A Source Book in the History of Psychology

by Herrnstein, Richard J.

• ISBN13: 9780674824102
• ISBN10: 0674824105
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1965-06-01
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

This is a source book unique in its scope, clarity, and general interest. Its 116 excerpts range in time from Epicurus (ca. 300 B.C. ) to the turn of the present century and sometimes, when continuity requires, a little beyond (as to K. S. Lashley, 1929). It includes excerpts from Kepler (1604) on the inverted retinal image, Descartes (1650) on the soul's interaction with the machine of the body, Newton (1675) on the seven colors of the spectrum, Locke (1700) on association of ideas, Whytt (1751) on the spinal reflex, Weber (1834) on Weber's law, Darwin (1859) on evolution, Sechenov (1863) on reflexology, Hughlings Jackson (1884) on nervous dissolution, William James (1890) on associationism, Thorndike, Pavlov, Wertheimer, Watson, and 70 other great figures in the history of psychology.Arranged by topic rather than in the usual strict chronological order, each of the first fourteen chapters traces the development of one important subject in experimental and quantitative psychology. The final chapter discusses the history of thinking about the nature of psychology itself. The editors provide an introduction to each chapter and each excerpt, indicating the significance of the content to follow and establishing historical continuity.

Table of Contents

Sensory Specification

Aristotle on the Five Senses, ca. 350 B.C.

Isaac Newton on the Seven Colors of the Spectrum, 1675

Isaac Newton on the Color Circle, 1704

Thomas Young on Newton and the Excitation of the Retina by Colors, 1802

John Locke on Primary and Secondary Qualities, 1690

Charles Bell on Spinal Nerve Roots, 1811

Francois Magendie on Spinal Nerve Roots, 1822

Charles Bell on the Specificity of Sensory Nerves, 1811

Johannes Muffler on the Specific Energies of Nerves, 1838

Ernst Heinrich Weber on the Sense of Touch and Common Sensibility, 1846

Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz on the Three-Color Theory of Vision and Visual Specific Nerve Energies, 1860

Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz on the Resonance Theory of Hearing and Auditory Specific Nerve Energies, 1863

Max von Frey on the Four Cutaneous Senses, 1904

Edward Bradford Titchener on the Number of Sensory Elements, 1896

Psychophysics and Sensory Measurement

Pierre Bouguer on the Differential Threshold for Illumination, 1760

Charles Eduard Joseph Delezenne on the Differential Threshold for the Pitch of Tones, 1827

Ernst Heinrich Weber on Weber's Law, 1834

Gustav Theodor Fechner on Fechner's Law, 1860

Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau on the Measurement of Sensation, 1872

Joseph Remi Leopold Delboeuf on Sensed Contrast as the Measure of Sensation, 1883

Edward Bradford Titchener on the Sense Distance as the Measure of Sensation, 1905

The Retinal Image and the Orientation of Perceived Objects

Epicurus on Perception of Objects as Mediated by the Images that Emanate from the Objects, ca. 300 B.C.

Johannes Kepler on the Crystalline Humor as a Lens and the Inversion of the Retinal Image, 1604

William Molyneux on the Inverted Retinal Image, 1692

Johannes Miller on Subjective Visual Size and Position in Relation to the Retinal Image, 1826

George Malcolm Stratton on Visual Localization and the Inversion of the Retinal Image, 1897

The Visual Perception of Size and Distance

Rene Descartes on the Visual Perception of Size, Shape, and Distance, 1638

George Berkeley on the Visual Perception of Distance and Magnitude, 1709

Charles Wheatstone on Binocular Parallax and the Stereoscopic Perception of Depth, 1838

Nativistic and Empiristic Theories of Space Perception

Immanuel Kant on the A Priori Nature of Space, 1781

Rudolf Hermann Lotze on Local Signs in Their Relation to the Perception of Space, 1852

Ernst Heinrich Weber on Sensory Circles and Cutaneous Space Perception, 1852

Ewald Hering on the Nativistic Theory of Visual Space Perception, 1864

Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz on Empiricism in Perception, 1866

Max Wertheimer on the Phi Phenomenon as an Example of Nativism in Perception, 1912

Objective Reference

George Berkeley on the Role of Association in the Objective Reference of Perception, 1709

Thomas Reid on the Distinction between Sensation and Perception, 1785

Thomas Brown on Sensation, Perception, and the Associative Explanation of Objective Reference, 1820

John Stuart Mill on the Permanent Possibilities of Sensation, 1865

Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz on Perception and the Unconscious Conclusion, 1866

Edward Bradford Titchener on the Context Theory of Meaning, 1910

Edwin Bissell Holt on Response as the Essence of Cognition, 1915

Max Wertheimer on Objects as Immediately Given to Consciousne

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