Discuss the importance of Helmholtz’s work for the development of psychology as a science.
Helmholtz was considered as one of the first empiricist that explains the concept of perception and sensation. According to Helmholtz, one’s own mind creates a specific accurate conception of reality from the various signs that are received by the sensory systems of the body. He believed that a dynamic relationship exists between sensation, volition and reflection that attempt to create a functional view of external reality.
Infact, Helmholtz postulated an active mind, he also accepted the empirical rationale towards the origins of the contents of the mind. He was scientifically empirical by showing that the transmission of nerve is not instantaneous but, it is slow and displays the processes of physical operation. He showed the mechanisms behind with experimental rigor that interacts with the physical world and explained in the terms of physical and objective laws.
Helmholtz figured out that there is some kind of physical entity is present that experienced the perfection and discrepancy of psychology in the terms of the properties of the receptor systems and the observer’s unconscious inferences. Thus, it brought chemistry, physics, physiology and psychology closer together that shows the way for the emergence of experimental psychology. So, in this way, Helmholtz developed the concept of psychology as a science.