What Is The Absolute Threshold, The Terminal Threshold And The Difference Threshold?

Toward the end of the Enlightenment Era, psychology was born. (Unit 8 Introduction.) Two early experimenters, Weber and Fechner, focused on the study of sensory abilities, later terming this study psychophysics. (Fechner Video.) Currently, this study includes the concepts of the absolute threshold, the terminal threshold and the difference threshold. (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014.) The absolute threshold is the weakest stimuli people can perceive. Many examples of this concept includes the use of sound to prove that there are some levels of pitches that people may not be able to hear. In the real world, the absolute threshold exists in every modality. (Unit 8 Introduction.) The terminal threshold can be seen as the exact opposite of the scale.

(Weber’s Law Video.) There has been a sudden rise in the testing of Weber’s law, after obesity started to skyrocket in the United States. One study used psychophysical comparisons to show that obese individuals experience normal sweet and fat sensations. They like sweetness the same or less, but like fat more than the non-obese do. (Bartoshuk, Duffy, Hayes, Moskowitz, & Snyder, 2006.) Through this study, they were able to provide evidence that the sensory properties of sweet and fat vary with body mass index. The obese seem to have a completely different set of oral senses than the non-obese. The obese experience reduced sweetness, which probably intensifies fat sensations. (Bartoshuk et. al.,

Even though it was the beginning of psychology, it brought much controversy. (Unit 8 Introduction.) The Structuralists were influenced by the chemists who had discovered the elements in the periodic table. The essence of Structuralism was to understand the elements of the mind, now referred to as mental chemistry. (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014.) Wilhelm Wundt was an important person in this school. He believed that difference in reaction time would test the brain and measure decision making. (Unit 8 Introduction.) Wundt’s version of testing decision making would often consist of using introspection. A psychology based on introspection was difficult to defend. Two groups, Titchener and Wurzburg group, disagreed with one another. (Introspection Video.) These two groups in Structuralism engaged in an argument with no proven solution. As a result, a number of new schools arose, each having a different problem with Structuralism. The Behaviorists held the firm belief that introspection would never be a science. Functionalists wanted a school that was practical, putting their focus into education and individual differences. Psychoanalysts were interested in helping people who suffered from anxiety and depression. (Unit 8 Introduction.) These differencing views, along with others, lead to the death of Structuralism. There are now over ten schools of psychology. (Introspection