David J. Murray - Böcker

With an emphasis on developments taking place in Germany during the nineteenth century, this book provides in-depth examinations of the key contributions made by the pioneers of scientific psychology. Their works brought measurement and mathematics into the study of the mind.Through unique analysis of measurement theory by Whewell, mathematical developments by Gauss, and theories of mental processes developed by Herbart, Weber, Fechner, Helmholtz, Müller, Delboeuf and others, this volume maps the beliefs, discoveries, and interactions that constitute the very origins of psychophysics and its offspring Experimental Psychology. Murray and Link expertly combine nuanced understanding of linguistic and historic factors to identify theoretical approaches to relating physicalintensities and psychological magnitudes. With an eye to interactions and influences on future work in the field, the volume illustrates the important legacy that mathematical developments in the nineteenth century have for twentieth and twenty-first century psychologists.This detailed and engaging account fills a deep gap in the history of psychology. The Creation of Scientific Psychology will appeal to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of history of psychology, psychophysics, scientific, and mathematical psychology.

This is a revised edition of "E.H. Weber: The Sense of Touch". The title has been broadened to reflect the fact that Weber explored all the skin senses - and indeed the muscle sense and that mysterious entity "the common feeling". The introduction has been expanded to include further information on Weber's life and times, and on recent research relevant to Weber's own work. The translations of Weber's main works of psychological interest "De Tactu" and "Der Tastsinn und das Gemeingefuehl" contain only minor changes, but the footnotes have been updated.; The reader will find here much more than those topics for which Weber is best known - the two-point threshold, experiments on weight discrimination, and a statement of what is now called Weber's Law. Weber also remarked on many aspects of sensory psychology - on left-right asymmetry in sensitivity, on visual resolution, the binocular combination of colours, the moon illusion, on summation, inhibition and adaptation in sensory systems, on the difference between simultaneous and successive presentations, on selective attention, the externalization of sensations and the difference between sensation and perception.

With an emphasis on developments taking place in Germany during the nineteenth century, this book provides in-depth examinations of the key contributions made by the pioneers of scientific psychology. Their works brought measurement and mathematics into the study of the mind.Through unique analysis of measurement theory by Whewell, mathematical developments by Gauss, and theories of mental processes developed by Herbart, Weber, Fechner, Helmholtz, Müller, Delboeuf and others, this volume maps the beliefs, discoveries, and interactions that constitute the very origins of psychophysics and its offspring Experimental Psychology. Murray and Link expertly combine nuanced understanding of linguistic and historic factors to identify theoretical approaches to relating physicalintensities and psychological magnitudes. With an eye to interactions and influences on future work in the field, the volume illustrates the important legacy that mathematical developments in the nineteenth century have for twentieth and twenty-first century psychologists.This detailed and engaging account fills a deep gap in the history of psychology. The Creation of Scientific Psychology will appeal to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of history of psychology, psychophysics, scientific, and mathematical psychology.

Originally published in 1987, this title is about theory construction in psychology. Where theories come from, as opposed to how they become established, was almost a no-man’s land in the history and philosophy of science at the time. The authors argue that in the science of mind, theories are particularly likely to come from tools, and they are especially concerned with the emergence of the metaphor of the mind as an intuitive statistician.In the first chapter, the authors discuss the rise of the inference revolution, which institutionalized those statistical tools that later became theories of cognitive processes. In each of the four following chapters they treat one major topic of cognitive psychology and show to what degree statistical concepts transformed their understanding of those topics.

Originally published in 1987, this title is about theory construction in psychology. Where theories come from, as opposed to how they become established, was almost a no-man’s land in the history and philosophy of science at the time. The authors argue that in the science of mind, theories are particularly likely to come from tools, and they are especially concerned with the emergence of the metaphor of the mind as an intuitive statistician.In the first chapter, the authors discuss the rise of the inference revolution, which institutionalized those statistical tools that later became theories of cognitive processes. In each of the four following chapters they treat one major topic of cognitive psychology and show to what degree statistical concepts transformed their understanding of those topics.