The Kantowitz et al.experimental text still covers psychophysics, and I teach it at the undergrad level.
________________________________________ From: Gerald Peterson [peter...@vmail.svsu.edu] Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 8:19 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Fechner Day! -- that darn date Is psychophysics being taught at the undergrad level? I was introduced to Fechner in an undergrad Exper. Psych class and then in the capstone History and Systems class, but I don't see references to psychophysical methods in most Experimental psych texts. I would think it would be covered in our S&P class. I do mention Fechner and Weber in Intro tho. Gary Gerald L. (Gary) Peterson, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Psychology Saginaw Valley State University University Center, MI 48710 989-964-4491 peter...@svsu.edu ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Scott" <wsc...@wooster.edu> To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <tips@acsun.frostburg.edu> Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 5:44:39 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [tips] Fechner Day! -- that darn date A long time ago an old friend introduced me to the tradition of serving cake in class on Fechner day. I recommend it. Some places can even put a photo in the icing. Fechner's mug makes everyone take a small piece so one cake can stretch through a large class. Bill Scott >>> "Christopher D. Green" <chri...@yorku.ca> 10/22/09 5:28 PM >>> The Zend-Avesta was a religious text (after a manner of speaking) by Fechner, in which he outlined his "daylight" view of science (a kind of pan-psychist, post-Romantic view of the world), as opposed to he called the "twilight view" (of materialism). (The Avesta is a sacred text of Zoroastrians, who (to a first approximation) worship the sun.) He also wrote abook about the "soul life" of plants. Neither has ever been translated to my knowledge, but Michael Heidelberger's biography of Fechner is an excellent source (if a bit dense). Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 chri...@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== Ken Steele wrote: > > > I have been wondering about the report of that dream, because it is > repeated so often--but without attribution. I looked at the 1966 > English translation of Elements of Psychophysics (Vol I) and no > mention of the date or a dream occurs in the text. (The translation > of the volume was NIH-funded to celebrate the centennial of the > publication of E of P. I guess we will need to wait until 2066 to see > the translation of Vol. II). > > E G Boring does the introduction to the translation and repeats the > dream story--without attribution of course. Even more irritating is > an article by Boring (1961), in which the date/dream story is > higlighted several times, still without attribution. > > However, Boring (1929/1950) does provide an interesting bit of info in > his Experimental Psychology. Fechner wrote a book, "Zend-Avesta, oder > uber die Dinge des Himmels und des Jenseits," which was published in > 1851. > > Boring (1929/1950, p. 279) notes: "Oddly enough this book contains > Fechner's program of psychophysics..." > > 1851 would be a year after the famous dream and the dream/idea would > still be fresh. The "Elements" contains mainly the results of the > program > > Google books has the Zend-Avesta online but my rusty knowledge of > German and the old font system have managed to block my efforts to > find the psychophysics section. Perhaps another scholar will have > better luck. > > Happy Fechner's Day, > > Ken > > Boring, E. G. (1961). Fechner: Inadvertent founder of psychophysics. > Psychometrika, 26, 3-8. > > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
