Alfred Lang

@Act -- Acting, Action
@Act -- Handeln, Handlung
	Zum Begriffskomplex: Verhalten, Handeln, Tätigkeit.

(15) Lang, Alfred (1993) Handeln als Anbieten -- Lesehilfe zur semiotischen Ökologie. Bern, Institut für Psychologie der Universität. 6 Pp.

@Act @SemEcoPro @CuPsy 1993_17

Written as an aid to reading the papers from our group and related materal in view of understanding semiotic ecology, our approach to culture inclusive psychology and special topics such as the idea action placed in the perspective of changes in the environment or profferences to the members of a smaller or larger community.

(14) Cole, Michael; Lang, Alfred & Raeithel, Arne et al. (1992) Acting in Culture: Creating a Practically useful Cultural Psychology. (Research Proposal.) Reports from the Group Environmental and Cultural Psychology. Bern, Univ. Bern, Psychologisches Institut. 11 Pp.

@CuPsy @Act 1992_08

(13) Lang, Alfred (1992) Kultur als 'externe Seele' -- eine semiotisch-ökologische Perspektive. (Beiträge zum 2. Symposium der Gesellschaft für Kulturpsychologie, Mittersill, 9.-12.5.91.) In: Christian Allesch; Elfriede Billmann-Mahecha & Alfred Lang (Eds.) Psychologische Aspekte des kulturellen Wandels. Wien, Verlag des Verbandes der wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaften Österreichs. Pp. 9-30

@CuPsy @SemEcoPro @Act @PhiSci 1992_01

Culture as "external mind": a semiotic-ecological perspective. Psychology should consider the basic cultural constitution of man as well as the biological one. A conception of relationship between people and culture is described in 15 theses ranging from philosophy of science to applications. This perspective proposes to study with the same conceptual tools both individuals and their environments as subsystems of one ecological unit and constituting each other as persons and culture in a continuous and open exchange process. This ecological process is conceived as a four-phased function circle elaborated on Jakob von Uexküll´s ideas. Each of the four phases is considered to function as a semiosis along conceptions proposed by Charles S. Peirce. Triadic semiosis means structure formation from the encounter of two previous structures. Perceptual and actional as well as mental and cultural processes are then described in the same semiotic construction. Mind and culture prove to be functionally equivalent in their role of saving important information for later use in controlling action and development. A few consequences of this conception are briefly elaborated, viz. the temporal dialoguics between internal and external psychological structures resulting in development; psycho-social regulation, i.e. the attainment of autonomy and integration of individuals and groups; and communication conceived as double semiosis.

Nach einer kurzen Bewertung verschiedener Weisen, Kultur im psychologischen Denken und Forschen geltend zu machen wird ein semiotisch-ökologisches Programm skizziert. Ausgangspunkt ist die These, dass zwischen dem ontogenetisch aufgebaute Gedächtnis innerhalb der psychischen Organisation und den durch Handeln erzeugten externen Strukturen, die wir Kultur nennen, kein prinzipieller Unterschied in der Funktion bestehe, die meisten menschlichen Belange überdies beider bedürften. Es scheint möglich, den Aufbau und die Veränderungen der internen wie der externen Strukturen sowie ihr Zusammenwirken in Mensch-Umwelt-Systemen in einer im Anschluss an Charles S. Peirce's triadischen Ansatz entwickelten psychologischen Semiotik zu begreifen. Das führt in Fortführung des Ansatz von Jakob von Uexküll zur Konzeption eines vierphasigen semiotischen Funktionskreises. Das Verständnis der semiotischen Vorgänge innerhalb der externen Strukturen ist die Aufgabe der Kulturwissenschaften; das Verständnis der Vorgänge in den internen Strukturen wird traditionell als Psychologie verstanden, begegnet allerdings grössten Schwierigkeiten, weil Gegenstand und Methode zusammenfallen. Von aussen her durchführbar ist jedoch eine ökologisch-psychologische Semiotik der Transaktionen zwischen Menschen und ihrer Umgebung, nämlich des Wahrnehmens als dem Aufbau von internen, und des Handelns als der Erzeugung von externen Zeichensystemen.

