The Psychology Book (16 page)

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 49

See also:
Donald Hebb 163 ■ Bluma Zeigarnik 162 ■ George Armitage Miller 168–73 ■ Endel Tulving 186–91 ■ Gordon H.

Bower 194–95 ■ Daniel Schacter 208–09 ■ Frederic Bartlett 335–36

I
n 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus recite a series correctly at speed.

became the first psychologist

He tested different list lengths and

to systematically study

different learning intervals, noting

learning and memory by carrying

the speed of learning and forgetting.

out a long, exhausting experiment

Ebbinghaus found that he could

on himself. Philosophers such as

remember meaningful material,

John Locke and David Hume had

such as a poem, ten times more

argued that remembering involves

easily than his nonsense lists. He

association—linking things or

also noted that the more times the

ideas by shared characteristics,

stimuli (the nonsense syllables)

such as time, place, cause, or

were repeated, the less time was

effect. Ebbinghaus tested the effect

needed to reproduce the memorized

of association on memory, recording

information. Also, the first few

the results mathematically to see if

repetitions proved the most

Learning material
and committing

memory follows verifiable patterns.

effective in memorizing a list.

it to memory within an hour of hearing

When looking at his results for

it, Ebbinghaus showed, will mean that

Memory experiments

evidence of forgetting, Ebbinghaus

we remember it for longer and can

Ebbinghaus started by memorizing

found, unsurprisingly, that he

recall it more easily.

lists of words and testing how

tended to forget less quickly the

many he could recall. To avoid the

lists that he had spent the most

two-thirds of anything memorized

use of association, he then created

time memorizing, and that recall is

is forgotten. Plotted on a graph, this

2,300 “nonsense syllables,” all three

best performed immediately after

shows a distinct “forgetting curve”

letters long and using the standard

learning. Ebbinghaus also uncovered

that starts with a sharp drop,

word format of consonant–vowel–

an unexpected pattern in memory

followed by a shallow slope.

consonant: for example, “ZUC” and

retention. He found that there is

Ebbinghaus’s research launched

“QAX.” Grouping these into lists,

typically a very rapid loss of recall

a new field of enquiry, and helped

he looked at each syllable for a

in the first hour, followed by a

establish psychology as a scientific

fraction of a second, pausing for 15

slightly slower loss, so that after

discipline. His meticulous methods

seconds before going through a list

nine hours, about 60 percent is

remain the basis of all psychological

again. He did this until he could

forgotten. After 24 hours, about

experimentation to this day. ■

Hermann Ebbinghaus

Hermann Ebbinghaus was born in

two psychology laboratories

Barmen, Germany, to a family of

and founded an academic

Lutheran merchants. At 17, he

journal. Ebbinghaus later moved

began to study philosophy at

to Breslau University, where he

Bonn University, but his academic

also established a laboratory,

career was disrupted in 1870 by

and finally to Halle, where he

the Franco-Prussian War. In 1873,

taught until his death from

he completed his studies and

pneumonia at the age of 59.

moved to Berlin, later traveling to

France and England, where he

Key works

carried out research on the power

of his own memory, starting in

1885
Memory: A Contribution

1879. He published
Memory
in

to Experimental Psychology

1885, detailing the “nonsense

1897–1908
Fundamentals

syllable” research, and in the

of Psychology
(2 volumes)

same year became a professor at

1908
Psychology: An

Berlin University, where he set up

Elementary Textbook

50

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

Intelligence theory

THE INTELLIGENCE BEFORE

1859
English naturalist

OF AN INDIVIDUAL

Charles Darwin proposes

that intelligence is inherited

in
On the Origin of Species
.

IS NOT A FIXED

From 1879
Wilhelm Wundt

applies scientific methods to

psychology, seeking objective

QUANTITY

ways of measuring mental

abilities such as intelligence.

ALFRED BINET (1857–1911)

1890
US psychologist James

Cattell devises tests to

measure differences in

individual mental abilities.

