Also, there is no difference between 30 and 32 grams. The first sign that someone can detect a difference between the weights in their hands is between 30 to 33 grams (3 grams). Thus, the jnd is applied. Weber came up with a equation that states jnd/S=k. I do not really understand this, but this is what justifies his jnd phenomenon. What I found interesting was that this experiment showed that mental and physical events could be related mathematically.

The third thing that I enjoyed about the chapter was The creative synthesis that Wundt talked about when looking at voluntarism. Voluntarism is to reflect the active nature of the mind. The main concept of voluntarism is apperception. Apperception is the ability to perceive something with full clarity and understand it with your full attention. No outside stimuli can distract you from the full concentration of the task. A good example that the book used was when reading a sentence. In order to appercieve something then you need to be reading the sentence with no distractions from an outside stimuli such as the TV. Apperception is also the process that we perceive things in wholes. A great example that helped me understand this concept was one that the book used. When we read the word dog we do not see a bunch of letters scrabbled onto the page. We see the word dog and the meaning behind the word dog. Our visual sense may be processing the words and symbols, but our mind is forming the letters while at the same time forming the meaning of the words.

The thing I did not like about the chapter was pretty much the rest of the chapter. I do not know if it was because I was so intrigued with Weber's experiments that I found the rest boring or what. The study of memory that Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted was not that interesting to read for me. The saving method was somewhat interesting to learn about because it talked about how our brain saves information that we get, and how it stores it. Also, that our brain uses remote associations. This is the time between which we learn something and the time between in which we relearn the material. I can use some of this information to help me better study for my next exam. Like I said before I just did not find the information all to exciting to learn about, but really enjoyed the information on Weber earlier in the chapter.

I think that this is important to the history of psychology because Weber's experiment lead to more experiments that he conducted. All the experiments that he did created this sort of new science. The idea that you could mathematically calculate someone feeling and cognitions was a huge step forward in both the science and psychology fields. Weber is considered the pioneer of this field and I think that this is very important in the expansion of the psychology world.

I think that this builds on to the earlier chapters just in the timeline span of things. I am slowly starting to see that this book started at the beginning and is slowly working its way forward. From the last couple chapters it started with the earlier minds of the field and their breakthroughs in psychology. Sense they were the pioneers and had no real backing or history to build off they could not advance. The people that I read about in this chapter are taking the ideas from the people in the earlier chapter and using them to create their own experiments. They are building off the people before them to continue to learn and discover the field of psychology and I think that is awesome.

The topic that I would like to learn more about would probably be the creative synthesis section of the chapter. I find it interesting to read about because it was just a theory that he thought of and never really was accepted, but I think that it was cool. I understand where he was coming from when discussing that apperception idea, but like the animal spirit idea in the last chapter it was not quite perfected. I would like to know more about this topic and see if it actually came to light in the psychology field or if it busted.

Thoughts that I had while reading were mainly about the two-point threshold experiment. I was wondering who comes up with these experiments on the top of their head? I find it fasinating that someone would think to use a compass to poke certain parts of the body to see how humans perceive a stimuli. Then to go on and see that we have certain sensory areas on the skin that pertain to sensory nerves. This lead me to think about how cool it would have been to grow up in this time period of discovery. I just think that it would be cool to be the first to discover anything, let alone where the sensory nerves are in the body. I hope that the discoveries in the rest of the book are more fasinating to read about.

Terms: Weber, two-point threshold, Weber's law, just noticeable difference, Wundt, new psychology, apperception, voluntarism, saving methods, remote associations, Hermann Ebbinghaus

The first thing that I found interesting while reading chapter four was Weber's idea of the Two-Point Threshold. I think the thought of our sensory circles being sensed by branching fibers of a single sensory nerve really was interesting and planted an cool picture in my head. The book was very good about going into an interesting and picturesque amount of detail that allowed me to think about the concept very clearly. Also the idea that there are different sizes of sensory circles was something that I found interesting simply because I have to wonder if there is a reason behind if the circle sizes were of specific size in specific areas for a reason.

