The Frog's Role in Psychological History

The Frog’s Role in Psychological History

By Hannah Grigorian and Ben Saad

The frog is iconic in the world of psychology.  It has been the subject of many tests and references. The frog is such an appealing subject for such tests as it has a long, pronounced nerve in the leg that is perfect to observe within experiments.  Luigi Galvani is perhaps to first person in the field of psychology to experiment with frogs, more specifically their legs.   The story has it that while Galvani was cutting open a frog’s leg on table used previously for static electricity, the metal scalpel that had picked up the charge made contact with the nerve ending, causing the frogs leg to twitch.  This gave birth to relationship between movement or energy and electricity. This was monumental in the understanding of how the body and muscles move. This opened up several new questions in the field of science and also psychology and led to his experiments in the 1780s where the connection between electricity and nerve activity was explored for treatment.

Herman Von Helmholtz continued Giovanni’s research in 1850. In his experiment, he demonstrated the subtractive reaction time method by subtracting the time it took from the electrical signal sent from the thigh to create the movement, from the time it took from the knee. Through this he was able to conclude that nerve conduction in was in fact a measureable unit, and it frogs it was about 27meters/second. However, when he tried to replicate this with humans he concluded that humans were too variable. This followed suit with his teacher Johannes Muller’s views that the messages sent throughout the human body would be too fast to ever measure.

The frog fascination spread and by 1904-1910 the frog pistol was gaining popularity. Invented by Emil Heinrich du Bois-Reymond this pistol was created in order to demonstrate nerve stimulation in the leg of the frog. When a frog leg was put onto a glass plate inside the contraption and the keys were pressed down the contact would make the frog muscled contract inside the pistol.

However, even before they were used to demonstrate the stimulation of nerves and the speed of electrical signals frogs were used as remedies for ailments. Dried frogs were used as amulets and worn around the neck in order to cure fits. Frogs have also been used as metaphors in the field of psychology. A term sometimes used is a frog in boiling water. This refers to several supposed experiments in the 19^th century where frogs were placed in water that was gradually heated to boiling. Some reports claimed that when the water is heated slowly enough, the frog takes no reflexive action to the heat; therefore it dies in the pot. While these exponents with frogs actually took place, science today generally considers the results to be untrue, and that frogs will try to escape water as it heats up. The term is used metaphorically to describe the principle in which people acclimate themselves to the subtle changes rather than realize that change is happening and do something about it.

 History of Psychology around Europe last Weekend

Picture: the City of Cork from on top of the Bell Tower, one of the highest points in the city.

For more information on some of the sites Cork, Ireland has to offer click the link below:

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ireland/county-cork/cork-city/sights

The Use of Empirical Data and Scientific Method in Psychology

Psychology, though not originally called that, began as a sector of philosophy because of the questions that philosophers often ask, the main one being, “Why are we the way we are?”  Historically, psychologists and philosophers would answer this with anecdotal evidence. For example, Franz Josef Gall as a child, noticed that a boy in his class who was exceptionally linguistic, had bulging eyes and through this, grew to believe that this boy’s eyes bulged because the front part of his brain was overdeveloped. Since the boy in his class had advanced language skills and bulging eyes, Gall made the jump that the front part of the brain was responsible for language.

Obviously nowadays, the psychological community would reject this type of anecdotal evidence. This is because we as psychologists and psychology students have shifted to a more empirical process of gathering data in order to support theories and hypotheses. John Locke was instrumental in creating this idea because he believed that knowledge comes from our senses and reflection as opposed to through logical conversation or arguments. Basically, he is saying that all knowledge comes from or is based on experience. Because of the popularity this idea gained, the method of research was an empirical approach, which is an approach to research that includes observing and experimenting in order to gather facts. 

