Albert Michotte

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Baron Albert Edouard Michotte van den Berck (October 13, 1881, Brussels, Belgium – June 2, 1965) was a Belgian psychologist.

[edit] Life

Michotte was born to a distinguished, well-to-do, noble Catholic family.^[1] He enrolled at the University of Louvain at the age of sixteen, originally as a student of philosophy. He obtained his license in 1899 in the study of phisiology and the pyschology of sleep, and in 1900, his doctorat in philosophy with a thesis on Spencer's ethics. However, most of his interest was drawn toward experimental research, and so enrolled in the department of natural sciences where he joined the laboratory for two years, the same which had once been used by Arthur Van Gehuchten. It was during this time that he made his first scientific contributions: two publications on the histiology of the nerve cell. After having a conversation with Désiré Mercier, founder of Louvain's laboratory of experimental psychology, was when he finally decided to dedicate himself to psychology. He began working under Armand Thiéry, who had been the laboratory director since 1894. Michotte wrote a publication on his research on tactual sense in 1905 based on his first experimental work. Between 1905 and 1908, he spent one semester of each year in Germany, working first with Wilhelm Wundt at Leipzig, then at Würzburg with Oswald Külpe. During this time he was also giving a course at Louvain on experimental psychology the other half of the year. Most of his early work, that before World War I, was focused on logical memory and voluntary choice. Much of this was influenced by Külpe, through employing "systematic experimental introspection".^[2]

After Louvain burned in the beginning of World War I, Michotte fled the country, as many other Belgians of the time did. He went to the Netherlands where he stayed until 1918. There he worked with a friend at the Utrecht laboratory, studying the measurement of acoustic energy. After the war he returned to Belgium and returned to his teaching post and research at Louvain. Through his involvement, the teaching and research of psychology at Louvain underwent a considerable expansion and several additional professors were appointed. Michotte organized an Institut de Psychologie in 1944, which was able to grant the degree of docteur en pyschologie. Throughout these years, even during World War II, Michotte was completely devoted to his work, and had little time for other activities or interests. He would often travel to various foreign universities to present papers. He also attended every International Congress of Psychology from 1905 until the 1950s. In 1952 he became professor emeritus, though continued to teach a course in perception in to 1956. He continued to frequent the laboratory, however in 1962 he suffered a small cardiac attack, which sent him to a clinic for several months. Yet even there he continued to write and direct experiments through the help of his colleagues. He remained active until a few weeks before his death. Housebound for the last three years of his life, he died in his home in 1965.^[2]

[edit] Work

The main focus of Michotte's research was perception. This was the theme of his first research, and it was to this field, albeit with a new perspective, that almost all of his work after 1940 is devoted. He also had a reputation for creating new and creative techniques and instruments.^[2] His 1945 book, The Perception of Causality, published in French, became the pioneer work in event perception and met with international acclaim. However, he did not see the study of perception of causality as a simple isolated problem. Instead he thought of it as he did most of his research, as only one aspect of a broader field of study. Indeed as he says in his autobiography he did not see his work as a simple "hunt for facts", but rather as part of a larger problem.^[1]

[edit] Notes