Something else that i found interesting was Wilhelm Wundt's idea of the immediate experience and the mediate experience. Reading that he was the father of experimental psychology, I had some high hopes in reading about his accomplishments. This is the one that I found the most interesting. His plans for the conscious I found interesting from the start of the section but as it continued I took the biggest liking in the theory that and example of "new psychology" more specifically the distinctions of immediate and mediate consciousness. I really never had heard of or thought of there being more than one level of consciousness besides Sigmund Freud's idea of the Id, Ego, and Superego. Even those ideas don't compare or seem nearly as believable as Wundt's ideas of the categories of consciousness.

A third thing that I liked about this chapter was the idea of an imageless thought. The immediate thought of the word sounded like something that was either impossible or something that a philosopher intended to create an idea of. However, after reading further into the section I realized that this was something that was even empirical. The weight lifting experiment was something I had never heard of before and really enjoyed reading about. The idea that a person could display judgements without conveying an image was something I was unaware of and rather blown back by how they demonstrated the experiment.

A section that I really disliked reading through was basically the entire section about Fechner and his elements of psychophysics. I've never liked reading about physics and really the paragraph was boring. It was uninteresting and the words were dry. I believe that I understand the meaning behind the experiments and vocabulary used in the paragraph, I just think that the subject is dry and uninteresting. However, one reason why I could possibly find this section boring is the fact that I haven't read over anything like this information since high school and I find it mildly irrelevant to anything in my studies outside of this class or life at this point in time.

I believe the ideas and contributions of Wilhelm Wundt will be some of the most important information to take away from this chapter. Although not all of his contributions to psychology are equally exciting, he was notably the founding father of experimental psychology. Also, besides the hypothesis and deliverance of his own psychological terms and experiments, he was also a teacher to many other important names in the field of Psychology and should be credited with giving some of these psychologists the tools they needed to create and implement their experiments.

I really think this chapter builds on chapter three due to it's emphasis. In chapter three we read a lot about advances of scientific discoveries that would eventually lead into the beginning of psychological advances, which is the topic of discussion in chapter four.

I would really like to learn more about Wundt's ideas on consciousness. His categories of the immediate and mediate experiences were noted in the chapter, but I would really like to opportunity to more fully understand how Wundt came up with the hypotheses and how we can more fully develop his ideas of consciousness.

While reading this chapter I had a lot to consider. My biggest thought was about the contributions of a lone psychologist and how his hypotheses and experiments influenced so many ideas and even so many other people. I also thought a lot about experiments and how psychologists are able to come up with such complex experiments. They not only had to come up with them but they had to prove they were valid. Their validity could have been the downfall of the entire hypothesis.

Terms: Weber, two-point threshold, sensory circles, branching fibers, single sensory nerves, Wundt, immediate experience, mediate experience, experimental psychology, conscious, New Psychology, Sigmund Freud, Id, Ego, Superego, imageless thought, empirical, Fechner, Psychophysics, validity,

