Introduction

Experimental psychology refers to work done by those who apply

experimental methods to psychological study and the processes that underlie it.
Experimental psychologists employ human participants and animal subjects to
study a great many topics, including (among others) sensation & perception,
memory, cognition, learning, motivation, emotion; developmental processes,
social psychology, and the neural substrates of all of these (Pashler, 2011)
Experimental psychology utilizes scientific methods to research the mind and
behavior. While students are often required to take experimental psychology
courses during undergraduate and graduate school, you should think about this
subject as a methodology rather than a singular area within psychology. Many
of these techniques are also used by other subfields of psychology to conduct
research

on

everything

from

childhood

development

to

social

issues.Experimental psychology is important because the findings discovered by

psychologists play a vital role in our understanding of the human mind and
behavior. By better understanding exactly what makes people tick,
psychologists and other mental health professionals are able to explore new
approaches to treating psychological distress and mental illness. The following
are the major pioneers of experimental psychology; Wundt, Hermann, Watson
and Fechner.

Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt (16 August 1832 31 August 1920) was a
German physician, physiologist, philosopher, and professor, known today as one
of the founding figures of modern psychology. Wundt, who noted psychology
as a science apart from philosophy and biology, was the first person to ever call
himself a psychologist. He is widely regarded as the "father of experimental
psychology. In 1879, Wundt founded the first formal laboratory for
psychological research at the University of Leipzig. This marked psychology as
an independent field of study. By creating this laboratory he was able to
establish psychology as a separate science from other topics. He also formed the
first academic journal for psychological research, Philosophische Studien (from
1881 to 1902), set up to publish the Institute's research (Hergenhahn, 2009)
Wilhelm Wundt opened the Institute for Experimental Psychology at the
University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879. This was the first laboratory
dedicated to psychology, and its opening is usually thought of as the beginning
of modern psychology. Indeed, Wundt is often regarded as the father of
psychology.
Wundt was important because he separated psychology from philosophy
by analyzing the workings of the mind in a more structured way, with the
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emphasis being on objective measurement and control. This laboratory became

a focus for those with a serious interest in psychology, first for German
philosophers and psychology students, then for American and British students
as well. All subsequent psychological laboratories were closely modeled in
their early years on the Wundt model. Wundt's background was in physiology,
and this was reflected in the topics with which the Institute was concerned, such
as the study of reaction times and sensory processes and attention. For example,
participants would be exposed to a standard stimulus (e.g. a light or the sound of
a metronome) and asked to report their sensations.
Wundt's aim was to record thoughts and sensations, and to analyze them
into their constituent elements, in much the same way as a chemist analyses
chemical compounds, in order to get at the underlying structure. The school of
psychology founded by Wundt is known as voluntarism, the process of
organizing the mind.
During his academic career Wundt trained 186 graduate students (116 in
psychology). This is significant as it helped disseminate his work. Indeed, parts
of Wundt's theory were developed and promoted by his one-time student,
Edward Titchener, who described his system as Structuralism, or the analysis of
the basic elements that constitute the mind. Wundt wanted to study the structure
of the human mind (using introspection). Wundt believed in reductionism. That

is, he believed consciousness could be broken down (or reduced) to its basic
elements without sacrificing any of the properties of the whole.
Wundt argued that conscious mental states could be scientifically studied
using introspection. Wundts introspection was not a causal affair, but a highly
practiced form of self-examination. He trained psychology students to make
observations that were biased by personal interpretation or previous experience,
and used the results to develop a theory of conscious thought. Highly trained
assistants would be given a stimulus such as a ticking metronome and would
reflect on the experience. They would report what the stimulus made them think
and feel. The same stimulus, physical surroundings and instructions were given
to each person.
Wundt's method of introspection did not remain a fundamental tool of
psychological experimentation past the early 1920's. His greatest contribution
was to show that psychology could be a valid experimental science. Therefore,
one way Wundt contributed to the development of psychology was to do his
research in carefully controlled conditions, i.e. experimental methods. This
encouraged other researchers such as the behaviorists to follow the same
experimental approach and be more scientific. However, today psychologists
(e.g. Skinner) argue that introspection was not really scientific even if the
methods used to introspect were. Skinner claims the results of introspection are