During the late 1800’s psychology and psychological research was drastically changed when scientists like Wilhelm Wundt allowed for the marriage of philosophical theory and scientific methods, thus creating the systematic study of behavior, which we now call psychology. Wundt’s idea of structuralism brought the ideas of psychological theory to a laboratory setting where scientists could study aspects of human mind and behavior through experimental techniques, using empirical data to back up their observations. Using the scientific method, psychologists could hypothesize what they believed to be causing certain behavior (such as physical features of individual’s skulls) and gather data to either support that hypothesis or reject the hypothesis. Using the experimental method, we can learn so much more because even when theories are shown to be incorrect, we can acknowledge them as such and continue to study more options. That is part of the reason why psychology has come so far in the 20^th Century.

Today, there are very strict guidelines for how psychologists can conducts research. Using experimental methods, psychologists can more easily provide data that supports their claim as opposed to making statements that are not based on evidence. The field of psychology has heavily adopted the scientific method since it’s introduction in the late 1800’s and because of that, psychology has become a much more credible area of research in an attempt to understand human behavior.

                                                              Wilhelm Wundt, 1875

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/21st-century-aging/201101/empiricism-and-psychoanalytic-therapy  -  An article by Tamara McClintock Geenberg, concerning Empiricism and Psychoanalytic Theory

Nick Martin

Rebecca Carlone

Shellshock and Special Selection

By Olivia Foley and Christopher Sanchez

After arriving in London early on Sunday, struggling to stay awake all day, and finally getting a few hours of restless sleep Sunday night, work began bright and early Monday morning. Our first stop was the Wellcome Library, where we will all be spending much of our time researching our chosen psychologists; Chris will be doing Sir Cyril Burt and I will be doing Charles S. Myers. On Tuesday, our work began at the British Library where we received our readers’ passes. The library is beautiful and quite grand, and will be our other home away from home for the next 4 weeks as we continue our research. 

 http://www.camdenlock.net This is a link to Camden Market, where a few students walked around on the first day! It is similar to an American flea market, but with a spectacular and overwhelming amount of things to see.  There was even a restaurant called Shaka Zulu which serves meals that include crocodile steak and zebra meat.

                          (Picture of the inside of the Shaka Zulu restaurant.)

Charles S. Myers, co-founder of the British Psychological Society, was well known for his many accomplishments, one of which was head psychologist of the British Armies in France, and researching “shell shock”, also known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is something a person can experience, such as nightmares or flashbacks, after experiencing a very traumatic event. Myers wrote the first book on “shell shock” in 1915 and was convinced that this disorder could be treated, but after enduring endless amounts of rejection of his idea, he gave up.

                Sir Cyril Burt was also subject to many criticisms due to his work on eugenics.  Eugenics is the study or belief of improving the genetics of the human population.  Burt in particular focused his work on determining the IQ level on what should be considered “special” and what should be considered genius.   In 1913, the Mental Deficiency Act was passed which displaced disabled children out of standard public schools.  After the act was passed, while serving as a part time school psychologist at the University of Liverpool, Burt was given the position to select disabled students from local public schools and relocate them into special schools.  Near and after his death, Burt’s work was subject to much criticism involving the possible fabrication of data on his IQ tests.  It became known that some of Burt’s work involving notes and data were burned and possibly destroyed in a house fire.  Eugenics was also a subject that was more supported when Sir Cyril Burt entered the field, than during the time of his death.

Palm Reading as a Form of Public Psychology

Palm Reading as a Form of Public Psychology
By Hannah Grigorian and Christian Panier

