Eidetic Imagery and Typological Methods of Investigation

Their Importance for the Psychology of Childhood, the Theory of Education and General Psychology

E.R. Jaensch, Jaensch, E R

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9780415757904
• eBook ISBN:
  9781136306327
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Health Care Delivery

This is Volume V of twenty-one in the Cognitive Psychology series. First published in 1930, this study looks at the most important aspect of Eidetics-the theory of eidetic or perceptual images (Anschauungsbilder)-as being its development that represents the first systematic application of typological methods of investigation. The author suggests that if these methods are consistently applied, they will, it seems, throw new light on many departments of psychology.

PART I

EIDETIC IMAGERY AND TYPOLOGICAL METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY

THE most important aspect of Eidetics—the theory of eidetic or perceptual images (Anschauungsbilder)—is that its development represents the first systematic application of typological methods of investigation. If these methods are consistently applied, they will, it seems, throw new light on many departments of our science. The new methods of approach, and the insight they give us, are best studied in the field of eidetic images, in which they originated. It is still occasionally assumed that eidetic imagery has been the exclusive material of our investigations. But in this book we shall have occasion to discuss investigations along other lines as well. Nevertheless, the new methods, and the insight they give us, are best described in the field in which they had their origin. For it is in this field that they have their most important applications, whose possibilities have by no means been exhausted, in spite of many years of labour.

Optical perceptual (or eidetic) images are phenomena that take up an intermediate position between sensations and images. Like ordinary physiological after-images, they are always seen in the literal sense. They have this property of necessity and under all conditions, and share it with sensations. In other respects they can also exhibit the properties of images (Vorstellungen). In those cases in which the imagination has little influence, they are merely modified afterimages, deviating from the norm in a definite way, and when that influence is nearly, or completely zero, we can look upon them as slightly intensified after-images. In the other limiting case, when the influence of the imagination is at its maximum, they are ideas that, like after-images, are projected outward and literally seen. Just as there are different shades of orange, which all lie somewhere between pure red and pure yellow, so, too, the slightly intensified after-image and the projected, literally visible, memory image are the limiting cases between which the eidetic images lie. It was found that the point between these extremes at which the phenomenon of eidetic images manifests itself, whether it approximates to, or coincides with one or other pole, depends on the psychophysical constitution. We can therefore make use of a similar symbolic representation, as is usual in colour theories. We may imagine a line drawn between the two ‘end-points’ red and yellow, so that the various shades of yellow are represented by points on this line. Similarly, we may imagine a line drawn between the ‘end-points,’ pure physiological after-images, and outwardly projected, literally visible, memory images. The points on this line would then represent different types of eidetic images, sometimes approaching after-images, sometimes memory images. Because of the fluctuations in the personality, however, we cannot assign one definite point to the eidetic image, but must assign to it a finite range within which the phenomenon can fluctuate according to the momentarily operative functional circumstances (experimental conditions), now approaching the one pole, now the other. The localization of the phenomenon on our symbolic line depends in the first place, therefore, on a permanent factor, the constitution of the personality. But since the personality often changes in the course of development, it would be better to say that localization depends on a relatively permanent, constitutionally determined factor. In the second place, it depends to a lesser degree on a momentary, functionally determined factor. This can be introduced at any moment and depends on the particular circumstances or experimental conditions in which we happen to place the person to be investigated.

It must be especially emphasized that this schema has not been evolved by a priori construction: we have been led to it by rigorously empirical procedure. Detailed investigations extending over many years, on an extensive material drawn first from Marburg and later from places all over Germany, have repeatedly shown that the phenomena can be brought into line with this schema. We have only placed it at the beginning of these discussions because it gives the clearest preliminary orientation as to the nature of eidetic images. The description of the empirical investigations and their results will soon fill this abstract schema with the life of concrete particulars.

For the great majority of adults there is an unbridgeable gulf between sensations and images. It has always been known that for a few individuals this is not true. Some people have peculiar ‘intermediate experiences’ between sensations and images. From the description that such people have given of these experiences, and from the characterization we have just given of eidetic images, we must conclude that their ‘experiences’ are due to eidetic images. These phenomena, it is true, are rare among average adults. Their existence would, however, not have been doubted so often, and they would have been found to be fairly frequent even in adults, if those scientifically interested in such things had not always made their observations on people whose environment and interests were similar to their own, and therefore directed to abstract pursuits. One should occasionally take one’s material from amongst people who are more concretely inclined. Better still, subjects should not always be taken from philosophical class-rooms or psychological institutes, but occasionally from an academy of fine arts, or a group of people with artistic leanings and pursuits, to mention a group that is as widely different from the first as possible.

We have often received enquiries as to the methods by which eidetic imagery can best be discovered, especially among school children. For this reason, and also because tests have occasionally been carried out by unsuitable methods, we shall give a few methodical instructions, as far as our limited space allows.