subjective and cannot be verified because only observable behavior can be

objectively measured.
Wundt concentrated on three areas of mental functioning; thoughts,
images and feelings. These are the basic areas studied today in cognitive
psychology. This means that the study of perceptual processes can be traced
back to Wundt. Wundts work stimulated interest in cognitive psychology. On
the basis of his work, and the influence it had on psychologists who were to
follow him, Wundt can be regarded as the founder of experimental psychology,
so securing his place in the history of psychology. At the same time, Wundt
himself believed that the experimental approach was limited in scope, and that
other methods would be necessary if all aspects of human psychology were to
be investigated.
Hermann Von Helmholtz
Hermann Helmholtz was one of the few scientists to master two
disciplines: medicine and physics. He conducted breakthrough research on the
nervous system, as well as the functions of the eye and ear. In physics, he is
recognized (along with two other scientists) as the author of the concept of
conservation of energy. Helmholtz was born into a poor but scholarly family;
his father was an instructor of philosophy and literature at a gymnasium in his
hometown of Potsdam, Germany. At home, his father taught him Latin, Greek,

French, Italian, Hebrew, and Arabic, as well as the philosophical ideas of

Immanuel Kant and J. G. Fichte (who was a friend of the family). With this
background, Helmholtz entered school with a wide scope of knowledge.
Though he expressed an interest in the sciences, his father could not afford to
send him to a university; instead, he was persuaded to study medicine, an area
that would provide him with government aid. In return, Helmholtz was expected
to use his medical skills for the good of the governmentparticularly in army
hospitals.
Helmholtz entered the Friedrich Wilhelm Institute in Berlin in 1898,
receiving his M.D. four years later. Upon graduation he was immediately
assigned to military duty, practicing as a surgeon for the Prussian army. After
several years of active duty he was discharged, free to pursue a career in
academia. In 1848 he secured a position as lecturer at the Berlin Academy of
Arts. Just a year later he was offered a professorship at the University of
Konigsberg, teaching physiology. Over the next 22 years he moved to the
universities at Bonn and Heidelberg, and it was during this time that he
conducted his major works in the field of medicine.
Helmholtz began to study the human eye, a task that was all the more
difficult for the lack of precise medical equipment. In order to better understand
the function of the eye he invented the ophthalmoscope, a device used to
observe the retina. Invented in 1851, the ophthalmoscopein a slightly
modified formis still used by modern eye specialists. Helmholtz also
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designed a device used to measure the curvature of the eye called an

ophthalmometer. Using these devices he advanced the theory of three-color
vision first proposed by Thomas Young. This theory, now called the YoungHelmholtz theory, helps ophthalmologists to understand the nature of color
blindness and other afflictions.
Intrigued by the inner workings of the sense organs, Helmholtz went on
to study the human ear. Being an expert pianist, he was particularly concerned
with the way the ear distinguished pitch and tone. He suggested that the inner
ear is structured in such a way as to cause resonations at certain frequencies.
This allowed the ear to discern similar tones, overtones, and timbres, such as an
identical note played by two different instruments.
Hermann von Helmhotz (The Library of Congress. Reproduced by
permission.)
In 1852 Helmholtz conducted what was probably his most important
work as a physician: the measurement of the speed of a nerve impulse. It had
been assumed that such a measurement could never be obtained by science,
since the speed was far too great for instruments to catch. Some physicians even
used this as proof that living organisms were powered by an innate "vital force"
rather than energy. Helmholtz disproved this by stimulating a frog's nerve first
near a muscle and then farther away; when the stimulus was farther from the
muscle, it contracted just a little slower. After a few simple calculations

