Psychological instruments

This rich historical resource has already provided the basis for three books. Published under the title “Psychological Apparatus” respectively in 2005, 2006, and 2008, each book provides a description of 50 items from experimental and applied psychology with full-colour illustrations. From these three books, the author has now selected 75 of the best-known items for the English edition. Like the other books, the English edition is subdivided into the two disciplines of experimental and applied psychology. The following topics are covered under experimental psychology: development of graph-plotting apparatus, measurement of reaction times, control apparatus, colour mixers, ergographs, sense of vision and optical illusions. Some of the apparatus from experimental psychology were in use at the time of Wilhelm Wundt. Items such as the rotation apparatus for complication tests after Wilhelm Wundt, the medium control hammer, the kymograph, the Marey‘s capsule and the voice key after Römer, to mention but a few, could be found in his laboratory in Leipzig from 1879 onwards. The topics relating to commercial psychology, a subdiscipline of applied psychology, include railway and road transport testing apparatus, traffi c management and general occupational aptitude tests. The author fi nds the historical name Psychotechnik (“psycho-technology”) particularly appropriate for this sub-discipline of applied psychology from the 1920s onwards, since many of these items could not have been manufactured without technical knowledge. The author: Christian Paulitsch has been the restorer at the Institute for History of Modern Psychology for more than 20 years. He directs the Instrument and Apparatus Collection there, with responsibility for restoration and conservation, and is responsible for conservation in the other areas of the collection. He has entered all the items in the collection in a register, an inventory and in digital format in a text processing program (Lars up to 2008 and Citavi from 2008). Author’s e-mail: info@psychologischeapparate. de