Herman Ebbinghaus Place in Psychological History essays

Herman Ebbinghaus Place in Psychological History essays During the late 1800's a new science was emerging in Europe. Psychology's roots can be traced back to Germany and a man by the name of William Wunt. Following Wunt other psychologists began emerging in different fields. Of these pioneers Herman Ebbinghaus was one, and his field of study was memory. He performed the first experiments in 1885 in Germany and the following is a background on the man and his Herman Ebbinghaus was born in 1850 in Germany and died there in 1909. He received his formal education at the Universities of Bonn, Halle, and Berlin (Gale, 1996). Ebbinghaus received degrees in philosophy and history from these universities (Gale, 1996). Ebbinghaus went on to teach at the Universities of Berlin, Poland, Breslaw and Halle (Gale, 1996). These experiences combined with later experiences with memory combine to give Ebbinghaus a curiosity about memory greater than most of his time. Memory can be defined as your amount of learning or your stored information. The process of storing and retreving information from the brain that is central to learning and thinking (Microsoft Encarta, [MSE], 1997). According to Myers (1998) memory is "any indication that learning has persisted over time". There are also four types of memory classified: recollection, recall, recognition, and relearning. Recollection is the reconstruction of facts based on clues that serve as reminders; recall is the active remembering of something from the past without help; recognition is the ability to identify previous stimuli as familiar; relearning is material that seems to be easier to remember than others as if it has been learned before (MSE, 1997). These four types of memory together help all people to remember anything from the states' capitals to your best friends birthday party from second grade. Some researchers say that there are specific sites dedicated to memory while others say that a...