AFTER

1920s
English educational

psychologist Cyril Burt claims

intelligence is mainly genetic.

1940s
Raymond Cattell defines

two types of intelligence: fluid

(inborn) and crystallized

(shaped by experience).

I
n 1859, Charles Darwin set

out his theory of evolution

in
On the Origin of Species
,

providing a framework for the

debate over whether intelligence

was fixed by genetic inheritance, or

could be modified by circumstances.

His cousin, Francis Galton, carried

out tests on the cognitive abilities

of around 9,000 people in London

in the early 1880s, and concluded

that basic intelligence was fixed

at birth. Around the same time,

Wilhelm Wundt proposed the idea

of an intelligence quotient (IQ),

and made attempts to measure it.

Wundt’s work inspired studies into

the measurement of mental abilities

by the American psychologist

PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS 51

See also:
Francis Galton 28–29 ■ Jean-Martin Charcot 30 ■ Wilhelm Wundt 32–37 ■ Raymond Cattell 314–15

Intelligence testing
can only measure…

…an individual’s mental abilities at a
particular time

and in a
particular context
.

Alfred Binet

Alfred Binet was born in Nice,

Abilities change
within short periods of time;

France, but moved to Paris at

they also change over the long-term as part

a young age after his parents

of the
developmental process
.

separated. He gained a law

degree in 1878, then studied

sciences at the Sorbonne, in

preparation for taking up

medicine. But Binet decided

Intelligence will alter during
a person’s lifetime
.

that his real interest lay in

psychology, and although he

was largely self-taught, in

1883 he was offered a post at

Paris’s Salpêtrière Hospital by

Jean-Martin Charcot. After his

The intelligence of an individual

marriage the following year,

is not a fixed quantity.

and the birth of two daughters,

he began to take an interest in

intelligence and learning. In

1891, Binet was appointed

James Cattell, and were also to

his children absorbed new

associate director of the

form the basis of Alfred Binet’s

information varied according

Sorbonne’s Laboratory of

research into human intelligence.

to how much they were paying

Experimental Psychology,

attention. Context, and the child’s

becoming director in 1894.

Fascination with learning

frame of mind, seemed to be

Many honors have been

Binet studied law and natural

critical to learning.

heaped upon Binet since his

science before psychology captured

On hearing of Francis Galton’s

untimely death in 1911. These

his interest. He was largely self-

testing in London, Binet decided

include changing the name of

taught, although working with

to carry out his own large-scale

La Société Libre pour l’Etude

Jean-Martin Charcot at Paris’s

research on assessing differences

Psychologique de l’Enfant to

Salpêtrière Hospital for more than

in individual abilities between

La Société Alfred Binet in 1917.

seven years gave him a firm grasp

various special-interest groups,

of experimental procedures, with

such as mathematicians, chess

Key works

their need for precision and careful

players, writers, and artists. At the

1903
Experimental Study

planning. His desire to study

same time, he continued his study

of Intelligence

human intelligence grew out of his

of the functional intelligence of

1905
The Mind and Brain

fascination with the development

children, noting that they became

1911
A Method of Measuring

of his own two daughters. He noted

capable of certain skills at specific

the Development of Intelligence

that the speed and ease with which

ages. For example, very young ❯❯

52 ALFRED BINET

children were not capable of

and intellectually challenged

abstract thought—this seemed

children, and to find a way of

to be a hallmark of an increased

measuring these differences.

level of intelligence that was

directly attributable to age.

The Binet–Simon Scale

In 1899, Binet was invited to

Binet was joined in his task by

There is in intelligence…

join a new organization dedicated

Théodore Simon, a research scientist

a fundamental agency,

to educational research, La Société

at the Sorbonne’s Laboratory of

the lack or alteration

Libre pour L’Etude Psychologique

Experimental Psychology, where

of which has the greatest

de l’Enfant (The Free Society for

Binet had been director since

importance for practical

the Psychological Study of the