Founding of Psychology

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Founding of Psychology
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1st Psychology laboratory Wundt 1879

• Not the 1st psychologist
• Not the first to do psychological experiments
• 1st recognized laboratory to do psychological
  experiments

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Issues with historical accuracy and Wilhelm Wundt

• The use of translations most languages do not
  translate exactly
• Translations can be biased by the beliefs of the
  translator
• Issue with archival data what is translated may
  not be representative of the individuals works
• Much of Wundts work not translated until years
  later

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Wundts interest in psychology

• Assistant to von Helmholtz for 18 years
  studying physiological basis of sensation and
  perception
• Helmholtz most interested in sensation Wundt
  became more interested in the more psychological
  part perception
• Helmholtz left and recommended another person for
  his professor position
• Wundt decided to leave and eventually took a
  position at the University of Leipzig as a
  professor of philosophy

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Wilhelm Wundt (cont.)

• His move from medicine to physiology to
  philosophy/psychology set a precedent followed by
  many others
• His laboratory is credited as the 1st because it
  was the 1st to be officially sanctioned by a
  university

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Wundts psychology

• Most important for the break from philosophy was
  his methods
• Experimentation was important if not critical
• Introspection could be used under controlled
  situations
• Study mental processes and sensory experiences

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Wundts psychology (cont.)

• Psychology should be studied as a pure science
  investigating the basic laws of the mind
• Not a predecessor for clinical or other applied
  areas of psychology
• Was not to study individual differences

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Psychological theories of Wundt

• In his 3 volume textbook Principles of
  Physiological Psychology, he defined what
  psychology should be
• The investigation of conscious processes in modes
  of connection peculiar to them
• Methods to be used are modified physiological
  methods
• Psychologist directly measure immediate
  experiences
• Physiologist indirectly (use equipment) measure
  mediated experiences

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Psychological theories of Wundt

• Principle Method for measuring conscious
  processes was experimental self- observation
  AKA introspection
• Also used reaction time and word associations
• Of 180 papers written between 1883 and 1903 only
  4 used only introspection

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Psychological theories of Wundt

• Wundt argued against reductionism, structuralism,
  or elementism the mind can be broken down into
  its basic elements or structure
• He never defined psychology as the science of the
  mind. This implies the mind is separate from the
  body Wundt not a dualist
• This is the complete opposite of what most
  believe about Wundt

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Wundts Research

• 50 involved studying sensations and perceptions
• 20 were reaction time studies
• 10 involved attention 10 involved
  associations and 10 involved feelings
• Subjects in his lab were highly trained members
  of the laboratory

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Contributions of Wundt

• His students in 1900, there were 40 psychology
  laboratories in the U.S. 12 were founded by
  students of Wundt.
• His success at Leipzig led to recognition of
  psychology at other major institutions
• His theoretical works were not as important as
  they should have been because of translation
  problems
• Two students who made major contributions to
  applied psychology