Viktor Sarris – författare

One response to questions about the future of psychology is to attempt an answer to another question: What have we learned from psychology’s past? Originally published in 1984, reissued here with a new preface, this book presents a collection of original papers by authorities with international reputations in various fields of psychology at the time. Contributors were invited to appraise the past of their own research specialties, with an eye toward the future. The emphasis is upon the more scientific areas of psychological research.

The catalyst for this book was an international conference honoring Gustav A. Lienert held in 1981. Psychologists from both Western and Eastern Europe, North and South America, and representing fields as different as psychophysics is from clinical psychology, or animal memory from human decision making, described their research and argued the prospects for the future of experimental psychology. Most of the arguments found their way into this book where readers could confront the different viewpoints at the time and those reading it today can see how accurate their predictions were for the future.

One response to questions about the future of psychology is to attempt an answer to another question: What have we learned from psychology’s past? Originally published in 1984, reissued here with a new preface, this book presents a collection of original papers by authorities with international reputations in various fields of psychology at the time. Contributors were invited to appraise the past of their own research specialties, with an eye toward the future. The emphasis is upon the more scientific areas of psychological research.

The catalyst for this book was an international conference honoring Gustav A. Lienert held in 1981. Psychologists from both Western and Eastern Europe, North and South America, and representing fields as different as psychophysics is from clinical psychology, or animal memory from human decision making, described their research and argued the prospects for the future of experimental psychology. Most of the arguments found their way into this book where readers could confront the different viewpoints at the time and those reading it today can see how accurate their predictions were for the future.

Relational Psychophysics in Humans and Animals offers a comprehensive and integrated overview of the often fragmented field of psychophysics. It introduces key concepts in psychophysics and clearly summarises and illustrates the central issues through telling examples. It combines empirical research and theoretical approaches from general psychophysics, animal psychophysics and human-infant psychophysics, to create a systematic comparison of these three key areas.

Through out, Viktor Sarris makes a strong case for more comparative psychophysical research across different species and across different stages of development. He presents original research and examines frame-of-reference models, behavioural psychophysics, developmental psychophysics, perceptual-cognitive psychophysics and evolutionary perspectives, to create an integrated framework for the direction of new research.

The book will be an invaluable aid for researchers in the fields of perception and psychophysics.

Relational Psychophysics in Humans and Animals offers a comprehensive and integrated overview of the often fragmented field of psychophysics. It introduces key concepts in psychophysics and clearly summarises and illustrates the central issues through telling examples. It combines empirical research and theoretical approaches from general psychophysics, animal psychophysics and human-infant psychophysics, to create a systematic comparison of these three key areas.

Through out, Viktor Sarris makes a strong case for more comparative psychophysical research across different species and across different stages of development. He presents original research and examines frame-of-reference models, behavioural psychophysics, developmental psychophysics, perceptual-cognitive psychophysics and evolutionary perspectives, to create an integrated framework for the direction of new research.

The book will be an invaluable aid for researchers in the fields of perception and psychophysics.

Max Wertheimer (1880-1943), a pioneer of 20th-century psychology, had a major influence on the development of cognitive psychology, especially the psychology of perception and of productive thinking. His work "Productive Thinking" (1945), written in New York, is regarded as a milestone in creativity research. Consisting of many examples of creative thought processes - from geometric tasks to socio-psychologically relevant conflict resolutions to the development of Einstein''s theory of relativity - the book leads the reader through a multi-faceted body of thought in the psychology of thinking.

Nur wenige Texte in der Psychologie sind auch nach einem Zeitraum von einem Dreivierteljahrhundert von Bedeutung geblieben – das Werk Produktives Denken von Max Wertheimer stellt eine solche Ausnahme dar. Mit diesem Buch, das gleichzeitig eine Streitschrift im Sinne der Gestaltpsychologie ist, werden die „produktiven“ (einsichtsvollen) versus automatischen (unreflektierten) Denkprozesse für viele Lebensbereiche herausgestellt. Neben schulrelevanten Beispielen ist auch das Kapitel über die Entstehung der Relativitätstheorie von Albert Einstein von bleibendem Interesse für die heutige Generation von Psychologen, Pädagogen, Hirnforschern, Neuroinformatikern und Philosophen. Wertheimer hatte dabei die einzigartige Möglichkeit, Einsteins Denken im direkten Gespräch zu analysieren. Ein einführender Kommentar von Viktor Sarris für die vorliegende Neuherausgabe der deutschen Übersetzung des amerikanischen Originals bietet eine ausführliche Darstellung der Entstehungsgeschichte und Rezeption von Wertheimers Werk.