The thing that interested me most about this chapter was the discussion of Ernst Weber. This idea of the two-point threshold is a fascinating theory about how sensation and perception can sometimes be at odds with reality. His idea for "sensory circles" was quite perceptive.
I am even more fascinated by Weber's Law. In creating his theory of the Just Noticable Difference (JNR), he noticed that in weight lifting, it's not an absolute weight difference between two masses that is detectable, but is proportional to the the smaller weight in question. The formula for Weber's law is jnd/S = k. This is interesting to me for two reasons. Firstly, the fact that Weber was able to come up with a mathematical formula detecting the jnr is impressive. A lot of psychology is dependent on individual differences, but it seems that Weber has this formula down to a science (literally- and this is of course not to discount less quantifiable measures in psychology. They are equally sound). Another reason it appeals to me is because of the importance of perception in his theory. The fact that there is not an absolute weight difference that people are able to detect, but that it is relative to the actual weight says something about human perception and our ability to adapt to new circumstances. Our sensitivity to a stimulus depends on our level of exposure to that stimulus.
The last thing I found particularly interesting about this chapter was the discussion of Wundt's "new psychology". While Wundt's "introspection" is a common topic in an Intro to Psych course, I had never heard of internal perception. Even though we have found many flaws with introspection as a method of studying, his way for solving this problem by introducing "internal perception" is a remarkable way of solving for this problem. Like other chapters, I am able to incorporate the methods of understanding psychology that we learned in the first chapter into this chapter. In this case, it's easy to see a presentist might dismiss Wundt's methods, but a historicist might see the scientific improvement between introspection and internal perception, particularly in the sense that internal perception controls better for bias and time.
The least interesting thing for me was trying to interpret the data charts, like those of Wundt's Complication Experiment and Ebbinghaus' Forgetting Curve. Although the experiments and the respective data are interesting to me, trying to decipher the math behind it was not as fun.
I would like to learn more about Ebbinghaus and his learning curve, particularly because I think I have a really awful memory, especially when it comes to retaining factual information. Perhaps more research in this area will help me better understand my memory and its capacity so I can improve in the future.
Throughout this chapter, I found myself thinking about how crazy the general public must have thought these psychologists were. In a time where psychology was an especially new field with findings that perhaps weren't as fruitful as those of other sciences, I wonder what motivated these scientists to delve into the human mind. On the other hand, I completely understand their longing to understand the human mind, as that is what I'm dedicating my career to. Moreover, I think this is support for the general idea that it is more rewarding to study things that are somewhat of a mystery.

Terms; Ernst Wundt, Two-point threshold, sensory circles, Weber's Law, Just Noticeable Difference, new psychology, introspection, internal perception, complication experiment, Ebbinghaus, Forgetting Curve

Chapter four was the first chapter the conveyed much detail about particular people and discoveries. The chapters before were more of a summary and brief development of each idea. Chapter four helped me understand the whole idea of its objectives. Many things throughout this chapter sparked my interest.
The first area of the chapter that gave reasoning for why Germany was the center area of psychology was of interest to me. In prior chapters they talk about Europe and its functioning with psychology but never really gave meaning. I have been to Germany twice for longer periods, so perhaps that is why it is of interest to me. I also am interested in when it made the switch to America being the center of psychology. When Americans wanted degrees they had to go to the mini-states of Germany. Their focus being research combined with teaching and academic freedom brought students in. I find it interesting that students were so free to get degrees from each mini-state and multiple Universities. I wondered the criteria to get into these schools and the cost of them? Maybe that is why only three dozen Americans got their degree there. At some point in history America adapted to the academic freedom and became the center of psychological studies. When did this happen and why, was my questioning and something I would like to learn more about. I also want to learn more before my next trip to Europe this May to possibly visit some historical sights.

The next two areas that was of interest to me was Fechner and, Wundt and his new psychology. The book put it very bluntly that he got the credit of the first experimental psychologists and this might not be technically correct. It seems to be a reoccurring issue in the past of the correct person not getting total accreditation for their discoveries. However, Wundt and Fechner both had great contributions. Fechners discovery of psychophysics opened my eyes to the use of math in psychology. It is becoming more and more clear to me that math is relevant in psychology. Without the study of relationship where would we be! Wundt started his studies at age nineteen and grew more curious. I find the majority of his studies to be very interesting and creative. His first independent research project regarding his own urine and salt content immediately got me questioning this guy. His assistant position with Helmholtz seemed to be where he got inspired. He might not have been the first psychological researcher technically, but he was the first to connect science in psychology and continue to use it to create publishing documents. His two major areas of development include; immediate conscious experience and the higher mental processes. Analyzing personal experiences had its challenges but through introspection, Wundt discovered a way to study it. He also used Internal perception, self-observation, for his research design. I am learning more about studies in research method and I am curious of how they treated research to get it empirically proven. This is something I would like to learn more about. Did they use self-report? Is it similar to these terms above? And how did they deal with bias. To say the least it seems Wundt had the most developed research at this time. His contributions for experimental study does allow him some credit in my eyes! He at least had they first American study under his supervision.

