Meaning
The word Psychophysics is
made up of Psychology + Physics.
Psychology = Psychological variables (Specially Sensation and Perception)
of an individual.
Physics = Physical Properties of Stimulus
Means studying the
relationship between psychological phenomenon and physical properties of a stimulus.
The branch of
psychological science that study relationship between psychological phenomenon
and physical properties of a stimulus.
The relationship between
stimuli and the sensations they evoke has been studied in a discipline, called
psychophysics (NCERT, XI).
“The analysis of
perceptual processes by studying the effect on a subject's experience or
behaviour of systematically varying the properties of a stimulus along one or
more physical dimensions” (Bruce et. Al 1996 quoted by Wikipedia).
Problems of Psychophysics
(i) Quantification of Psychic
State – Quantification of Psychic State – Psychic state is qualitative and
subjective variable that needs to converted into a quantitative variable for
testing. It is achieved through the expression of sum total of characteristics
of a variable in objective form.
(ii) Measurement of Psychic
State – Assessment of a variable for its magnitude as well as intensity,
(iii) Scaling – Determining the
location of an object on a scale or continuum means to allot a numerical value.
These are helpful in establishing cause-effect relationships between variables.
(iv) Determination of functional
relationships and their mathematical expression. Because mathematical
expressions or models are helpful in estimating the quantitative behaviour of
any system. They help to explain known physical phenomena and are helpful in
predicting their behaviour in time.
(v) Manipulation – Quantitative
change in the magnitude or intensity of a variable in order to have pure
outcomes i.e. external interference free inferences.
(vi) Objective measurement of magnitude
of Sensation – Strength of sensory experience. Fechner’s law (1860) states that
the intensity of sensation (perception) is proportional to the logarithm of the
intensity of stimulation, therefore the stimuli that are more relevant in
intensity, quality, rarity, etc. will be best received by individuals and
produce fewer errors (Liutsko & Ral, 2014),
(vii) Measurement of Sense
Experience – Assessment of level,
(viii) Minimizing Human errors
which are of three types i.e. perception, errors in decision and errors in sensation
(Liutsko & Ral, 2014),
(ix) Errors in Decision Making,
and
(x) Observational Errors.
References:
1. NCERT, XI Psychology Text
book.
2. Bruce. V., Green, P. R.
& Georgeson, M. A. (1996). Visual perception (3rd ed.). Psychology Press.
3. Ral, J. M. T. &
Liutsko, L. (2014). Human errors: Their psychophysical bases and the
Proprioceptive Diagnosis of Temperament and Character (DP-TC) as a tool for
measuring. Psychology in Russia: State of the Art 7(2), 48-63.
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