文档介绍：—CHAPTER 8
Early Developments in Physiology
and the Rise of Experimental Psychology
Scientific achievements of the 17th and 18th cen- the error had not been due to petence but to
turies allowed ancient philosophical questions to be individual differences among observers. Bessel set out
examined in new, more precise ways. Much had been pare his observations with those of his col-
learned about the physical world, and it was now leagues and indeed found systematic differences
time to direct scientific method toward the study of among them. This was the first reaction-time study,
the mechanisms by which e to know the and it was used to correct differences among ob-
physical world. Basically the question was, By what servers. This was done by calculating personal equa-
mechanisms do empirical e to be repre- tions. For example, if second was added to
sented in consciousness? Everything from sense per- Kinnebrook’s reaction time his observations could be
ception to motor reactions was studied intensely, and equated with Maskelyne’s. Bessel found systematic
this study eventually gave birth to experimental psy- differences among individuals and a way pen-
chology. If we are interested in discovering the ori- sate for those differences, but his findings did not
gins of psychology we need to go back to the early have much impact on the early development of
Greeks. If, however, we are interested in the origins experimental psychology. As we will see, the early
of experimental psychology, we must look to early de- experimental psychologists were interested in learn-
velopments in physiology, anatomy, neurology, and ing what was true about human consciousness in gen-
even astronomy. eral; therefore individual differences found among
experimental subjects were generally attributed to
sloppy methodology. Later in psychology’s history
Individual Differences (after Darwin), the study of individual differences
was to be of supreme importa