The least interesting aspect of the chapter was hard for me to pinpoint. This chapter ran together nicely and relayed information on experimental research all through the chapter and most concepts connected ideas. If I had to choose a least favorite topic it would be the areas where they tried to describe the math in the text. Yes, I understand the overall idea but the book tried to break down formulas for the reader to comprehend and it was somewhat a waste of time. I did not understand it and it could have easily been taken out and the reader could have still grasped the objectives.

The most valuable would be just the understanding of the development of experimental research. This idea will be a reoccurring topic in my career and I found it very interesting to learn about. Knowing how it developed and where it came from helps me to connect the ideas I am covering in my other classes. I liked being knowledgeable on the overall details of experimental research.

Key Terms: Wundt, Fechner, experimental psychologists, psychophysics, Helmholtz, introspection, internal perception,

What were three (3) things from the chapter that you found interesting? Why were they interesting to you? What one (1) thing did you find the least interesting? Why?
Something I found interesting, and I just happened to stumble onto it given that I normally don’t read the boxed in statements, but this one was titled, “key date 1879”, and within this area I read numerous things but the ones I enjoyed were that during the occurrence of Wundt’s laboratory experimental psychology in this time frame Thomas Edison also patented the electric light, London had its first telephone exchange, and the man who invented the first adhesive postage stamp died. I think this area just interested me because it put more things into perspective, I just bought a stamp and to think about how long it’s been since the actual stamp was invented was pretty cool to think about given it’s such a common thing today I always over look what it took to create something so simple.
Another thing I found interesting was Ebbinghaus and his nonsense syllables, it seems kind of boring and like a bunch of ‘nonsense’ at first but given the fact that he was the first person to document the relationship between learning information and the amount of effort to learn it. The section also says that he discovered it was easier to learn information over a period of time instead of cramming all the information in at one time; which I found to be funny because he figured this out in the 1800’s but yet most peoples studying habits consist of sitting down all night long trying to learn everything you should have learned over a given amount of days.
I found Wurzburgs’ study on imageless thoughts to be interesting in the fact that it was never resolved it still brought up the question that if a thought occurs without an image to have been looked at prior then we can’t conclude that our thinking about a given task can be reduced back to the elements. It didn’t really elaborate much more on the topic but it did say we’d cover more about it in the behaviorism chapters which I find to be interesting so hopefully it better explains the concept.
One thing I wasn’t too fond of reading in this chapter, all though I can see its importance, was the mathematical equations. I think they should have been included because it’s obviously important to what we’re reading about, but I personally have a bad habit of skipping over any numbers or a jumbled mess of numbers and letters which is usually an algebraic equation. Like the recalculation of Webers Law being S= k log R; like I just don’t get or really care about equations like that; I read what is original equation was and then they just go and change it up so why even bother.
What did you read in the chapter that you think will be most useful to in understanding the history of psychology?
When reading about two-point thresholds, visual after images, Webers Law, I began to realize that all the areas that we now understand today, and have been able to study and branch off of to come to other conclusions or questions; where all founded because of someone’s curiosity and observations. Sometimes I wonder what I’m missing out on today or other people because we have everything right in front of us, in my opinion people aren’t as observant today as they use to be. All these theories and or experiments we know about today started with a curious mind, it’s just weird to think about that with visual images we experience that all the time and no one really thinks twice about it because it just happens for some reason; what if all these people had thought that way and just brushed it off instead of asking why something happens. I think ultimetly this chapter helped me understand the history of psychology in the sense that yes it is complicated and confusing but maybe in some aspects it’s as simple as being more observant of your surroundings and asking yourself questions that are outside of the box.
Chapter building off of the previous chapters
Chapter 4 built off of the prior two chapters in the sense that chapters 2 and 3 focus on the context on how modern psychology emerged during the 19th century ( and other eras) and how physiologists and physicians tried furthering the understanding of physiology, the nervous system and the brain. Chapter 4 plays off of these subjects from the prior chapters in the way that it examines the experimental physiology combined with philosophical inquiry in order to create a new experimental psychology; this chapter is more about the ‘new psychology’. I also thought it was interesting to read about which people from the prior chapters and this chapter knew or went to school with each other. Examples being Muller and Wundt studying in Berlin together.
What topic would you like to learn more about? Why?
I would like to learn more about apperception and apprehended, I get what the book was trying to say on a basic level but I think doing more research on it would give me a better understand of exactly what is meant by the two terms.
What ideas did you have while reading the chapter?
One idea I had while reading about Ernst Weber and his two-point Threshold was that in my mind his discoveries are more scientific, but I can see how if he hadn’t thought of this two-point threshold, which are actually mental perceptions then someone might not have come along and looked at it in a psychological kind of way. Or perhaps the fact that our mental and physical events could be related mathematically, this reminds me of weight lifting and resistance bands; with weights for the most part you can tell a difference between a 5lb and a 35lb dumbbell but with a resistance band, unless you know what the colors mean; you can’t always tell the difference between certain bands; and until you realize that you have the highest resistance you were still able to do the that band. So what I was thinking her was sometimes do we psych ourselves out just because we mentally get scared because of the way something looks- obviously.
Once you are done with your post make list of the terms and terminology you used in your post.
Ernst Weber, Two-point threshold, experimental physiology, philosophical, new psychology, visual after images, Webers Law, apperception, apprehended, imageless thoughts, nonsense syllables,

