astronomy

Otto Selz

Otto Selz is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Otto Selz rather than just read about it. In short: Otto Selz (14 February 1881 – 27 August 1943) was a German psychologist, born in Munich, Bavaria. He formulated the first non-associationist theory of thinking, in 1913.

Key takeaways

Otto Selz belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Otto Selz to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Otto Selz from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Otto Selz (14 February 1881 – 27 August 1943) was a German psychologist, born in Munich, Bavaria. He formulated the first non-associationist theory of thinking, in 1913. Influenced by the German phenomenological tradition, Selz used the method of introspection, but unlike his predecessors, his theory developed without the use of images and associations. Wilhelm Wundt used the method of introspection in the 1880s, but thought that higher-level mental processes could not be studied in the scientific laboratory.

Work Selz's ideas anticipated some major concepts in modern cognitive psychology, including the following:

Associationism and the idea that problem-solving is goal-directed. Anticipatory Schemas - Understanding a problem involves forming a structure within the mind. Reproductive and productive thinking - Solving problems with known methods and creating new methods when old ones don't work. Solving a problem involves testing for conditions. Selz was an associate professor of legal philosophy at the University of Bonn, 1921–1923. From 1923 to 1933, Selz was a full professor of philosophy, psychology, and pedagogy of the Mannheim Business School. He also served as the Rector of the Graduate School of Mannheim, 1929–1930. Selz's career was shortened by Nazi policies in Europe, which banned him from his profession in Germany because he was Jewish. In 1938, he was imprisoned in Dachau concentration camp, but was released after five weeks. In 1939, Selz emigrated to the Netherlands, teaching and researching (sometimes unofficially) in Amsterdam until 1943. On 24 July 1943 he was arrested and detained in Westerbork concentration camp. A month later, on 24 August, he was transported to Auschwitz concentration camp. Three days later, on 27 August 1943, Selz died in the vicinity of Auschwitz. Aside from two pupils, Julius Bahle (a psychologist who applied Selz's psychology of productive thinking to the psychology of musical composition) and Adriaan de Groot, Selz never founded a school and after 1933 his name disappears almost completely from the German psychological literature. Until recently, his works were largely untranslated from German into English. In 2004, philosopher and psychologist Michel ter Hark, University of Groningen, published a book called Popper, Otto Selz and the Rise of Evolutionary Epistemology, in which he argues that Karl Popper got part of his ideas from Selz. Selz himself never published these ideas, partly because of the rise of Nazism which forced him to quit his work in 1933, and the prohibition of referencing to Selz' work.

Works (in German) 1910: "Die psychologische Erkenntnistheorie und das Transzendenzproblem" ("The psychological theory of knowledge and the problem of transcendence"). Archiv für die gesamte Psychologie 16, 1–110. 1913: Über die Gesetze des geordneten Denkverlaufes. Eine experimentelle Untersuchung (On the laws of the orderly thought process. An experimental investigation). Speemann, Stuttgart. 1919: (with W. Benary, A. Kronfeld and E. Stern) Untersuchungen über die psychische Eignung zum Flugdienst (Studies on the psychological fitness for flight duty). Schriften zur Psychologie der Berufseignung und des Wirtschaftslebens, Heft 8. Barth, Leipzig. 1922: Zur Psychologie der produktiven Denkens und des Irrtums (On the psychology of productive thinking and of error). Cohen, Bonn. 1924: Die Gesetze der produktiven und reproduktiven Geistestätigkeit (The laws of the productive and reproductive mental activity). Cohen, Bonn. 1991: Wahrnehmungsaufbau und Denkprozeß (Perceptual system and thought process). Selected writings, edited by A. Métraux and T. Hermann. Huber, Bern. ISBN 3-456-81941-2.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Otto Selz

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Otto Selz claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Otto Selz before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Otto Selz ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Otto Selz

In research: Otto Selz appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Otto Selz in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Otto Selz is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1881 births, 1943 deaths, 20th-century German male writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Otto Selz outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Otto Selz in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Otto Selz means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Otto Selz out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Otto Selz in simple terms?

Otto Selz (14 February 1881 – 27 August 1943) was a German psychologist, born in Munich, Bavaria. He formulated the first non-associationist theory of thinking, in 1913.

Why does Otto Selz matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Otto Selz?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Otto Selz.