Helmholtz announced the impulse velocity within the nervous system to be

about one-tenth the speed of sound.
After completing much of the work on sensory physiology that had
interested him, Helmholtz found himself bored with medicine. In 1868 he
decided to return to his first lovephysical science. However, it was not until
1870 that he was offered the physics chair at the University of Berlin and only
after it had been turned down by Gustav Kirchhoff. By that time, Helmholtz had
already completed his groundbreaking research on energetics.
The concept of conservation of energy was introduced by Julius Mayer in
1842, but Helmholtz was unaware of Mayer's work. Helmholtz conducted his
own research on energy, basing his theories upon his previous experience with
muscles. It could be observed that animal heat was generated by muscle action,
as well as chemical reactions within a working muscle. Helmholtz believed that
this energy was derived from food and that food got its energy from the Sun. He
proposed that energy could not be created spontaneously, nor could it vanishit
was either used or released as heat. This explanation was much clearer and more
detailed than the one offered by Mayer, and Helmholtz is often considered the
true originator of the concept of conservation of energy.
Helmholtz had been a sickly child; even throughout his adult life he was
plagued by migraine headaches and dizzy spells. In 1894, shortly after a lecture
tour of the United States, he fainted and fell, suffering a concussion. He never
completely recovered, dying of complications several months later.
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John B. Watson was a pioneering psychologist who played an important role in

developing behaviorism. Watson believed that psychology should primarily be
scientific observable behavior. He is remembered for his research on the
conditioning process as well as the Little Albert experiment, in which he
demonstrated that a child could be conditioned to fear a previously neutral
stimulus. His research also revealed that this fear could be generalized to other
similar objects.
John B. Watson
John B. Watson was born January 9, 1878 and He died on September 25,
1958.John B. Watson grew up in South Carolina. While he later described
himself as a poor student, he entered Furman University at the age of 16. After
graduating five years later with a master's degree, he began studying psychology
at the University of Chicago. Watson earned his Ph.D. Watson began teaching
psychology at John Hopkins University in 1908. In 1913, he gave a seminal
lecture at Columbia University titled Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It,
which essentially detailed the behaviorist position. According to John Watson,
psychology should be the science of observable behavior. "Psychology as the
behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science.
Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection forms

no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent
upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of
consciousness," he explained (1913).
Watson published his groundbreaking article on behaviorism in 1913,
Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It, often referred to as The Behaviorist
Manifesto. Because there was little evidence of a specific behavior mechanism
in his theory, many of Watsons colleagues did not accept his beliefs as
scientifically valid. His 1919 text, Psychology from the Standpoint of a
Behaviorist, was more readily accepted, though Watsons behaviorist theories
were not fully adopted into academia and mainstream psychology for another
decade. Watsons behaviorist theory focused not on the internal emotional and
psychological conditions of people, but rather on their external and outward
behaviors. He believed that a persons physical responses provided the only
insight into internal actions. He spent much of his career applying his theories to
the study of child development and early learning.
Watson conducted several experiments exploring emotional learning in
children. One of his most famous experiments was the Little Albert experiment,
which explored classical conditioning using a nine month-old baby boy. In the
experiment, Watson demonstrated that Little Albert could be conditioned to fear
something, like a white rat, when no such fear existed initially. Watson
combined a loud noise with the appearance of the rat, in order to create fear in
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the baby. The experiment was highly controversial and would likely be
considered unethical by today's research standards.
In 1928, Watson published Psychological Care of Infant and Child, in
which he cautioned against providing children with too much affection, and
instead endorsed the practice of treating children like miniature adults. He
believed that excessive early attachments could contribute to a dependent,
needy personality in adulthood, emphasizing that people do not receive
excessive comfort in adulthood and therefore should not receive it in childhood.
He specifically argued against thumb-sucking, coddling, and excessive
sentimentality, and he emphasized that parents should be open and honest with
children about sexuality. While the book sold well in its first year, some found
Watsons unsentimental advice chilling. Two years after the books publication,
Watson's wife published an article entitled "I am a Mother of Behaviorist Sons"
in Parents magazine that encouraged the displays of affection that her husband
admonished. Watson's behaviorism has had a long-lasting impact on the natureversus-nurture debate, and his work illuminated the strong role early
experiences play in shaping personality. Watson paved thw way for subsequent
behaviorists, such as B.F. Skinner, and behaviorism remains a popular approach
for animal training. Some mental health professionals use behaviorist principles
to condition away phobias and fears. In addition, advertisers frequently use
behaviorist conditioning to encourage consumers to purchase products.
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Watson remained at John Hopkins University until 1920. He had an affair

