PS390 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Visual Acuity, Scientific Revolution, Facilitated Communication
Document Summary
Quantification and measurement were central to investigative practice of founders of scientific. Quantification of traded objects became normative during high middle ages in europe. Measurement dates back to 1600s attempts to gauge visual acuity and 1700s measurement of human passions (ex voluptuousness) Thereafter measurement conveyed an aura of objective certainty, rendered the phenomena measured socially important + served as reassuring remedy for those anxious about ambiguities and uncertainties that beset rapidly urbanizing societies. Implicit assumption: societal upheavals could be managed numerically + predicted and controlled. Swept up in cultural wave of quantification, early psychologists sought to generate empirically validated applications to address societal problems. Quantification enabled psychologists to respond to societal needs and make research more efficient. Rendered some phenomena, previously studied philosophically (ex perception), quantifiable, but excluded other phenomena not easily measured (ex will) Psychologists" association w the precision of mathematics reinforced quest for objectivity while strengthening discipline"s scientific credibility.
