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Wundt Report

Wundt
The Wundt Report

by Ken Tangen

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) may be the underachiever’s patron saint. He didn’t get along with other students, was ridiculed and punished by his teachers, and flunked a year of high school. To say he was shy and lacked initiative is to understate the matter. Wilhelm was afraid of the other village children, and dreaded public events. Even his town’s annual Easter-egg hunt was painful for him because the other children pushed him aside (Hilgard, 1987). Yet from the slow start of a daydreaming child, he became an elected politician, and one of the most prolific and productive scientists of the 19th century. Although Freud and Ribot were hard workers and insightful theoratians, neither can match the systematic precision or sheer volume of work produced by Wundt.

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Statistics Practice Problems

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How To Calculate Statistics

How to calculate statistics

Measurement is the heart of statistics but most people think of it as calculating. So here is how to calculate statistics.

How To Calculate Basics

N & n. Capital N for a population or total number of people in a study. Lowercase n for number of scores in a sample or subsection of a study.

Mini & Max. Min is the smartest or minimum score of a group. Max is the largest or maximum score of a group. Both are useful for finding input errors. If scores are supposed to be from 1 to 5, a maximum value of 44.5 indicates something is wrong.

Totals are just sums. Add up the scores.

Data Matrix is a row-column table of scores.

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British Empiricism

British empiricism
British Empiricism developed in the 16th-17th centuries. It was a reaction to political, religious and scientific dogma. Society has based on tradition. But the class system was under pressure. It had not fallen apart but cracks were appearing on the seams.

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Brain’s Reward System

Bread as part of the reward system

The brain’s reward system is a complex collection of neurons, neurotransmitters and brain structures. It is a natural process. The brain uses it to maintain behavior. Associations between stimuli, events and behaviors are made and strengthened. Desirable outcomes are encouraged, and poor decisions are punished.

Our behavior is influenced by the rewards we receive. External rewards result in internal changes in neurotransmitter levels, neural firing patterns, and structural changes. When we eat something we like, we get a little surge of dopamine. When someone says you look nice today, you get another little surge. When you take cocaine or meth, you get an ocean of dopamine such as nothing else can ever match. The more drugs you take, the more waves of dopamine, and the less free will you have.

 

What is the brain’s reward system?

One of the most asked questions I receive is why people addicted to drugs or alcohol don’t stop. They know they are ruining their lives. They know they are losing their marriage, family, house and job. Why don’t they stop? It doesn’t make any sense.

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