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The Developing Technology of Apparatus in Psychology's Early Laboratories a b
Author(s) -
CAUDLE FAIRFID M.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1983.tb47336.x
Subject(s) - centennial , annals , convention , library science , history of psychology , section (typography) , sociology , history , media studies , psychology , social science , classics , psychoanalysis , archaeology , computer science , advertising , business
This paper explores aspects of the role that laboratory instruments have played in establishing psychology as a science. Comparisons of earlier instruments with their more modern counterparts indicate that many problems and methods still of interest today were explored in the laboratories of psychology's pioneers. Such continuities are noted for apparatus employed in the study of reaction time, studies of auditory and visual processes, motor skills, and learning. Several examples are noted of instruments no longer in use, and a discussion is provided of ways in which instruments themselves may influence the outcome of experimental research.