Reference
- Wundt, Wilhelm (1832–1920)Wilhelm Wundt studied medicine at the University of Tubingen and at Heidelberg, where he changed his major to physiology and earned his doctorate in 1855. He remained there until 1874, teaching and formulating his ideas about psychology. His books of 1858 and 1862, Contributions to the Theory of Sensory Perception, formalized these ideas. He was appointed professor of philosophy in 1875 at Leipzig, where he worked for the next 45 years. Edward B. Titchener was Wundt’s student and the proponent of his “structuralism” psychology in the United States. Many other prominent individuals came to Leipzig to study and work with Wundt; these included G. Stanley Hall, Emil Kraepelin, Lightner Witmer, J. Mck. Cattell, Hugo Munsterberg, and E. C. Spearman.
Wundt created and developed the first school of psychological thought, structuralism, the basic building block of which was sensation. He established a laboratory for experimental research and a journal called Philosophical Studies. He wrote what has been claimed to be the most important book in the history of psychology, Principles of Physiological Psychology. His students were carefully instructed in his methodology of introspection or self-observation. Although structuralism is no longer a school of thought in contemporary psychology, Wundt’s systematic efforts established psychology as a new and recognized science in Germany in the nineteenth century...
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference is an easy-to-use tool for starting research. Gather background information on your topic from hundreds of full-text encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, quotations, and subject-specific titles, as well as 500,000+ images and audio files and over 1,000 videos.
Perspectives
Lectures on Human and Animal Psychology (Psychology Revivals)
Wilhelm Wundt is known today as one of the founding figures of modern psychology. The first person to ever call himself a Psychologist, he is also widely regarded as the "father of experimental psychology", having established the first laboratory in the world dedicated to psychological research. This paved the way for psychology as an independent field of study. A prolific writer, this title contains 30 lectures on human and animal psychology given in the latter half of the nineteenth century. This edition was originally published in 1912, a translation of the second German edition, the earlier edition being the first of the author's works to be translated into English.
Toward a Science of Human Nature
Robinson unfolds the vision of four influential writers on psychology---J.S. Mill, F. Hegel, Wilhelm Wundt, and William James---who considered the world, its persons and problems, its possibilities and conflicts, its scientific facts and its moral ambiguities, and proceeded to devise a means by which to improve it. Robinson shows how in thinking about psychology, these individuals provided an intellectual context within which the discipline could be refined.
Revival: Ethics: an Investigation of the Facts and Laws of Moral Life (1914)
It has been my object in the present work to investigate the problems of ethics in the light of an examination of the facts of moral life. One reason for this procedure is my desire to conduct the reader by the same path that I myself have followed in approaching ethical questions.
Elements of folk psychology : outlines of a psychological history of the development of minkind
This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.
Mind-Body Problem
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
Western thinkers like Rene Descartes, John Locke, and Hermann von Helmholtz studied the mind's relationship to being. Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology laboratory; Edward Titchener extended Wundt's discoveries into structuralism. William James thought to explain the function of conscious components.
Rival Psychologies of the Mind
- Kanopy This link opens in a new window
William James, Sigmund Freud, and Wilhelm Wundt all aimed for a science of consciousness in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, differing significantly in ideas and methodology. Learn why Wundt left the strongest mark on contemporary psychology, with the neuroscience revolution of the early 21st century picking up where he left off.
What are Emotions: Subjective Responses
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowDr. Knutson explains the relation of emotion to cognition. Wilhelm Wundt proposes certain dimensions form the basic elements of emotions: bad to good and arousal, low to high.
Online Resources
- RETRACING THE FOOTSTEPS OF WILHELM WUNDT: Explorations in the Disciplinary Frontiers of Psychology and in VölkerpsychologieIn 1927, Wilhelm Wundt's daughter, Eleonore Wundt, compiled and published a comprehensive catalogue of her father's works and works in translation. We use this catalogue as a starting point for an examination of the breadth of Wundt's contributions, the reaction to his works from the international psychological community, and the overall trajectory of his academic career. Two areas of particular interest are Wundt's view on the nature of psychology and its relationship to other disciplines, and his discussion of the nature of Völkerpsychologie and its role in psychology. A close examination of original sources reveals that Wundt anchored psychology in the realm of mental sciences. He regarded "psychology [to be] in relation to natural sciences the supplementary , in relation to the mental sciences the fundamental , and in relation to philosophy the propaedeutic empirical science ." The accomplishments and limitations of Wundtian Völkerpsychologie are viewed stereoscopically through the lenses of its explicated conceptions, goals, and methods, on one hand, and of the contemporary advancements in psychology, on the other. Current implications of Wundt's works and further developments of his ideas are related to Davidson's theory of epistemology and to present-day deliberations on the biocultural coconstruction of human development. We conclude by considering the continuing relevance of Wundt's intellectual legacy.
- Wilhelm WundtFollowing the historical explorations by Blumenthal this paper revisits the genius of Wilhelm Wundt. It is observed that Wundt conceived psychology as the study of ‘Geist’ (mind) and ‘consciousnesses’ as the chief property of mind. Consciousness was held as self renewing ( Entwicklung) . Wundt emphasized on observing the inner private mental processes as a form of scientific data. He treated introspection as a method of observing an experience. Wundt deliberated upon the issues of structuralism and mental chemistry, Volkerpsychologie and voluntarism. His main contributions are reflected in six principles dealing with creative synthesis, psychological relativity, and psychological contrast, heterogeneity of ends, mental growth and development towards opposites. Wundt advocated a strictly scientific approach and his ideas were original and novel. While some of the assumptions of Wundt were subsequently discredited, he did anticipate many subsequent developments in psychology as a science.
Developing Modern Psychology
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new windowHermann Helmholtz's empirical studies formed a scientific foundation in sensory physiology. Wilhelm Wundt contributed to experimental and cognitive psychologies and developed Psychophysical Parallelism. William James used Darwin's theory of adaptation to the environment to view psychology as both a natural science and a humanistic clinical practice. Hugo Munsterberg created forensic psychology, industrial organizational psychology, and clinical psychology.