Wilhelm Wundt and his assistants (University of Leipzig, n.d.).
The Event:
In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt (1832 – 1920) established the first laboratory dedicated to psychology research, at the University of Leipzig in Germany. This event marked the official birth of psychology as an independent field of study, transitioning psychology from philosophy to science and led to the launch of a new discipline that would become international in scope (Woody & Viney, 2017).
Background to the Event:
Several factors contributed to this event.
By the end of the 19th Century, the experiment became the method of discerning truth, and the laboratory, the place where truth, through experimentation was discovered. Physiologists such as Flourens and Johannes Muller supported the argument for experimental, laboratory-based investigation. This opened a line of research in physiology, leading directly to Herman von Helmholtz and Wilhelm Wundt and helping make a physiologically based psychology possible (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010).
Wundt was a product of the open German intellectual tradition. For Germans, science was not determined by its subject matter, but rather a way of looking at things, or Wissenchaft. It was thought that any topic could be approached in a scientific manner (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010).
Wundt acknowledged the earlier contributions from disciplines such as physics, physiology and philosophy. Having obtained a degree in medicine, Wundt followed up his interest in research by doing post-doctoral work under Johannes Muller and Emil Du Bois-Reymond and also working as Helmholtz’s assistant in his physiological laboratory. Wundt’s research interests shifted from physiology to psychology and he secured an appointment at the University of Leipzig due to his growing reputation in psychology (Woody & Viney, 2017).
Wundt proposed a new field, experimental psychology, aimed at bringing together physiology and psychology by combining the methods of experimental physiology with psychological introspection to study the processes of sensation and voluntary movement (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010). Wundt’s method of study, also used in his laboratory, came to be known as experimental introspection, distinguished through the introduction of the laboratory apparatus, standardising presentations of stimuli for subjects to respond to.
Wundt stated that experimental introspection was less useful for complex processes such as thought and language. He saw the limitations of experimentation and placed a large and important segment of psychology in human or cultural science rather than natural science (Pickren & Rutherford, 2010).
The event’s contribution to Psychology:
In Wundt’s laboratory, psychology was first practiced as the organised and self-conscious activity of a community of investigators, collaborating in pursuit of scientific explanations of mind. This contrasted with the solitary investigations of Wundt’s predecessors and contemporaries including Helmholtz, Fechner and Hermann Ebbinghaus (Benjamin, 2000).
The fame of Wundt’s laboratory spread in the United States, attracting many American students, particularly G. Stanley Hall. Hall spent some time with Wundt but worked principally in the physiological laboratory of Carl Ludwig. In 1883, Hall founded what is recognised as the first psychology laboratory in America at Johns Hopkins University.
Today, the psychology laboratory still exists in most academic and non-academic settings, although, the computer has replaced the diverse brass instruments and specimen jars originally used. Psychology faculty and students continue to be involved in laboratory training, and laboratory investigators remain plentiful in psychology (Benjamin, 2000).
References
Benjamin, L. T. (2000). The psychology laboratory at the turn of the 20th century. American Psychologist, 53, 318-321.
Pickren, W. & Rutherford, A. (2010). A History of Modern Psychology in Context: Incorporating Social, Political, and Economic Factors into the Story. New Jersey, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
University of Leipzig, Department of Psychology. (n.d.). History of Psychology in Leipzig, Germany. Retrieved from http://psychologie.biphaps.uni-leipzig.de/hist_eng.html
Woody, W. D. & Viney, W. (2017). A History of Psychology: The Emergence of Science and Applications. (6th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Every mind and day 