Édouard Claparède (24 March 1873 – 29 September 1940) was a
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
*Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
*Swiss, North Carolina
* Swiss, West Virginia
*Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
* Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
* Swiss Internation ...
neurologist
Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...
,
child psychologist
Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development ...
, and educator.
Career
Claparède studied science and medicine, receiving in 1897 an MD from the
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...
, and working 1897–98 at
La Salpêtrière
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
hospital in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
. In 1901 he founded the ''Archives de psychologie'' with his cousin,
Théodore Flournoy
Théodore Flournoy (15 August 1854 – 5 November 1920) was a Swiss professor of psychology at the University of Geneva and author of books on parapsychology and spiritism. He studied a wide variety of subjects before he devoted his life to psych ...
,
which he edited until his death. He was based from 1904 onward at the University of Geneva, where he became director of the experimental psychology lab.
Among the positions he held were: 1904 General Secretary at the Second International Congress of Psychology; 1909 General Secretary at the Sixth International Congress of Psychology; 1912 founder of the
Rousseau Institute
Rousseau Institute (also known as Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute or Academy of Geneva; ''french: Académie De Genève'' or ''Institut Jean-Jacques Rousseau'') is a private school in Geneva, Switzerland. It is considered the first institute of e ...
; Founder and President (1920-1940) of the Association Internationale de Psychotechnique (now the
International Association of Applied Psychology
The International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP) was created in 1919 by Édouard Claparède under the name of International Association of Psychotechnics (Association Internationale de Psychotechnique) and the secretary general was Jean ...
); co-founder of the
International Bureau of Education
The International Bureau of Education (IBE-UNESCO) is a UNESCO category 1 institute mandated as the Centre of Excellence in curriculum and related matters. Consistent with the declaration of the decision of the 36th session of the General Conf ...
(IBE) in 1925; 1915-1940 professor of psychology at the University of Geneva in succession to Flournoy; Permanent Secretary at the International Congress of Psychology; Life President of the Comité de l'Association Internationale des Conferences de Psychotechnique.
Claparède was married to Hélène Spir, daughter of the Russian philosopher
African Spir.
Trauma experiment
Claparède performed an influential experiment demonstrating how the trauma of a painful event could be retained even if short term memory was lost. His experiment involved a woman who suffered from a form of
amnesia
Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use ...
. She had all of her old memories as well as her basic reasoning skills, but the recent past was not remembered. Claparède had greeted her every day, each time she could not remember his face at all. Then during one session of the experiment, Claparède hid a pin in his hand and reached to shake the woman's hand, pricking her. The next day, sure enough, she did not remember him. But when Claparède went to shake her hand, he found that she hesitated, recognizing a threat when her memory had been severely damaged.
Freudianism
Claparède was briefly a member of the Zurich Freud Group marshalled by
C. G. Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
, but he shunned what he saw as the movement's dogmatism, and in 1909 joined
Pierre Janet
Pierre Marie Félix Janet (; 30 May 1859 – 24 February 1947) was a pioneering French psychologist, physician, philosopher, and psychotherapist in the field of dissociation and traumatic memory.
He is ranked alongside William James an ...
in differentiating the clinical concept of the subconscious from what was termed
Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
's ''philosophical'' concept of the unconscious. However he retained an interest in psychoanalysis in general, and in 1926 provided an introduction to the first
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
translation of Freud's ''
Five Lectures on Psycho-Analysis''.
Works
Claparède wrote several books concerning the fields he studied including the following:
* ''L’association des idées'' (1903)
* ''Psychologie de l’enfant et pédagogie expérimentale'' (1909)
* ''L’éducation fonctionnelle'' (1931)
* ''La genèse de l’hypothèse'' (1933)
See also
*
Cryptamnesia
*
Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning, also called instrumental conditioning, is a learning process where behaviors are modified through the association of stimuli with reinforcement or punishment. In it, operants—behaviors that affect one's environment—are c ...
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
Short biography, bibliography, and links on digitized sourcesin the
Virtual Laboratory of the
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claparede, Edouard
1873 births
1940 deaths
Child psychologists
Fellows of the British Psychological Society