(12) Lang, Alfred (1991-89)Handpostille für Studierende -- Gruppe Lang. (Gedanken und Empfehlungen zum besseren Studieren.) 2. verb. Aufl. mit separatem Anhang. Bern: Psychologisches Institut der Universität. 95 Pp.

@SciPolPrax @Educ @Act 1991_01

(11) Lang, Alfred (1989) Handpostille für Studierende -- Gruppe Lang. (Eine Anleitung zum Studieren). Bern: Psychologisches Institut der Universität. 65 Pp.

@SciPolPrax @Educ @Act 1989_01 (siehe 2. Aufl. 1991)

(10) Lang, Alfred (1987) TWINKEY: Twin-Key-Mouse / Zwillings-Tasten-Maus: Projekt für ein universelles Computer-Daten- und Befehlseingabegerät. Psychol. Inst. Univ. Bern. Manuscript 12 Pp.

@HumComp @Act 1987_07

(9) Lang, Alfred & Calmonte, Roland (1985) Der Lokomotivführer und seine Streckensignale: Psychologische Analyse eines Mensch-Maschine-Systems. Beiträge zur 12. Schweiz. Forschertagung der Schweiz. Gesellschaft für Psychologie, Basel, 7.3.85. Ms.19 Pp.

@Act 1985_07

(8) Lang, Alfred & Calmonte, Roland (1984) Expertise zur Entwicklung eines neuen Signalsystems der SBB aus psychologischer Sicht. (Eine handlungstheoretische Analyse und Grundsätze zur Signalystem-Gestaltung.) Psychol. Institut Univ. Bern. Nr. 61 Pp.

@EnvPsy @Act 1984_03

(7) Lang, Alfred (1982) Textverarbeitung im arbeitspsychologischen Vergleich. Mikro- und Kleincomputer Nr. 4 vom Pp. 27-31.

@HumComp @Act 1982_10

Psychologisch-ergonomischer Vergleich zwischen den Textverarbeitungsapplikationen "Wordstar" und "Spellbinder". Betont wird das Verhältnis des Benutzers zu seinem Text und der Maschine.

(6) Lang, Alfred; Kaufmann, Franz; Kopp, Walter & Groner, Rudolf (1981) Experimentelle Untersuchung zur Verbesserung eines Vorsignalbildes der Schweizerischen Bundesbahnen. Zeitschrift für experimentell und angewandte Psychologie 28 (1) 160-174.

@EnvPsy @Act @Perc 1981_02

(5) Lang, Alfred; Kaufmann, Franz & Kopp, Walter (1973) Experimentelle Untersuchung zur Verbesserung des Vorsignalbildes F--5* (im Auftrag der Schweizerischen Bundesbahnen). Bern, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen. Nr. 28 Pp.

@EnvPsy @Perc @Act 1973_02

(4) Lang, Alfred (1973) Der Umgang mit Dauer: ein neues Modell der inneren Uhr. In: G. Reinert (Ed.) Bericht über den 27. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Psychologie in Kiel 1972. Göttingen, Hogrefe, 1973. Pp. 587-596

@Time @Perc @Act 1973_01

Abstr.: vgl. Lang 1971

(3) Lang, Alfred (1971) Die innere Uhr als multiples System: Beitrag zur Psychologie der Zeitwahrnehmung und des Zeitverhaltens.Habilitationsschrift, Mai 1971, Phil.-hist. Fakultät der Universität Bern. 190 Pp..

@Time @Perc @Act 1971_01

Follwing a brief exposition of the psychological problem of time a thorough review of the literature on the psychophysics of time is presented. All available data on duration discrimination and the psychophysical function since the 1850 and and accessible in a format suitable for the purpose are transformed and represented in graphical form. The results are devastating when considered against the expectation that the functions should form a pattern allowing statements of the form: psychological duration and its discrimination can be described as a such and such function of physical duration. To sum it up briefly: the data points covered the function sheets practically all over.

