Egon Brunswik
Encyclopedia
Egon Brunswik was a psychologist
who made contributions to functionalism
and the history of psychology
.
. He graduated from the Theresianische Akademie in 1921, after studying mathematics, science, classics, and history. He enrolled as a student of psychology at the University of Vienna
, where he became an assistant in Karl Bühler's Psychological Institute (student colleagues included Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Konrad Lorenz
) and received a PhD in 1927. While a graduate student in psychology, he also passed the state examination for Gymnasium teachers in mathematics and physics.
Brunswik met Edward C. Tolman
in Vienna
during 1933, and in 1935-1936 received a Rockefeller fellowship that enabled him to visit the University of California
. He remained at Berkeley
where he became an assistant professor of psychology in 1937 and a full professor in 1947.
On June 6, 1938, in New York
Brunswik married Else Frenkel-Brunswik
(also a former assistant in Buhler's institute), who became well known as a psychoanalytically oriented psychologist and investigator of the authoritarian personality
. Brunswik became an American citizen in 1943.
while he was visiting lecturer in Ankara
during 1931-1932. He became Privatdozent
at the University of Vienna
in 1934. In 1933, however, Edward C. Tolman
, chairman of the department of psychology at the University of California, spent a year in Vienna
. He and Brunswik found that although they had been working in different areas of psychological research, their theories of behavior were complementary.
.
A feature of Brunswik's work is its coherence. Each theoretical, historical, and research paper is explicitly and tightly integrated with every other one. Brunswik's cast of mind compelled him to fit together with precision his conceptual framework, his methodology, and his views of the history of psychology. In 1952, he presented an overview of the field of psychology in The Conceptual Framework of Psychology.
The application of his ideas in decision analysis
helped improve the decisions of experts in a variety of fields including cancer prognosis, oil trading, and evaluation of candidates for graduate schools or employment.. A specific, practical method for the application for Brunswik's models have been documented in the book How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business by Douglas Hubbard.
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
who made contributions to functionalism
Functional psychology
Functional psychology or functionalism refers to a general psychological philosophy that considers mental life and behavior in terms of active adaptation to the person's environment. As such, it provides the general basis for developing psychological theories not readily testable by controlled...
and the history of psychology
History of psychology
The history of psychology as a scholarly study of the mind and behavior dates back to the Ancient Greeks. There is also evidence of psychological thought in ancient Egypt. Psychology was a branch of philosophy until the 1870s, when psychology developed as an independent scientific discipline in...
.
Early life and career
Brunswik was born in BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
. He graduated from the Theresianische Akademie in 1921, after studying mathematics, science, classics, and history. He enrolled as a student of psychology at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
, where he became an assistant in Karl Bühler's Psychological Institute (student colleagues included Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Konrad Lorenz
Konrad Lorenz
Konrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch...
) and received a PhD in 1927. While a graduate student in psychology, he also passed the state examination for Gymnasium teachers in mathematics and physics.
Brunswik met Edward C. Tolman
Edward C. Tolman
Edward Chace Tolman was an American psychologist. He was most famous for his studies on behavioral psychology....
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
during 1933, and in 1935-1936 received a Rockefeller fellowship that enabled him to visit the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
. He remained at Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
where he became an assistant professor of psychology in 1937 and a full professor in 1947.
On June 6, 1938, in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Brunswik married Else Frenkel-Brunswik
Else Frenkel-Brunswik
Else Frenkel-Brunswik was a Polish-Austrian Jewish psychologist.- External links :* http://www.kfunigraz.ac.at/sozwww/agsoe/bestand/25_agsoe/25bio.htm...
(also a former assistant in Buhler's institute), who became well known as a psychoanalytically oriented psychologist and investigator of the authoritarian personality
Authoritarian personality
-Historical Origins:Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswick, Levinson and Sanford compiled a large body of research and theory , which attempted to characterize a personality type that described the “potentially fascistic individual”...
. Brunswik became an American citizen in 1943.
