Before Koch Hall housed the Department of Art, before it even was called Koch Hall, it was a new building dedicated to the study of chemistry and psychology. Post cards of the era called it simply The Chemistry-Psychology Building.
Its dedication in the fall of 1927 was accompanied by two academic conferences, one of chemists and the other of psychologists. The psychologists’ conference, which included read papers from numerous international scholars, examined the emotions and was touted as the first of its kind. It received extensive coverage from local newspapers, and caught the attention of The New York Times. The following episodes are drawn from the Times coverage.
On October 20th, Dr. Morton Prince (Harvard Medical School) squared off against Dr. Albert P. Weiss (Ohio State). Prince was of the “introspectionist” school, much influenced by William James of Harvard, while Weiss was among the “behaviorists,” a point of view much influenced at the time by John B. Watson of Columbia University.
According to the Times:
Dr. Weiss had declared that emotions did not modify man’s behavior, suggesting that what men think, consciousness, is merely the moving picture thrown on the screen of their minds after the real drama has taken place in the street outside.
Prince asked Weiss whether he considered men merely “automata, mere robots without souls of conscious experience.” Suppose, he said, you stole some valuable oil lands, would you “tell the jury that the act was merely the functioning of a nervous system you could not control?”
Speakers at the conference claimed that controlling the emotions is the key to success, and that is why the “cold-blooded” often succeed in life. Business leaders and coaches may be emotional to some extent “but are never deeply moved. They keep their heads, because emotion has become sort of a sport to them, or the half-way mark between work and play.”
On the other hand, the “yes men” of the leaders of industry and the players who take their orders from the coach are emotional in the extreme. Emotion disrupts their thinking, blurs them, blinds them and they are such when a crisis comes.
At a dinner the next night, Dr. Edwin S. Slossons looked to when “the chemist of the future would turn from his humble task of providing the conveniences of life and gain control of life itself.” “He may mold stature and character as the sculptor molds clay. He can turn his attention to the preparation of compounds that will contribute to human welfare instead of woe and stimulate virtues and vices.”
About The Project
With Wittenberg now celebrating its 175th year, and the University unable to hold regular in-person classes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor of History Thomas T. Taylor has started circulating several pieces on Wittenberg's history. Some originated in earlier series, either This Month in Wittenberg History or Happy Birthday Wittenberg. Others have their origin in the Wittenberg History Project or in some other, miscellaneous project. Sincerest thanks to Professor Taylor for connecting alumni, faculty, staff, and students through a historic lens.