Эрнст Генрих Вебер: Пионер экспериментальной психологии

German psychologist

Ernst Heinrich Weber (24 June 1795 – 26 January 1878) Weber completed secondary school at Meissen and began studying medicine at the University of Wittenberg in 1811. He went on to receive his MD in 1815 from the University of Halle.

Weber spent his entire academic career at the University of Leipzig. Ernst Weber’s first direct contribution to psychology came in 1834 when trying to describe the sensation of touch (De Pulsu, Resorptione, Auditu et Tactu. Leipzig 1834). He was professor of physiology and anatomy from 1840 to 1866, and returned to the position of professor of anatomy from 1866 to 1871. Ernst Weber died in 1878 in Leipzig, Germany.

Studied flow and movement of waves in liquids and elastic tubes.

Weber discovered laws and applied them to circulation. In 1821, Weber launched a series of experiments on the physics of fluids with his younger brother Wilhelm. This research was the first detailed account of hydrodynamic principles in the circulation of blood. Weber continued his research on blood and in 1827, he made another significant finding. Weber explained the elasticity of blood vessels in the movement of blood in the aorta in a continuous flow to the capillaries and arterioles.

This technique helped map sensitivity and touch acuity on the body using compass technique. Points of a compass would be set at varying distances in order to see at what distance are the points of the compass perceived as two separate points instead of one single point. Weber also wrote about and tested other ideas on sensation including a terminal threshold, which is the highest intensity an individual could sense before the sensation could not be detected any longer.

Weber’s Illusion is an "experience of divergence of two points when stimulation is moved over insensitive areas and convergence of two points when moved over sensitive areas". Weber’s use of multivariate experiment, precise measurements, and research on sensory psychology and sensory physiology laid the groundwork for accepting experimental psychology as a field and providing new ideas for fellow 19th century psychologists to expand.

Weber is often cited as the pioneer or father of experimental psychology. He was the first to conduct true psychological experiments that held validity. While most psychologists of the time conducted work from behind a desk, Weber was actively conducting experiments, manipulating only one variable at a time in order to gain more accurate results. This paved the way for the field of psychology as an experimental science and opened the way for the development of even more accurate and intense research methods. One of Weber’s greatest influences was on Gustav Fechner. Weber was appointed the Dozent of Psychology at the University of Leipzig the same year that Fechner enrolled. Weber’s work with sensation inspired Fechner to further the work and go on to develop Weber’s law. At the time of his sensation work, Weber did not fully realize the implications that his experiments would have on understanding of sensory stimulus and response.