Procedure and results of two experiments are then presented which were performed on the assumption that some internal clock as a basis of psychological time functions in principle like a physical clock as a unit counting device, in that (a) there exists some elementary minimal unit of duration (often called the psychological moment and identified with the minimum of discrimination, sometimes thought of as a random process to be gauged only indirectly), and that (b) there is a counting device keeping track of the number of units passed in seriation since some reference moment and the present in estimating, or between the present and some later point in time in producing some given interval of duration. The experiments work on the idea that a presumable change in the length of the unit time should result in some systematic prolongation or condensation of estimations or productions of longer intervals. Both experiments failed to demonstrate the effect.

Considerations are then advanced as to the reasonableness of such mechanistic devices for an achievement of organisms so absolutely essential for their life and for the functioning of their social behavior. An alternative model, called the multiple internal clock, is thence presented that is closer to an organistic or dynamic system kind of thought. It works under the assumption that every organism sustains a large number of more or less regular oscillatory processes, some of them synchronized with environmental cyclic events; as a sum total they would provide a much more steady and reliable source of timing than any single process, whatever its nature was. So the internal "clock" might work upon the central representations of many such cyclicities in combination. Finding out about the kinds of combination would be an empirical task for the psychology of time in cooperation with physiology of the respective neural and humoral processes. A major advantage of the multiple model, in addition its higher stability and relative immunity to disturbations, would lie in its comparative economy: depending on the length of intervals to be estimated or produced, the multiple clock could give a respective weight to faster or slower components, whereas a unit counting device would have to keep count of zillions of units when dealing with longer intervals and also had to strain memory for keeping separate the many counts running simultaneously in any life situation of moderate complexity.

The first task in following this line of theorizing empirically might reasonably some demonstration that more than one unit-type entities were at work in estimating or producing temporal intervals and that they would operate semi-independently from each other while remaining pertinent in the timing behavior. An experimental situation was designed that allowed for gauging a small number of shorter cyclicities while producing a longer interval. Subjects were asked to look at random dot patterns of some 50 to 100 points and display the pattern for a shorter or longer stretch of time depending on the number of poins present. They were repeatedly to engage in this sort of "coding" activity for longer stretches of time, say 4, 5, 6, or 7 minutes. The "coding" durations were freely chosen by the subjects and quickly stabilized in regions of the order of one to five seconds or so. The frequency distributions of the "coding" intervals' duractions could thus be put in relation to the longer duration productions and their covariation was analyzed. The results clearly indicated some degree of metastability of the short intervals and correlation with the produced duration of the longer intervals. When taken as a group indicative of the multiple inner clock, the short intervals would tend to keep their characteristic interrelations and provide for stable longer estimates. When brought to a change by means of alterations in the point patterns presented they would shift their constellation to a new pattern, and this would show effects in the longer productions.

While the experiments done so far could not be taken as a proof of the validity of the multiple clock model, it provided enough evidence on the mutual and patterned dependencies of several temporal components in timing behavior, that the proposed approach is considered to be promising.

(2) Lang, Alfred (1967) Über Wahrnehmungsverhalten beim 8- bis 10-wöchigen Säugling. Psychologische Forschung 30 357-399.

@Perc @DevPsy @Act @EcoPersp 1967_01

(1) Lang, Alfred (1960) Über Motorik bei Säuglingen im 3. und 4. Monat: Versuch mit einem Mass für Bewegtheit. Psychologisches Institut, Univ. Bern. Unveröff. Vordiplomarbeit , 17 Pp. (Bericht in Lohr, W. (1960) Verhalten und Spannungszustände bei Säuglingen im Alter von 10 bis 18 Wochen in einer Wahrnehmungssituation. Z.exp.ang.Psychol. 7 493-531.)

@Act @DevPsy 1960_01

Alfred Lang's Homepage | Top of Page