No abstract

Approximately 100 years ago, in an era of intellectual ferment, events of marked consequence took place in the history of psychology. It was in the decade of the 1870s that the first handbook of experimental psychology appeared, followed soon by the founding of the first formal laboratory of experimental psychology. Both were the achievements of Wilhelm Wundt, ever since recognized as experimental psychology's great patron, though later barred from any role that might remotely resemble sainthood. Soon after the wave of "new" psychologists spread out from Wundt's laboratory, a series of intellectual revolutions largely erased from memory the content of Wundtian psychological theory. Now that the movement set in motion by Wundt has come through its first century, it would seem fitting to mark the centenary by briefly turning back, reexamining psychology's historical foundations, and paying homage to the founding father. There is, however, another reason for re-This article is a revised and expanded version of a talk presented to the New York Academy of Sciences, New

Subjects were led to believe that they would take a series of tests measuring important abilities. Half of the subjects were told that they would have full freedom to take the tests in any order they wished. The other half were told to take the tests in a specific order. Both groups were instructed that the order of tests would not make any difference in their total scores. Subjects did not actually take the tests. Their anxiety was measured by palmar sweating. Subjects who had no choice of order of tests increased in anxiety, while those who had choice did not change. This difference was greater for later born children than for first-born and only children.

No abstract

The Miller-Isard hypothesis that people attempt to process multiply self-embedded sentences as recursively interrupted sub-routines was critically examined. Results of a sentence comprehension test showed that Ss perce.ive such sentences as ungrammatical approximations to sentences with one embedding rather than as multiply embedded structures. The Miller-Isard hypothesis appeared irrelevant to the actual processing performance of the naive Ss.

Studies reviewed in this article are grouped under the areas of response problems, dynamic determinants, individual differences, clinical studies, reduction of movement, and theories of autokinesis (AK). Much of the work to date is concerned with the demonstration of various "suggestion effects" without regard to the basis of residual AK. Determinants of AK are many and varied but little can be said about their relative potencies. Although a modified version of the Gregory-Zangwill model may serve well, there is presently no single theory of AK which accounts for all the data. Further developments in the theory and control of AK hinge upon the sedulous development of improved techniques for measuring AK. Three criteria for measuring AK are offered.

No abstract

No abstract