Albert Michotte Scientific Collection

•    Professor of experimental psychology
Albert Michotte (1881–1965) was Professor of Experimental Psychology at the Catholic University of Louvain and director of the university’s laboratory of experimental psychology. 
He taught this discipline there from 1905 until his emeritus retirement in 1952. 
He continued his scientific work until the end of his life.
 

•    Founder of academic institutions
In 1923, he created an institute for teaching and research within the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters in Louvain. This institute would become the foundation of today’s Faculty of Psychology, Speech and Language Therapy, Sexology and Family Studies and of the Psychological Sciences Research Institute (IPSY).

•    Scientist of international renown
Albert Michotte developed an outstanding scientific career. 
Even today, his work is regarded as a cornerstone in the study of perception and, in particular, of the fundamental question of the perception of cause-and-effect relationships.
 

•    A central figure
Michotte was in close contact with the most eminent psychologists of his time. 
He was at the forefront of international scientific meetings. 
His work continues to be widely cited as essential references.
 

•    The perception of causality
This work was notably disseminated in his internationally influential book "The Perception of Phenomenal Causality" (1963), which is still referred to today as a "classic". In it, Michotte describes his experiments conducted using ingenious devices that simulate situations of causality and vary their conditions. 
He compares his own conceptions of causality with those of Hume, Maine de Biran, and Piaget in particular. 

1897: 

He becomes a student of Cardinal Mercier at the Institute of Philosophy and obtains adoctorate at the age of 19.
 

1905-190: 

he stays in Germany, with Wundt (University of Leipzig) and Külpe (University of Würzburg), founders of a new science, experimental psychology.
 

1908: 

Appointed professor in Louvain, he develops the Laboratory of experimental psychology, which will attract researchers from all over the world.
 

1923: 

he founds the School of Pedagogy and Applied Psychology, which will become, in 1969, the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences.
 

1930–40: 

He devoted his work to the perception of causality, a major issue in science.
 

1946: 

He published his book *The Perception of Causality*, which attracted global interest.
 

1947: 

He founded the Belgian Psychological Society, of which he became the first president.
 

1952: 

Having been granted emeritus status after being awarded honorary doctorates by the universities of Cambridge, Nijmegen and Montreal, he continued his scientific work until his death. 

•    Psychology and science
Experimental psychology uses the scientific method to study behaviour and mental functioning. 
It develops knowledge in the field of psychology by relying on rigorous methods, similar to those used in physiology or physics, for example.
 

•    Psychology and philosophy
In the past, psychology was a branch of philosophy, a discipline that used neither laboratories nor experimentation. 
At the end of the 19th century, psychology broke away from philosophy to adopt such methods, thereby aligning itself with the world of knowledge based on science. 
This marked the birth of experimental psychology, now grounded in observational data collected under rigorous conditions.
 

•    The founders of experimental psychology
The main founders of experimental psychology were German, such as Gustav Fechner, Wilhelm Wundt and Oswald Külpe. It is Wilhelm Wundt, professor at the University of Leipzig, who is recognised as the father of experimental psychology because he founded the first laboratory of experimental psychology in 1879. 
Researchers from all over the world came to train in this new discipline.
 

•    An experimental psychology laboratory in Louvain
In 1889, a professor who would later become the renowned Cardinal Mercier (1851–1926) founded the Higher Institute of Philosophy in Louvain. 
Aware of the importance of the emerging field of experimental psychology, Mercier encouraged one of his students, Armand Thiéry (1868–1955), to train in this new discipline under Wundt in Leipzig, where he completed his doctoral thesis.
Upon his return to Louvain in 1892, he established one of the first laboratories of experimental psychology.
 

•    Albert Michotte, disciple of the founders
Albert Michotte began his university studies in Louvain in 1897. 
There he studied philosophy under Mercier and science under Arthur van Gehuchten, a leading figure in neuroanatomy. 
On Mercier’s advice, he in turn went to Germany. He stayed in Wundt’s laboratory on two occasions, in 1905 and 1906. 
He then completed his training in 1907 and 1908 under Oswald Külpe, who headed another rapidly expanding laboratory of experimental psychology at the University of Würzburg. 
Upon his return to Louvain, he succeeded Armand Thiéry as head of the laboratory of experimental psychology.•    Prestigious origins. 
Through these figures, the Faculties of Psychology and Educational Sciences of UCLouvain and the IPSY Institute can take pride in roots that lie at the historical origins of psychology as a science. 
Few faculties of psychology have such prestigious origins.
 

