Gustav Theodor Fechner: biography of the father of psychophysics

This brilliant researcher initiated the scientific discipline from which psychology was born.

Although interest in the human psyche has existed since ancient times, it was not until Wilhelm Wundt's contributions and the creation by him of the first laboratory dedicated to his research that psychology is considered the birth of psychology as a scientific discipline.

But the truth is that in addition to Wundt, other authors have been of great importance in the beginnings and development of psychology as a science, the first moments of this being linked to the creation of psychophysics. In this sense, the figure of Gustav Theodor Fechner, considered the father of this discipline and of whom a brief biography is presented in this article..

Brief biography of Gustav Theodor Fechner

Son of a Protestant pastor, Gustav Theodor Fechner was born on April 19, 1801 in Gross-Särchen, now part of Germany.which is now part of Germany. His early education was traditional and in a religious environment, being the spiritual an aspect that would have great relevance in his life. His father died of illness when Fechner was five years old. What followed was one of the most important careers in the scientific study of psychophysics.

Formative years, marriage and teaching position.

Fechner was initially interested in medicine, beginning his studies in this subject at the Medizinisch-Chirurgische Akademie in Dresden. However, in 1818 he would enter the University of Leipzig, where he would meet and work with Weber. His interests gradually shifted to the world of physics. At the age of 29 he met Clara Volkmann, whom he married three years later.whom he would marry three years later. In 1834, a year after his marriage, he accepted a position at the university as a professor of physics.

It would be when he began researching color that he would begin to show his interest in the psychic professionally, initially working with the perception of color and the subjectivity with which it was with which it was captured, conducting various experiments in this area.

Brief incapacitation and reflection on philosophy

In 1840 Fechner would suffer a severe vision problemcaused in great part by a prolonged exposure of his retina to the sun, which left him blind. The effects of the blindness, coupled with the pressure he was under as a university professor, eventually rendered Fechner so incapacitated that he had to temporarily leave his teaching position at the university. He suffered a deep depression for about three years.

In this period of his life he grew their concerns about the essence of things and metaphysical aspects such as the soul and the body. and the body. This author considered that the physical and the spiritual were not separate elements, but reflected different sides of the same reality. He held that all living things had their own soul, and even inorganic matter possessed spirit, a point of view reminiscent of that of the philosopher Baruch Spinoza. After three years, he emerged from his depressed state to begin to feel sensations of well-being, euphoria and exaltation that he himself would call the pleasure principle.

His interest in the metaphysical aspects of reality and his conviction that body and mind were united would lead him, once he recovered, to re-enter the University of Spinoza, to rejoin the University of Leipzig as a professor, but this time of philosophy.but this time of philosophy. In 1848 he published Nanna; oder Über das Seelenleben der Pflanzen (Nanna, or On the Spiritual Life of Plants) and Zend-Avesta; oder Über die Dinge des Himmels und des Jenseits, von Standpunkt der Naturbetrachtung (Zend-Avesta or On the Things of Heaven and Beyond from the Standpoint of Nature), both works that would deal with elements such as the link between body and spirit.

The birth of psychophysics

Fechner would conduct various experiments to demonstrate the mind-body linkage, and searched for years for a mathematical model and equation that would determine the existence of relationship between the material and spiritual/mental aspects.

His research included the analysis and observation of the models proposed by Weber and the observation of the existence of absolute and relative thresholds in stimulus uptake, having great importance in the improvement and extension of what is known as "Weber's Law".

In 1860 he systematized his works and discoveries and published the book that would provoke the birth of psychophysics as a discipline of its own, "Elements of Psychophysics".Elements of Psychophysics, in which he explored the mathematical and physical relationships between body and mind through the investigation of sensation and perception.

He also explored aspects such as measurement errorsHis interest in the spiritual continued in aspects such as spiritualism or the currently known as parapsychology. He continued publishing several works dedicated to different aspects, such as aesthetics, and expanding his interest and research in topics close to his principle of pleasure or humor.

Fechner's death and legacy

Gustav Theodor Fechner died on November 1887 in Leipzig. His works have meant a remarkable advance that allowed psychology to be born as a science, influencing authors such as Wundt or Sigmund Freud.

Psychophysics and the psychometry that derives from italso remains an important part of current experimental psychology, especially that which has to do with behaviorism.