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G. F. Parrot and the theory of unconscious inferences
Author(s) -
Allik Jüri,
Konstabel Kenn
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of the history of the behavioral sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.216
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1520-6696
pISSN - 0022-5061
DOI - 10.1002/jhbs.20114
Subject(s) - unconscious mind , illusion , phenomenon , epistemology , harmony (color) , philosophy , psychology , cognitive psychology , cognitive science , physics , optics
In 1839, Georg Friedrich Parrot (1767–1852) published a short note about a peculiar visual phenomenon—the diminishing of the size of external objects situated at a relatively small distance from the window of a fast‐moving train. For the explanation of this illusion, Parrot proposed a concept of unconscious inferences, a very rapid syllogistic conclusion from two premises, which anticipated the revival of Alhazen's theory of unconscious inferences by Hermann von Helmholtz, Wilhelm Wundt, and John Stuart Mill. He also advanced the notion that the speed of mental processes is not infinitely high and that it can be measured by means of systematic experimentation. Although Parrot was only partly correct in the description of the movement‐induced changes of the perceived size, his general intention to understand basic mechanisms of the human mind was in harmony with the founding ideas of experimental psychology: it is possible to study the phenomena of the mind in the same general way that the physical world is studied, either in terms of mechanical or mathematical laws. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.