First of all we have to take care that the individuals to be investigated understand us correctly when we talk about phenomena that can literally be seen. Otherwise children might understand us to be referring merely to visual memory images. We must therefore demonstrate to them exactly what it means to see something, although no object is actually present. This will have to be done for some case that is realizable whether the subject has eidetic images or not. The only case where this is possible is in physiological afterimages, which are obtained when a simple object of intense colour is fixated for some time. We therefore begin each investigation by showing the subject some after-images. A homogeneous red square (5 cm.²) is placed on a homogeneous gray background and fixated for 20 seconds. When it is taken away, the after-image will generally appear on the gray background. The after-image is generally correctly described in the complementary (or nearly complementary) colour, and this gives us a proof that the statements are correct and based on a real experience. If necessary, the time of fixation can be extended. We then explain to the child in words adapted to its intellectual standard, that something is seen here, although there is no object on the gray screen, and that henceforth, whenever we speak of ‘seeing,’ we mean the sort of seeing that has just been realized in the case of after-images. Something must therefore be seen on the screen; it must not remain blank as before the experiment. Eidetic images proper, which we wish to bring forth, are usually best seen on a homogeneous dark gray (not black) background of 50° white and 310° cloth-black on the colour disc. We therefore use such a screen from the very beginning, as well as in the later experiments.

After this first experiment, which is merely meant as a preliminary step towards correct understanding of what we require, it is advisable to repeat it—allowing sufficient time to elapse for the first after-image to die away completely—and to determine the duration or the periodic times of the after-image.

This will already single out some of the eidetic cases, namely those in whose eidetic images there is a strong component related to after-images. In these cases the afterimage is of longer duration and is generally continuous, instead of vanishing periodically and appearing again for a shorter time. For mass investigations we can therefore begin by presenting some object that is suitable for generating after-images to a whole class, or to the group to be investigated. Those who have intensified after-images can then be singled out for more detailed individual investigation, which is necessary in every case. Here we pay special attention to those whose after-images are not in the complementary, but in the original colour, as this points to a relatively high degree of eidetic faculty.

The cases of eidetic imagery that are related to the A.I., and that reveal themselves at this preliminary test, are verified by a second test. A complicated object, e.g. a silhouette picture with numerous details,¹ is fixated for 15 seconds. When the picture is removed, a non-eidetic will see at most a few details on the screen, as experience has shown. If the subject sees the whole picture, or the majority of the details sharply defined, this points with even greater certainty to the presence of the eidetic faculty. If the colour of this ‘after-image’ corresponds to that of the original, we have a certain proof. It must always be remembered, however, that in this way we only discover those cases that have a strong A.I.-like component. The clearness of the image is dependent upon rigid fixation, just as in A.Is. The other component, which in the majority of cases is also present, is within wide limits independent of previous rigid fixation. In fact it appears more easily after a general inspection, which enables one to become more conscious of the details of an object, and this is an important factor in the conceptual component of E.Is.

The third test is based on this. After a sufficiently long interval, the coloured square that was used in the first test is presented for non-fixating inspection for a shorter time (10-15 secs.). If this results in a picture with sharp contours, not merely in an irregular blot, we may look upon this as indicating even more conclusively the presence of the eidetic faculty, particularly if the colour is pronounced as well. We may be absolutely certain, if the colour of the image is the same as that of the original square. But we must not content ourselves with a negative result from such a simple object. The test must always be succeeded by one on a complex, interesting picture that has some meaning (e.g. represents some scene), because the appearance of the conceptual component is not so dependent on fixation or on factors that influence the sense organ. It depends rather on the interest taken in the picture and on the involuntary attention, which is aroused by this interest. The scenic silhouettes, which have been used above, are best used again, because of the strong impression they make on the involuntary attention. Moreover, they are very suitable, because one always has to take account of the A.I.-like component. This is present in the majority of cases and demands an intense sense impression, which the silhouettes are able to give. For the other component, which is dependent more on interest, one should always have a fairly large collection of pictures on different subjects at hand, because those cases in which this component is predominant show a very strong selective tendency. Certain types of objects are preferred, and sometimes give rise to clearer E.Is. by themselves, quite independently of the purely optical qualities, and particularly of the sensory intensity of the picture. Thus we have several times found a higher percentage of eidetics among younger children when animal pictures were used, which interested them, than when the to them more uninteresting pictures of houses were used. It must also be noted that the parts of a picture must not be too much alike, as, e.g. in the well-known Dieffenbach post cards, since this often prevents the correct reappearance of the particulars in the E.I. Furthermore, there must be an inner connection between the various parts of a picture; it must have a meaning as a whole, to be appropriate to the laws of imagination, which are obeyed by the conceptual component of many E.Is. In a demonstration during a lecture, a youth, who normally had very pronounced E.Is., was to his own surprise able to see only a few details, and these indistinctly. The reason was that having no pictures he had not seen before, we had made a new one by cutting parts out of the other pictures and sticking them together. In this way we had produced a test-object with no inner coherence.¹

