Text 4: Cambridge University department of Psychology

In 1877 James Ward proposed to open a laboratory in Cambridge to study psychophysics, the relation between the physical properties of stimuli and experienced sensations. This proposal was rejected by the University because it would “ insult religion by putting the soul on a pair of scales ”. However, in 1897, William Rivers was appointed University Lecturer in Physiological and Experimental Psychology. Rivers was to become famous as a neurologist, psychologist, anthropologist, and psychiatrist.

In 1901 Psychology acquired a room, in 1903 a property in Mill Lane, and in 1912 the Psychological Laboratory was founded. Research and teaching in experimental psychology is continued to the present day.

The Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge is famous for its teaching. Students are taught by researchers of international importance and many of its past students have important positions in psychology and related fields throughout, the world.

The University of Cambridge is unusual because undergraduates are not admitted to the Department of Psychology. The subject is taught as an experimental science at second and third-year levels within the Natural Sciences. All undergraduates at Cambridge study for the Bachelor of Arts degree – even those studying the sciences. The Department admits graduates to study for research degrees. These include the Ph.D. (requiring three years of research) and the M.S. (two years).

The research staff includes university teaching officers (lecturers, and professors), research assistants, laboratory staff, and graduate students. They conduct psychological research on sensory perception, attention, memory, language, psychopathology, associative, animal behavior, and drug addiction.