I enjoyed reading about James McKeen Cattell. It was interesting to see that he was not all that impressed with Wundt’s laboratory, which was probably the most prestigious laboratory in the world at that time. When I read about how he was unimpressed with Wundt, and also that he had worked with G. Stanley Hall, I began to think about how we view famous psychologists as well as any famous person of history. I started to think that these people were no more gifted or advanced than anyone else in history. Wundt and Hall were just like any other professor one could find at a university. This really got me thinking about how discoveries and research done by professors even here at UNI are not merely to pass time or to have fun, but to advance the field of psychology. I also thought about the fact that any one of my professors could make a discovery that would lead to his or her name being listed as one of the famous psychologists in a future edition of this book. I really started to see these individuals as human beings and less as simply historical figures
I also enjoyed the topic of Ernst Weber and the two-point thresholds. I think it was most interesting to me because Weber was not afraid to try something different than what everyone else was doing at the time. A lot of emphasis was put on visual and auditory sensation and not much on the other senses. Although I did find the idea of “sensory circles” to be very interesting, the main idea that I took away from this section was how if everyone simply followed everyone else’s ideas and interests how little the field of psychology would have progressed. Here, Weber experimented on something that had never been studied before and developed several theories that would develop into the field of kinesthesis.
The last thing that I found interesting was the section of key dates. It was a good section for me to read because dates and times hold little relevance for me. It was nice to be able to read about what was going on in the rest of the world and to be able to compare the developments in the world with the developments of psychology in Germany.
I did not like the section on mental chronometry. Although the concept of “reaction time” could was interesting at first, I began to zone out when equations get involved. It was not that I did not understand these simple equations, or that they were irrelevant. I just simply do not care for research or statistics at all. The minute I begin to read about them I tune out. I read the section and it made sense to me, I just realized that I did not care at all about the subject material. I felt like this information would not hold a lot of significance in anything important in the career direction that I am taking.
I think the whole chapter is important for understanding the history of psychology. This chapter changed the game. No longer was psychology a cluster of random questions and findings regarding philosophical questions or physical properties of the brain. It had developed into its own science, a new psychology. I also think that this is how this chapter built on the previous chapters. Experimental psychology was established because everything that had already happened in psychology had influenced and shaped the scientists in the field.

