Ernst Heinrich Weber is a name of German origin, spelled in IPA phonetics as ɛʁnst ˈhaɪnʁɪç ˈveːbɐ. The name is composed of three words, each with its corresponding sound. The first word, Ernst, is pronounced with an open-mid front unrounded vowel, followed by a voiceless uvular fricative. The second word, Heinrich, is articulated with a high front unrounded vowel, an unvoiced aspirated glottal fricative, and a fricative sound. The last word, Weber, is pronounced as a mid-central vowel aspirated with a voiced bilabial fricative that is then followed by an unvoiced alveolar approximant.
Ernst Heinrich Weber, born on June 24, 1795, in Wittenberg, Germany, was a prominent German physician, anatomist, and psychologist. He is best known for his work in the field of psychophysics, which focused on the relationship between physical stimuli and the psychological sensations they evoke.
Weber's most significant contribution to psychology is Weber's Law, also referred to as Weber-Fechner Law, which he formulated based on his experiments on the perception of the difference threshold. Weber's Law states that the just noticeable difference (JND) between two stimuli is a constant proportion of the magnitude of the original stimulus. This means that the ability to perceive a difference between two stimuli depends on the ratio of the difference to the initial stimulus intensity, rather than the absolute difference itself.
Weber's groundbreaking research on the relationship between physical stimuli and psychological perception laid the foundation for modern psychophysics and contributed greatly to the understanding of human sensory perception. His work also influenced the development of experimental psychology and paved the way for further investigations on the principles of sensation and perception.
Ernst Heinrich Weber's contributions to the field of psychology continue to be influential and his name is often mentioned in discussions related to psychophysics, perception, and experimental methods in psychological research.