David J. Murray

Gerd Gigerenzer

Originally published in 1987, this title is about theory construction in psychology. Where theories come from, as opposed to how they become established, was almost a no-man’s land in the history and philosophy of science at the time. The authors argue that in the science of mind, theories are particularly likely to come from tools, and they are especially concerned with the emergence of the metaphor of the mind as an intuitive statistician. In the first chapter, the authors discuss the rise of the inference revolution, which institutionalized those statistical tools that later became theories of cognitive processes. In each of the four following chapters they treat one major topic of cognitive psychology and show to what degree statistical concepts transformed their understanding of those topics.

Cognition as Intuitive Statistics

Spring summer summer winter she is there, The laken depths of girlish eyes: Come, she cries, I banish care I come and winter summer summer spring Her raven hair blows on, come on, And when I get there, she is gone Although the fields still hear her sing I try to love and when the gate Is banged against my face, I try to hate. In his fifth volume of lyrical expressions, award-winning poet David Murray combines both traditional and free verse while exploring the powerful emotions behind the timeless theme of romantic love. Over some fifty years, Murray has been writing and compiling poetry relating to remorse, regret, and rejection. As he returns emotionally to the times of his youth and his memories of discontent during two unhappy romances that took place during the 1960s, he offers a compelling glimpse of moments in relationships that erratically vacillate between despair and elation. His verse traces the story of two people who fall in love, evolve as a couple, and realize in the end that sometimes love fails. The poetry in this memorable collection will remind anyone that lovelike lifeis unpredictable.

Persistence and Other Poems

Stephen W. Link

With an emphasis on developments taking place in Germany during the nineteenth century, this book provides in-depth examinations of the key contributions made by the pioneers of scientific psychology. Their works brought measurement and mathematics into the study of the mind. Through unique analysis of measurement theory by Whewell, mathematical developments by Gauss, and theories of mental processes developed by Herbart, Weber, Fechner, Helmholtz, Müller, Delboeuf and others, this volume maps the beliefs, discoveries, and interactions that constitute the very origins of psychophysics and its offspring Experimental Psychology. Murray and Link expertly combine nuanced understanding of linguistic and historic factors to identify theoretical approaches to relating physicalintensities and psychological magnitudes. With an eye to interactions and influences on future work in the field, the volume illustrates the important legacy that mathematical developments in the nineteenth century have for twentieth and twenty-first century psychologists. This detailed and engaging account fills a deep gap in the history of psychology. The Creation of Scientific Psychology will appeal to researchers, academics, and students in the fields of history of psychology, psychophysics, scientific, and mathematical psychology.

David J. Murray

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