Terms: Two-point threshold, experimental psychology, New Psychology, Cattell, Wundt

It was very interesting reading this chapter because I found so many little tid bits really interesting. But they were all pretty small and not a whole lot of information on them within the book. This chapter seemed to have a good flow from topic to topic though, this is in comparison to the chapter about biology. It's really cool to look back on the things you have learned through other psychology classes, like the fact that Wundt is the "Father of Modern Psychology". I used to just take that as a fact and didn't think much else about it. But now after reading this chapter, I understand the he was very set on making psychology a comparable science by changing the way experiments were conducted. Instead of doing experiments in your head, or just one at a time, Wundt would set up experiments just like other sciences did.
I really liked Weber's law. I thought that the way that is was tested was genius and is totally relate-able by everyone. Some experiments done today are very specific and hard to relate to, but finding the threshold of change in weight is something that everyone can relate to. I thought that finding the JND (Just noticeable difference) was very clever and for it's time, revolutionary. I found this interesting and I would also so that this was the most important part of the chapter. This law helped lay the foundation of Wundt making psychology a testable science, and really just solidifying it in the scientific field.
With my previous paragraph being said, the second thing I found important was the conception of "New Psychology". This could also be the most important part of this chapter in relation to psychology. This declaration of psychology being a science has shaped my life. The experimental study of psychology is what most interests me and is what I am looking into for further education. This cementment of a science is why I am here at college. But back to what it was that Wundt actually came up with. The idea of "immediate" consciousness and "mediate" consciousness was really well explained in this book. I think it is important to recognize the difference between experiencing something, and then experiencing something through another thing.

One thing I didn't like about this chapter is that I had read it about a week ago and didn't remember a single thing to write about. So I had to reread the chapter. I guess it's nothing about the chapter, but nothing stood out so drastically that I just sat down and had a million things to write about.

I really just liked that this chapter showed the steps of how psychology became a science. I'm very glad that Psychology isn't on the same level as philosophy in the sense that psychology can be tested, and not just mentally debated.

Terms: Wundt, Immediate Consciousness, Mediate Consciousness, Experiments, Psychology, Modern Psychology, Weber's Law, Philosophy.

One thing in this chapter that I found very interesting was Weber’s study of the two point threshold. This was a very simple experiment with complicated ideas and questions built up behind it. The two point threshold experiment was like the beginning of finding creative ways to measure mental events. I found his theory about sensory circles very interesting as well, and even though I know the nervous system is far more complicated than that, it seems rather believable. It is very interesting to think about which parts of the body would have a very low two point thresholds and evolutionarily or otherwise, why that might be.
I also found the letters from James McKeen Cattell to his parents from Wunt’s laboratory to be interesting. I have always wondered what it would be like to have been a young scientist pioneering a new field. He spoke of having to make and continually fix the apparatuses used in measuring for his experiments. It would be very difficult to not only carry on good research and come up with good research questions but also make up a new machine each time you needed to measure something different. Something like the tenth of a second it takes to make soft iron magnetic as opposed to it happening instantaneously seems so trivial to me, but it seems to have mattered a great deal to Cattell.
Imageless thought and conscious attitudes also caught my attention in this chapter. It is a very interesting idea and I find it hard to separate my thoughts from images and past events in my head. I am not sure I fully understand this concept, but I also believe that Marbe was right in saying you cannot fully break all thought processes down into elements. One can think about a decision or a judgment not accompanied by an image, but at least for me, it seems like there are always images of some sort in there. They may not be at all associated with the judgment being made, but I am always thinking of things.
I did not enjoy reading, in the beginning of the chapter, about the history of education in Germany. It was very long and dry, and while I understand now that a German university was the place to be if you really wanted to push your education at that point in history, the author could have presented the bulk of the information in one much shorter paragraph.
I think the two point threshold section in this chapter was most helpful for me in understanding the history of psychology. I believe this because this experiment is done here at UNI in the Anatomy and Physiology 2 lab. Having already done an experiment myself, learning about its origin and the context of the situation really helps me to understand why the experiment was done and helps to put me in the researcher’s shoes a little bit as opposed to looking at the situation like it is behind glass in a museum. I am a very hands on learner, so having experienced the experiment Weber was conducting helps to make it more real to me.