As a rule the E.Is. are best seen on a dark gray background of the type mentioned above. If the result is negative, however, one should also try the experiment when head and background are in deep shadow, e.g. thrown by a piece of cloth, or let the subject try with his eyes closed. It sometimes happens that the E.I. is only visible under these conditions. In the latter case one should particularly note whether there is any colour contrast along the edges. One also finds that in rare cases the E.I. is best seen on a light background. Finally, one should always note whether E.Is. occur spontaneously under special circumstances, particularly in emotionally toned situations. Even in the weak cases that have the conceptual component, such occasional, spontaneous images are hardly ever entirely lacking, since emotional participation is an important factor in this component.

When analysing the nature of E.Is. one should only take into consideration definite, or ‘manifest’ cases. For a statistical survey, which may follow this analysis, it is necessary also to take into account the ‘latent’ cases. By ‘latent’ we understand those cases in which E.Is. are not directly demonstrable, but only indirectly through abnormal properties of A.Is. or memory images.

Although the disposition for E.Is., even in their more pronounced forms, is widely prevalent up to puberty, we must not expect to find the same, or even approximately the same percentage of eidetics everywhere. In this respect the greatest differences exist between one locality and the next, and in the same place between different classes in a school. The eidetic disposition is correlated with certain constitutional types, whose distribution varies from locality to locality, and this explains the variation in the frequency of pronounced eidetic cases. Far more fundamental, apparently, is its dependence on the type of education, in particular on the difference between the so-called Lernschule in the old sense and the Arbeitsschule in the new. The latter takes far more account of the idiosyncrasies of the child, in particular its natural attention to the world of the senses. This type of school, by continually reinforcing abstract thought with concrete particulars (‘object lessons’), takes into account the desire of the child for activity, and in so doing combats ‘school passivity’ and the lowering of intellectual activity, which otherwise manifest themselves soon after the child’s entrance into school. This is probably the reason why statistical enquiries in schools of this type, in many different German towns, have hitherto always yielded an incomparably larger percentage of eidetics than others (H. Freiling). This dependence on the type of education appears to be more fundamental than the dependence on locality. In numerous classes of this kind almost all pupils (85-90 per cent) were eidetics. Moreover, they were all of the strongly developed type, or at least of a medium type. The weaker cases were practically absent. This fact shows most clearly that the eidetic disposition is a normal quality of youth, which is generally prevalent wherever the common antagonistic processes are absent, where, on the contrary, we carefully avoid forcing the youthful mind prematurely into the mould of the adult.¹ This also indicates the pedagogic importance of this disposition.

There is no contradiction between these facts and dependence on the constitution, which was mentioned above. For children that grow up under these conditions are not only different in respect of educational aims; they also show characteristics connected with the eidetic constitution, which are in no way intended by their particular education. Indeed, they are not even known to the teacher. In the case of such children we have to postulate a youthful organization that is determined by these influences, or rather, preserved and guarded by them. Furthermore, the connection between eidetic disposition and general constitutional structure has to be acknowledged, because these favourable conditions are not usually present. Those individuals will therefore prove to be eidetics of the more pronounced type, whose constitution is most favourable to this mode of experience and gives rise to eidetic phenomena in spite of the resisting factors that are usually present.

It must seem exceedingly strange to anyone who has worked with these phenomena, and has been forcibly impressed by the observed facts, that doubts are still occasionally expressed as to the psychic reality of these phenomena, or that some people cannot bring themselves to recognize them as a peculiar, distinct class of psychic phenomena, allocating them instead either to physiological A.Is. or to visual memory images. Anyone who has performed such experiments over and again and on continually fresh material, can never hold this opinion. In many cases an explanation by means of visual memory images is excluded by the accuracy with which pictures are described in every detail. But above all, such an interpretation becomes quite impossible if we consider the way in which such pictures arise and disappear, and the whole attitude of the subjects towards them. The preceding experiment with A.Is. serves to make the difference between mere ‘imagining’ and actual ‘seeing’ so clear to moderately intelligent children, that the possibility of confusion is excluded. With eidetic adults, who are not at all rare, and who are always used as controls, such confusion is naturally impossible. The difference between actually seeing and merely imagining is particularly...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Series
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Part I Eidetic Imagery and Typological Methods in Psychology
• Part II ‘Naturalistic' and ‘Humanistic' Psychology1
• Part III Recent Developments in Eidetics, with Particular Reference to the General Psychology of the Senses and to Typology
• Appendix Eidetics, the Development of Perception, and the Bases of our Conception of Reality. A Discussion of Some Controversies
• Index of Names
• Index of Subjects