Early career
Brunswik established the first psychological laboratory in TurkeyTurkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
while he was visiting lecturer in Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
during 1931-1932. He became Privatdozent
Privatdozent
Privatdozent or Private lecturer is a title conferred in some European university systems, especially in German-speaking countries, for someone who pursues an academic career and holds all formal qualifications to become a tenured university professor...
at the University of Vienna
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
in 1934. In 1933, however, Edward C. Tolman
Edward C. Tolman
Edward Chace Tolman was an American psychologist. He was most famous for his studies on behavioral psychology....
, chairman of the department of psychology at the University of California, spent a year in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. He and Brunswik found that although they had been working in different areas of psychological research, their theories of behavior were complementary.
Probabilistic Functionalism
Brunswik's work in Vienna had culminated in the publication of Wahrnehmung und Gegenstandswelt in 1934. All of his subsequent work was devoted to the extension and elaboration of the fundamental position set forth in this book, namely, that psychology should give as much attention to the properties of the organism's environment as it does to the organism itself. He asserted that the environment with which the organism comes into contact is an uncertain, probabilistic one, however lawful it may be in terms of physical principles. Adaptation to a probabilistic world requires that the organism learn to employ probabilistic means to achieve goals and learn to utilize probabilistic, uncertain evidence about the world. His "probabilistic functionalism" was the first behavioral system founded on probabilism an approach that is attracting increasing attention in the fields of learning, thinking, decision processes, perception , communication and the study of curiosity. Brunswik's emphasis on the importance of the environment is reflected in the increasing development of "psychological ecology." He also created the term ecological validityEcological validity (perception)
The ecological validity of a sensory cue in perception is the correlation between the cue and a property of the world . For example, the color of a banana is a cue that indicates whether the banana is ripe...
.
History of psychology
Brunswik wrote a great deal about the history of psychology. His historical analysis is remarkable for its development in structural terms rather than in the customary longitudinal recapitulation of names, dates, and places. It consists of a general identification of the kinds of variables that have traditionally been employed in psychological theory and research and a description of the changes in the emphasis of these variables over time. Brunswik's theory stems as much from his analysis of the history of psychology as it does from his research. His historical as well as his theoretical analysis also led him to criticize orthodox methods of experimental design (particularly the "rule of one variable") and to suggest methods for avoiding what he believed to be an unfortunate artificiality inherent in classical experimental procedures.Other work
Brunswik's main field of empirical research was perception, but he also brought his probabilistic approach to bear on problems of interpersonal perception, thinking, learning, and clinical psychology. His research findings were published in Perception and the Representative Design of Experiments (1947), which also includes Brunswik's methodological innovations and related research by others.A feature of Brunswik's work is its coherence. Each theoretical, historical, and research paper is explicitly and tightly integrated with every other one. Brunswik's cast of mind compelled him to fit together with precision his conceptual framework, his methodology, and his views of the history of psychology. In 1952, he presented an overview of the field of psychology in The Conceptual Framework of Psychology.
Reception
Brunswik's ideas received wide attention during his lifetime and continue to do so. The extent of his direct influence on psychology, however, remains doubtful. Although his ideas are powerful and his research complicated and ingenious, the scope, depth, and integration of his work make it formidable. His unorthodoxy tends to discourage the timid and to offend those who think it mistaken. However, his history, theory, and methodology struck at key problems in psychology which remain unsolved, and it is too soon to appraise with finality Brunswik's contribution to their eventual solution.The application of his ideas in decision analysis
Decision analysis
Decision analysis is the discipline comprising the philosophy, theory, methodology, and professional practice necessary to address important decisions in a formal manner...
helped improve the decisions of experts in a variety of fields including cancer prognosis, oil trading, and evaluation of candidates for graduate schools or employment.. A specific, practical method for the application for Brunswik's models have been documented in the book How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business by Douglas Hubbard.
Further reading
- Postman, Leo/Edward C. Tolman (1959): "Brunswik's Probabilistic Functionalism". In: S. Koch (Ed.), Psychology: A Study of a Science, Study 1: Conceptual and Systematic, Vol. 1: Sensory, Perceptual, and Physiological Formulations, New York/Toronto/London: McGraw-Hill, pp. 502–564.
- Hammond, Kenneth R. (editor) 1966 The Psychology of Egon Brunswik. New York: Holt.
- Hammond, Kenneth R. & T. R. Stewart (ed.) 2001. The Essential Brunswik. Cary, NC: Oxford University Press.