Some ideas I had while reading:
In going through the history of psychology, are we going to read about the Holocaust? Psychology was, as far as I have been told, largely affected by studies done on prisoners during this time in history, and even if this is not the case, it was such a large event in history, I cannot see how the field wouldn’t be affected.
In reading about Weber’s two point threshold, what would he have said about the possibility of hitting the edge of two sensory circles? If this is the case, would it not make it seem as though the threshold is very small when indeed it might not be? I wonder if this thought went through Weber’s mind.
I would like to read more about imageless thought, the studies done by Herman Ebbinghaus using nonsense syllables and serial learning, Muller’s expansion on this research, including the memory drum.
Terms: Weber, two point threshold, mental events, sensory circles, James McKeen Cattell, Wunt, Imageless thought, conscious attitudes, Karl Marbe

The first thing I found interesting about this chapter was Ernst Weber's work on two-point thresholds. This was a technique used to measure tactile sensitivity, where a device with two points would touch a person's skin. The device would change the distance between the points and would also be used on different parts on the body. Ernst studied how far apart the points had to be before the person who was being touched would feel that they were two separate points. On the thumb, for example, the points did not need to be very far apart for them to be felt as two points. This is because that is an area of high sensitivity. On areas of lower sensitivity, such as the shoulder, it took a much larger distance for the person to feel the points as two instead of one.

Weber believed that the difference in feeling resulted from differing sizes of sensory circles. These were areas of the skin that used a shared nerve, branched out by fibers, to detect senses. If the two points on felt like one, that was because that area of skin all shared one nerve. If the point felt like two, then that area had several different nerves.

I think this research is interesting because we did this experiment when I was in school. We would have one person put two points of a compass on our skin and tell them when it felt like one and when it felt like two. I was reminded of this while reading this section. I think it is interesting that Weber discovered a way to actually measure the sensitivity of an area in a scientific way that can be replicated. Even though his theory about sensory circles was later proved wrong, this gave people a foundation to work off of and improve on. This piece of research generated more research that led to accepted theories.

Another section I found interesting was the part on the immediate conscious experience conducted by Wilhelm Wundt. By immediate, Wundt meant that the experience was achieved firsthand. You feel the snow on your face, you don't see on TV that it's snowing. Wundt wanted to study immediate conscious experiences in his lab. The problem with doing this is that, while you can feel the experience and remember it, it is hard to describe it to another person or compare two people's experiences. Wundt needed to use some sort of introspection, but he did not want to use self-observation. Self-Observation relies heavily on memories, which can be inaccurate. Internal perception was used instead. Internal perception is like self-observation, but you respond immediately to stimuli that are being controlled. Wundt and his researchers would observe the events and respond automatically and without biasing the results. This data could only be considered valid, however, if they could replicate the results. This meant that only certain experiences that were very specific could be measured.

This section was interesting to me because of the difficulties Wundt faced. These are difficulties that most psychologists face. You can't get inside a person's mind and see what they are thinking, you have to get them to tell you themselves. This can be hard because people may not be able to describe what they are experiencing or they may not want to tell you. With Wundt, the people were willing to share their experiences, it was just hard to define them and compare them to others. I also like that Wundt knew even then that memories were inaccurate sometimes and were not a reliable way of making observations and collecting data. Most people even today think that their memory is infallible and that everything they remember actually happened. I am taking Research Methods right now and we are discussing validity and how your experiment isn't valid if other people can't replicate it and achieve the same results, so that part stuck with me as well.

