A great "psychophysics" demonstration you can do in class uses money and hapiness (rather than calibrated lights or sounds). First, ask students to imagine that they have been given $100. Ask them to get a sense of how happy that would make them. Then ask them to imagine that they have been given $200. Ask them is the happiness of getting $200 is TWICE that of getting $100, or if it seems somewhat less than twice as happy. Most will answer the latter. Voila! The non-linear relationship between physical and psychological intensity.
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/ ========================== John Kulig wrote: > I still do Fechner. I used to briefly do the DL and JND concepts when I > taught intro (I believe Gleitman's text still covers him). When I taught > History of Psych I did more, starting with Herbart and Leibnitz' concepts on > petite perceptions, a few staged DL demos, then Weber & Fechner. I used to > have an essay question on whether he or Wundt founded psychology. He's hard > to avoid in measurement classes (though the books ignore him). I tie him to > the challenge of scaling brightness or loudness, and then discuss the > challenge of scaling more ambitious things such as beauty or happiness. > > Fenchner's metaphysical ramblings as Dr. Mises and the 'day' and 'night' > views are also worth doing, as I (after Boring) paint a picture of the > Germans as struggling with the relationship between the objective/physical > versus the subjective/psychological, hence the only country where psychology > could have started. So you can still get a tremendous amount of mileage out > of Fechner in undergraduate classes. > > btw right before Fechner I show my favorite Calvin & Hobbs cartoon, doing > pushups and counting (something like) "20" "514" and then saying (something > like) "exercise is more gratifying when you count like it feels like" > > -------------------------- > John W. Kulig > Professor of Psychology > Plymouth State University > Plymouth NH 03264 > -------------------------- > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Karl L Wuensch" <wuens...@ecu.edu> > To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <tips@acsun.frostburg.edu> > Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 10:25:56 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: RE: [tips] Fechner Day! -- that darn date > > I am probably the only faculty member at my institution who even > mentions Fechner in the Intro class. When I refer to Fechner with my > graduate students they give me that "WTF are you talking about" look. When I > ask who has ever heard of Fechner, not a single hand is raised. So sad. A > few will say they remember hearing of Weber, but none can comment on his > contributions to the discipline. > > Cheers, > > Karl W. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Gerald Peterson [mailto:peter...@vmail.svsu.edu] > Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 8:20 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 > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