with Rayner, divorced his first wife and was then asked by the university to
resign his position. Watson later married Rayner and the two remained together
until her death in 1935. After leaving his academic position, Watson began
working for an advertising agency where he remained until he retired in 1945.
During the later part of his life, John Watson's already poor relationships with
his children grew progressively worse. He spent his last years living a reclusive
life on a farm in Connecticut. Shortly before his death, he burned many of his
unpublished personal papers and letters.
Watson set the stage for behaviorism, which soon rose to dominate
psychology. While behaviorism began to lose its hold after 1950, many of the
concepts and principles are still widely used today. Conditioning and behavior
modification are still widely used in therapy and behavioral training to help
clients change problematic behaviors and develop new skills.

Gustav Theodor Fechner 1801-1887

Gustav Theodor Fechner is a German experimental psychologist who
founded psychophysics and formulated Fechner's law, a landmark in the
emergence of psychology as an experimental science. Gustav Theodor Fechner
was born on April 19, 1801, at Gross-Srchen, Lower Lusatia. He earned his
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degree in biological science in 1822 at the University of Leipzig and taught

there until his death on Nov. 18, 1887. Having developed an interest in
mathematics and physics, he was appointed professor of physics in 1834.
About 1839 Fechner had a breakdown, having injured his eyes while
experimenting on afterimages by gazing at the sun. His response was to isolate
himself from the world for three years. During this period there was an increase
in his interest in philosophy. Fechner believed that everything is endowed with a
soul; nothing is without a material basis; mind and matter are the same essence,
but seen from different sides. Moreover, he believed that, by means of
psychophysical experiments in psychology, the foregoing assertions were
demonstrated and proved. He authored many books and monographs on such
diverse subjects as medicine, esthetics, and experimental psychology, affixing
the pseudonym Dr. Mises to some of them.
The ultimate philosophic problem which concerned Fechner, and to
which his psychophysics was a solution, was the perennial mind-body problem.
His solution has been called the identity hypothesis: mind and body are not
regarded as a real dualism, but are different sides of one reality. They are
separated in the form of sensation and stimulus; that is, what appears from a
subjective viewpoint as the mind, appears from an external or objective
viewpoint as the body. In the expression of the equation of Fechner's law
(sensation intensity = C log stimulus intensity), it becomes evident that the
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dualism is not real. While this law has been criticized as illogical, and for not
having universal applicability, it has been useful in research on hearing and
vision.
Fechner's most significant contribution was made in his Elemente der
Psychophysik (1860), a text of the "exact science of the functional relations, or
relations of dependency, between body and mind," and in his Revision der
Hauptpunkte der Psychophysik (1882). Upon these works mainly rests Fechner's
fame as a psychologist, for in them he conceived, developed, and established
new methods of mental measurement, and hence the beginning of quantitative
experimental psychology. The three methods of measurement were the method
of just-noticeable differences, the method of constant stimuli, and the method of
average error. According to the authorities, the method of constant stimuli,
called also the method of right and wrong cases, has become the most important
of the three methods. It was further developed by G. E. Mller and F. M. Urban.
William James, who did not care for quantitative analysis or the statistical
approach in psychology, dismisses the psychophysic law as an "idol of the den,"
the psychological outcome of which is nothing. However, the verdict of other
appraisers is kinder, for they honor Fechner as the founder of experimental
psychology.
References

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Fraisse, P, Piaget, J, & Reuchlin, M. (1963). Experimental psychology: its scope

and method. 1. History and method. New York: Basic Books.
Hacking, Ian (1988). "Telepathy: Origins of Randomization in Experimental
Design". Isis. 79 (A Special Issue on Artifact and Experiment): 42751
Hergenhahn, B.R. (2009) An Introduction to the History of Psychology.
Cengage Learning.
Khaleefa, Omar (1999). "Who Is the Founder of Psychophysics and
Experimental Psychology?". American Journal of Islamic Social
Sciences. 16: 2.
Pashler, H. (Ed)(2002) Stevens' Handbook of Experimental Psychology; New
York: Wiley
Peirce, C.S.; Jastrow, J. (1885). "On Small Differences in Sensation". Memoirs
of the National Academy of Sciences. 3: 7383.

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