Oswald Külpe facts for kids

Oswald Külpe (3 August 1862 – 30 December 1915) was an important German psychologist. He lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Külpe helped change how people studied psychology. He is sometimes called the "second founder" of experimental psychology in Germany. This is because he always made sure new labs were set up wherever he worked.

Külpe studied with Wilhelm Wundt, who was his mentor. Even though he learned from Wundt, Külpe developed many of his own new ideas. His work greatly influenced the field of psychology. Some of his ideas are still important today. These include studying thoughts through experiments, the idea of "imageless thoughts," and "mental sets."

A Young Psychologist's Life

Oswald Külpe was born in August 1862 in Kandau, which was part of the Russian Empire. His parents were German, so German was his first language. He had a brother named Alfons and a sister who was a nurse. Külpe spent much of his life with his older cousins, Ottillie and Marie. He lived with them in different cities like Leipzig and Munich.

Külpe never married. He often joked that science was his "bride" because he spent so much time on his work. He learned Russian in school and taught history for a while. In 1881, he started studying at the Leipzig University. He first focused on history. But he also went to lectures by Wilhelm Wundt. This is where he discovered psychology, which became his life's work.

Early Studies and PhD

Between 1882 and 1883, Külpe studied at the University of Berlin. He then went to Göttingen for two years. There, he studied with Georg Elias Müller. It is believed that Müller gave him the idea for his PhD paper.

Külpe returned to Leipzig in 1886 to work with Wundt. He earned his PhD on October 12, 1887. His paper was called "The Theory of Sensual Feeling." This topic interested him throughout his life. It also influenced his later work on art and beauty. Külpe then became a professor at the University of Leipzig.

Building Psychology Labs

In 1894, Külpe became a top professor at the University of Würzburg. He taught both philosophy and art. In 1896, he started a psychology lab there. He made the lab bigger and better. Soon, the Würzburg lab became one of the best in Germany. Only Wundt's lab in Leipzig was more famous.

Külpe taught many important psychologists at Würzburg. These included Max Wertheimer, Kaspar Ach, and Henry Watt. After 15 years, Külpe also set up excellent psychology labs at the University of Bonn and the University of Munich. Because of his new ways of doing experiments and setting up labs, Külpe was called the "second founder" of experimental psychology in Germany.

Later Life and Interests

Even though Külpe and Wundt had different ideas, Külpe respected Wundt. He wrote three tributes to him. In his later years, Külpe became more interested in philosophy. He focused on topics like art and beauty.

In December 1915, Külpe got sick with the flu. He seemed to get better and went back to teaching. But he had a heart infection and died a few days later, on December 30. If he had lived longer, he might have started another psychology lab in Vienna.

The Würzburg Laboratory

Külpe's lab at the University of Würzburg was very important. He ran it for 15 years, starting in 1896. He received money from a private donor. This helped him make it one of the best psychology institutes.

At the Würzburg School, they focused on how people form ideas and concepts. Külpe and his students used a method called "systematic experimental introspection." This meant asking people to describe their thoughts after doing a complex task. This was a new way to study thinking using experiments.

Key Ideas from Würzburg

The Würzburg school had a new, complete way of looking at the mind. They studied both the actions of thinking and the thoughts themselves. This research helped create Gestalt psychology. Max Wertheimer, who started Gestalt psychology, was Külpe's most famous student. Other students like Narziß Ach and Henry Watt worked on the idea of "mental set."

The Würzburg school also stressed how important motivation is for thinking. They showed that what you want to do affects how you think. This idea is still accepted in psychology today. Another idea from the school was that our behavior is not just based on what we are aware of. It also depends on things we are not conscious of. This idea is also still important in psychology.

Imageless Thought

One of the most famous ideas from Külpe's lab was "imageless thought." This is the idea that we can have thoughts or understand things without seeing pictures or images in our minds. Külpe believed that earlier research on thinking, like Wundt's, was incomplete. Wundt thought all thoughts were linked to images.

Külpe did an experiment to show this. He asked people in a dark room to imagine colors he called out. Most people could imagine the colors. But one person could not, even though they had no problems with their mind. Külpe concluded that recognizing something doesn't always mean you can picture it in your mind.

Külpe and his team found that people could describe thought processes that were not sensations, feelings, or images. For example, when given the word "meter," a person might respond with "trochee." They said an indescribable thought process happened in between. This showed that not all thoughts have direct images. Their research, even if not perfect, helped start the study of imageless thought. This topic is still discussed in psychology today.

Abstraction and Attention

In the early 1900s, Külpe studied "abstraction" at the Würzburg School. Abstraction is when you focus on some parts of reality and ignore others. In one experiment, Külpe showed people numbers, letters, colors, and shapes. He would tell them beforehand what to focus on.

For example, if he told them to report on the numbers, they could not accurately describe the letters, colors, or shapes later. The item they were told to observe was always the one they could describe best. This showed that people "abstracted" (focused on) the requested features. They remained unaware of the other features.

Külpe believed that our vision is not just based on what we see. It also depends on our "Aufgabe," which means the task or instruction. He found that the wider your attention, the less aware you are of specific details. And if you focus on one specific detail, your attention span is narrower. He concluded that our attention has a limited amount of energy.

Mental Set

Külpe and his Würzburg team also used their experiments to challenge the idea of "associationism." This idea said that thinking happens by linking ideas together. For example, if people were asked to name a broader group for "birds," they were more likely to say "Animal" than a specific bird like "hummingbird."

Külpe's team concluded that this behavior could not be explained by simple links. They found that the actual task, not just the stimulus, guides the thinking process. This idea became known as the mental set. A mental set is a natural tendency to respond in a certain way. It helps explain how people solve problems.

Important Books and Works

Oswald Külpe wrote many books and papers. His work covered different subjects like logic, aesthetics (the study of beauty), philosophy, and epistemology (the study of knowledge).

Grundriss der Psychologie

His first major book, published in 1893, was Grundriss der Psychologie. This book summarized a lot of psychology research from that time. It included new studies on reaction time and memory. Külpe defined psychology as "the facts of experience." The book focused only on scientific facts.

Even though the Würzburg school later studied thinking a lot, this book didn't focus much on it. But Külpe once wrote that the ideas in the book were the "source" of his later studies on thinking. This shows he was already thinking about "imageless thought" then.

Einleitung in die Philosophie

In 1895, Külpe published Einleitung in die Philosophie (Introduction to Philosophy). This book was a guide to philosophy for German university students. It covered general philosophy, psychology, logic, and ethics.

In this book, Külpe also looked at how the body and mind are related. He believed that both matter and mind are ideas we get from our experiences. The book was less than 350 pages long. It was very popular and was translated into English multiple times.

Über die moderne Psychologie des Denkens

In 1912, Külpe published Über die moderne Psychologie des Denkens (On the Modern Psychology of Thinking). In this book, he looked back at his "systematic experimental introspection" method. He believed that before this method, research on thinking was not complete.

Külpe wrote that his subjects "began to speak in the language of life." They found that they knew and thought, judged and understood, without needing images in their minds. This showed that thinking could happen without pictures.

Other important works by Külpe include Die Realisierung, a three-volume set of his lectures. He also wrote a paper called Zur Katagorienlehre just before he died in 1915.

See also

In Spanish: Oswald Külpe para niños