Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt : The founder of experimental psychology

Wilhelm Wundt (born on August 16, 1832, in Germany), was a German physiologist and psychologist who is generally known as the father of experimental psychology and the founder of the world’s first psychology laboratory established in Leipzig, Germany in 1879.

Wundt is often associated with the school of thought called structuralism. Although it was his student Edward B. Titchner who was truly responsible for the set up of that school of psychology.

He has written approximately 53000 pages, including articles on animal and human physiology, poisons, visions, spiritualism, hypnotism, history and politics, linguistics, religion, and ethics.

In 1856, Wundt earned a medical degree at the University of Heidelberg. After studying briefly with Johannes Muller, he was appointed lecturer in physiology at the University of Heidelberg where in 1858 he became lecturer in physiology at the University of Heidelberg, where is 1858 he became an assistant to the Physicist and Physiologist Hermann von Helmholtz. There he contributed to the Theory of sense Perception.

Another reason Wundt is considered a pioneer of psychology is that he focused on developing experimental strategies and techniques to help systematically study human thought and behavior. Wundt believed that psychology was a science of conscious experience and that trained observers could accurately describe thoughts, feelings, and emotions through a process known as introspection.

However, Wundt made a clear distinction between everyday self observation which he believed was inaccurate, and experimental introspection (also called internal perception). According to Wundt, to be an internal perception one needs to be trained in observing the stimulus that he/she will be introduced.

Wundt also had many students who later became prominent psychologists including Edward Titchner, James Mckeen Cattell, Charles Spearman, G.Stanley Hall, Charles Judd, and Hugo Munstenberg.

Thanks to his work and contribution in psychology a whole new field was established and inspired other researchers to explore and study the human mind and behavior.

Comments

Vipassana Meditation at a Glance

“The past is already gone, the future is not yet here. There’s only one moment for you to live.”- Gautam Buddha A small introduction Vipassana means to see things as they are. This is the most ancient meditation technique of India that was taught by Gautam Buddha 2000 years before. Through this meditation technique, Buddha (the Awakened One) achieved his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh. A small history Vipassana teaching started by S.N Goenka in 1969. Now the dhamma messenger of modern times returned to India- it is the country where the vipassana first started and Buddha’s teachings were totally lost and ‘Vipassana’ was a foreign word. From 1969 to 1975, Vipassana courses were held across 11 Indian states and 37 towns and cities. How it works According to dhamma.org, it is an observation-based, self-exploratory journey that focuses on a deep interconnection between the mind and body, which is realized thr...

A short biography of Alfred Adler: Founder of Individual Psychology

The science of the mind can only have for its proper goal the understanding of human nature by every human being, and through its use, brings peace to every human soul.- Alfred Adler Alfred Adler born in Suburb in Vienna. He developed theories on personality and development, and an approach to counseling and psychology, that he called Individual Psychology. His main focus was on the feeling of inferiority. He said every individual goes through many life crises during his developmental process that makes them dependent on another person for survival. Hence, face feeling of inferiority also called inferiority complex. Like Jung, Adler became familiar with Freud Psychology by reading his book “Interpretation of dreams”. Adler wrote a paper defending Freud’s Theory. In 1902, he was invited to join the Wednesday Society met regularly on Wednesday evenings at Freud’s home and that was the beginning of a psychoanalytic movement. This discussion group turned into the f...

Alfred Binet and The Binet-Simon Intelligence scale

Comprehension, inventiveness, direction, and criticism: intelligence is contained in these four words- Alfred Binet Alfred Binet was a French psychologist who was known for his first practical IQ test, the Binet- Simon test. In 1904, the French Ministry of Education asked Alfred Binet to make an instrument for students who did not learn effectively from regular classroom structure so that they could give them remedial classes. In collaboration with Theodore Simon, Binet published revisions of his test in 1908 and 1911. After graduating from law school in 1878, Binnet planned to follow his father as he was a physiologist and enrolled in medical school. He began to study science at Sorbonne but soon began educating himself in psychology by reading works of individuals such as Charles darwin and John Stuart Mill. After being fascinated by the work of Jean-Martin Charcot on hypnosis, Binet abandoned a law career in 1878 to devote himself to Medico-scientific studies at the hospital, ...

Ankita Parkhad

Search This Blog