•    Prestigious origins
Through these figures, the Faculties of Psychology and Educational Sciences of UCLouvain and the IPSY Institute can take pride in roots that lie at the historical origins of psychology as a science. Few faculties of psychology have such prestigious origins.


•    To learn more about Albert Michotte’s personality
(Presentation by Serge Dupont, PhD in Educational Psychology and Lecturer in History for first-year students at the Faculty of Psychology)

•    Research instruments
From the very beginning of experimental psychology, researchers developed original technical devices for their experiments. 
These devices were used either to present material (the "stimulus") to participants or to record their responses.
 

•    A prolific laboratory. 
Albert Michotte’s laboratory was particularly prolific in this respect. 
Researchers there were especially creative in designing experiments and, consequently, the technical devices required to conduct them. 
In addition, the laboratory benefited from the expertise of technicians capable of building all types of equipment.
 

•    A dormant heritage
After Michotte’s death, many somewhat forgotten technical devices filled the cupboards of the building of psychology and educational sciences which the French-speaking university (UCLouvain) shared with the Flemish university (KULeuven).
 

•    New tools
At that time, research instruments underwent rapid development. In the 1970s and 1980s, video recorders, followed by microcomputing, spread throughout psychology laboratories. 
Traditional equipment quickly became obsolete. 
Most studies would henceforth be conducted using computers. 
These made it possible both to create situations presented to participants and to collect their responses while simultaneously feeding databases immediately accessible for statistical analysis.
 

The 1980s. The research equipment at the University of Leuven’s Laboratory of Experimental and Social Psychology reflects the evolution of technology, which had by then shifted towards video and computing. Here, observers code the behaviours recorded during the experiment and feed the data into the computer. 

•    The latest course on experimental psychology apparatus
Professor Gérard de Montpellier took over the teaching of experimental psychology from Albert Michotte. 
He also introduced social psychology to Belgium in 1946. 
Until his retirement in 1976, he taught experimental methodology. 
In the syllabus for this course, a large proportion of the apparatus used in experimental psychology laboratories is carefully described and examined. 

•    Relocation to Louvain-la-Neuve
In 1977, the departments of psychology and educational sciences at the French-speaking university were relocated to Louvain-la-Neuve. 
Some of the technical equipment from Michotte’s laboratory was moved as part of this relocation. The rest remained in Leuven (Louvain).
 

•    The collection
The main items transferred to Louvain-la-Neuve in 1977 have been carefully preserved.
This collection, of exceptional historical and scientific value, remained largely unrecognised for a long time.
In 2022, a committee was set up to ensure its preservation and promotion.
Around fifty instruments and accessories were identified, catalogued and studied in order to select the items to be prioritised for display in a dedicated space.
KULeuven had begun showcasing its own collections a few years earlier.
Currently, 31 iconic devices are elegantly displayed thanks to the efforts of an effective coalition of volunteers.
Furthermore, functional replicas support an educational project dedicated to the experimental method, the history of psychology and the development of critical thinking.
 

•    Traces of ingenuity
In this age dominated by digital technology, the instruments used in experimental psychology laboratories during the first half of the 20th century are particularly striking.
They serve as a reminder of the inventiveness of researchers from that era. 
Behind each device lay a very specific research question. 
The researcher’s hypothesis guided the design of the instrument down to the smallest detail.
Thanks to the expertise of talented technicians, these ideas took shape in original devices, often remarkable as much for their aesthetics as for their effectiveness. 
Bespoke in design, they were intended to provide an answer to a specific scientific question.

•    Objects to contemplate

In this space, the instruments are not merely on display: they tell a story. The story of researchers who turned their questions into objects, and then used those objects to gain a better understanding of the phenomena they were studying.
Each instrument is the result of a convergence between an idea, technical expertise and a desire to discover. 
Behind their sometimes surprising forms lie hypotheses, experiments and years of reflection.
Although they are silent today, these instruments still bear the mark of the questions that gave rise to them. 
They invite us to look at these objects from the past in a new light and, through them, to rediscover the curiosity and inventiveness that have driven the advancement of knowledge.
It is up to us to know how to contemplate them.