I was surprised to learn that there were many inaccuracies that circulated about Wilhelm Wundt. These were believed to be true even 30 or 40 years ago. These inaccuracies included that he founded the first school of psychology, that his goal was the analyze the mind into its elements, that cultural psychology was just his hobby, etc. These came about for several reasons. One is that, while Wundt wrote a lot of books, only some of them were published in English. This means that those of us who speak English do not have the whole picture. We see some parts of Wundt and what his ideas and beliefs were, but we are missing out on many others. Another reason is that a lot of the information we have on Wundt comes from E.G. Boring. Boring got most of his information from Titchener, who only worked with Wundt for two years. What Wundt believed in those two years might have been significantly different from what he believed when he started out and when he was older. We are only getting a small piece of a very large picture. Titchener also exaggerated portions of Wundt's work and ignored other areas.

This section surprised me, because we believe that what we read about history is accurate. We might think that it is slanted a little one way or another, based on the author's experiences or who it was written for, but we believe it is an accurate portrayal. To think that for 100 years or so we had inaccurate information about one of psychology's founders seems crazy to me. Especially since the information was gathered by Boring, who we consider to be a reliable and trustworthy person. Boring's source was Titchener, who we also expect to be someone we can count on for information. I think the main reason that we held these inaccuracies for so long was that the information we were given wasn't put into context for us. Titchener told Boring what Wundt believed or what he was like, but he didn't emphasize that this information was only based off a two year span during which they worked together. I think that if this had been put more clearly we might have taken the information with a grain of salt. I also think that most people didn't realize that Wundt had other works that just weren't printed in English. If you think you have all his works, than it is easier to make an assumption about a person than if you know that pieces are missing.

One thing that I was not very interested in with this chapter was the part on Fechner's Psychophysics. Fechner believed that sensations could be measured by assuming that jnd's (just noticeably differences) were subjectively equal in magnitude. This means that the weights of 30g and 33g are just noticeably different as are the weights of 60g and 66g. Because the weight is more in the second set the difference must be more as well before it is noticed. The absolute threshold is the point when the sensation is first noticed. The absolute threshold is where the scale would begin. Then it would increase until another difference is perceived. This is called the difference thresholds. This theory was challenged by his colleagues almost at once, and was found only to be true under specific circumstances.

I did not find this section to be very interesting because I don't feel like I have any use for this information. I don't need to know when I will feel a difference in weight, or how to classify when I feel different perceptions. I would rather focus on things that apply to me and that I can use in my life.

This chapter builds on the previous chapters in that it continues to talk about the scientific developments that are being made. In this chapter we left philosophy and transitioned into psychology. All the experiments in the chapter either happened as a result of this transition or helped to create a transition. Thinking about perception leads us to psychology rather than philosophy. We are, in this chapter, starting to think about the mind and what happens inside of it.

I would like to learn more about Fechner's life. He went blind after looking at the sun for to long for his experiments. This exacerbated an existing mental illness and caused him to go crazy, but he found a way back to sanity and was even able to teach again. I want to learn more about what happened to him and how he was able to regain his sanity.

While reading this chapter I thought about the things I'd learned previously in school. We have learned a lot about Wundt in intro to psych, so he was familiar to me. I also learned a lot about Weber in Sociology. I conducted the two-point experiment in science class before, so I thought about the memories I have of doing those experiments during that section.

Weber, Two-point thresholds, tactile sensitivity, sensory circles, Wundt, immediate conscious experience, introspection, self-observation, internal perception, Titchener, Boring, Fechner, psychophysics, jnd, absolute threshold, difference threshold