Normalizing the Supernormal: The Formation of the “Gesellschaft Für Psychologische Forschung” (“Society for Psychological Research”), c. 1886–1890

Abstract

This paper traces the formation of the German “Gesellschaft für psychologische Forschung” (“Society for Psychological Research”), whose constitutive branches in Munich and Berlin were originally founded as inlets for alternatives to Wundtian experimental psychology from France and England, that is, experimental researches into hypnotism and alleged supernormal phenomena. By utilizing the career trajectories of Max Dessoir and Albert von Schrenck-Notzing as founding members of the “Gesellschaft,” this paper aims to open up novel perspectives regarding extra-scientific factors involved in historically determining the epistemological and methodological boundaries of nascent psychology in Germany.

Are you afraid of the dark? Notes on the psychology of belief in histories of science and the occult

“…The strange story of the coinage of the term ‘Parapsychologie’ by Max Dessoir also lends itself to an interpretation along these lines. Following attacks by Wundt and other leaders of the new psychological profession, Dessoir, a young psychologist who had initially tried to expand the methodological scope of German psychological experimentation in the late 1880s through an integration of parapsychological research, promptly embarked on a much safer career as a self-appointed guardian of rationality and Volksaufklärer (Sommer, 2013b). …”

Léon Marillier and the veridical hallucination in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century French psychology and psychopathology

“…When the ‘father’ of modern American psychology, William James, began to adopt the research programme of his friends Gurney and Myers, and publicly announced his conviction of the authenticity of the Boston trance medium Leonora Piper (e.g. James, 1896), attempts by psychological colleagues to repudiate psychical research intensified (Coon, 1992; Sommer, 2013a: ch.4; Sommer, 2013b; Taylor, 1996).…”

Hallucinations and Illusions by Edmund Parish: the unlikely genesis and curious fate of a forgotten masterpiece

“…384). As a free man again, he got married straightaway, and joined (or perhaps reconnected with) the Munich section of the GfpF, the distinguished scientific society which counted among its honorary members international notables such as Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault (1823–1904), Hippolyte Bernheim (1840–1919), Charles Richet (1850–1935), Henry Sidgwick (1838–1900), Frederic Myers (1843–1901), Cesare Lombroso (1836–1909), William James, Joseph Jastrow (1863–1944) and Eduard von Hartmann (1842–1906) ( Sommer, 2013 ). Edmund moved freely in these circles, participating in scientific meetings, and presenting papers at GfpF conferences held in Munich, Paris and London ( Anon., 1895 ).…”

“…Remarkably, within a mere four years of his release from Katzenellenbogen, his Über die Trugwahrnehmung was published as part of a series of monographs (the Second Collection of Writings of the GfpF) ( Parish, 1894 ). At the time, the GfpF catered chiefly for an orthodox audience ( Sommer, 2013 ), which meant that Parish’s work fell squarely within the boundaries of the organization’s agenda, and was applauded by like-minded people such as the philosopher and experimental psychologist Arthur Wreschner (1866–1932) ( Wreschner, 1898 ). The recognition and praise must have greatly aided Parish’s rehabilitation.…”