                Yesterday, in our first official class we spoke a lot about “public psychology”. “Public psychology” is a field of pseudoscience based on theories with no real footing in fact. Examples given in “A History of Modern Psychology” include phrenology, physiognomy, mental healing, and mesmerism. To extend upon this idea we decided to look into what we consider to be a modern form of public psychology: palm reading.  Palm reading, like other forms of public psychology, still comes up in news stories, online how-to articles, and books as an idea that has a slight glimmer of truth. However, as it does not have a strong enough base in science it is rejected by the psychological community. It certainly continues to appeal to the public with their desire to know their futures. As a group we spent a good deal of time looking at our own palm lines and determining heart, life, and love lines among many others using online sources. It was easy to see how someone could be so easily drawn into this especially when the result was what you wanted. This is one of the things that keep the public draw so strong: the ability to get the answer they desire. In the book, Benjamin touched on the fact that a success phrenologist could simply be a more observant psychologist and able to give personalized life advice based on what they gather of a person from observations of their character and not their cranial structure. This idea eventually led to the diagnostic interview. This can be applied to palm reading as well. If a palm reader can simply predict the motives and aspirations of a customer they can employ the same tactics to gain success in their field and cast the illusion of legitimacy. This fits the theme of public psychology and the other examples given because of its lack of basis in scientific fact but its success with the overall public. This is evidenced by palm readers and business that are still currently popular and available. In fact, we were able to find a number of palm readers specific just to central London that boast their skills in not just reading palms but also tarot cards, psychic readings, and other forms of public psychology. We are planning on checking out one such location at some point during our trip to explore public psychology in action. A link to one such palm reader can be found below and a brief how to illustration of the basics of palm reading is shown at the top of the page. While we do not support this as a practice of true psychology it would be interesting to see a form of public psychology in action.

http://www.readingpalms.co.uk/

Gustav Fechner (1801-1889)

While we are abroad for PS 309 our class is reading A Brief History of Modern Psychology by Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr. That means that during the times we aren’t adventuring around London and seeing the sites we have already started learning more about the history of psychology. Although it went by different names the study of psychology dates back to over 2,000 years ago. Many different philosophers and scientists from the past would be considered psychologist in modern times. In our textbook it has been suggested that a man named Gustav Fechner could have created the field of psychology, as we know it today. Gustav Fechner was a German philosopher, physicist, and experimental psychologist. He spent most of his life in Poland where he was a professor and focused on color and vision. Unfortunately he got an eye disorder and had to retire. His later life consisted of studies on the mind in relation to the body. Lastly, one of the major things that Fechner did in his lifetime was discover a new field of psychology. To do this he awoke one morning with the realization that it is entirely possible to measure physical and psychological worlds separately. Thus began the field of psychophysics. This insight was on October 22, 1850 and that day is now known as Fechner day all over the world.

Gustav Fechner is known for his many contributions to the field of both science and psychology.  Many of his contributions dealt with sensation and perception. This a field of psychology that is still widely credible today. One of most famous contributions was the Weber-Fechner Law, which states that sensation, which is the feeling or perception of an outside stimulus, can be expressed as a logarithmic function. While this law was considered useful, it was soon disproven.  Another contribution by Fechner was the color effect. The color effect is an illusion in which rapidly moving patterns of black and white create the illusion of perceived colors. This method is still used to make some of the most famous optical illusions. Fechner also spent time studying syntheses. Synesthesia is a phenomenon in which a person perceives to sensations at the same time (i.e. music is seen as colors). The famous Francis Galton continued this study. Gustav Fechner was among the first people to hypothesize that when the Corpus Collosum was severed that the two hemispheres of the brain would operate separately. This was later proven true. Another interesting theory that he discovered is known as the Golden Section Hypothesis. In this hypothesis he found that a specific ratio of width and length of rectangles was more aesthetically appealing to humans. The golden ratio was 0.62. 

Learn more about Fechner Day

Fechner Day is a day to celebrate the anniversary of Fechner's new insight. It is on October 22 every year. This is the day he realized that it is possible to measure physical and psychological worlds separately. This link is a website to the holiday! It gives you more information about the celebration, events, and venue each year.

The man, the myth, the legend: Gustav Fechner. Founder of Psychophysics.

Post By:

Benjamin Saad & Samantha Beckwith

TIMING is Everything at Wellcome Library

Access to archives and manuscripts

Search the Archives and Manuscripts catalogue to find detailed information about the collection.
All archives and manuscripts are held in closed stores. In order to view items in the Library, you will need to make an online request through the catalogue.

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