Wilhelm Wundt

ChildhoodWilhelm Wundt was born on August 16, 1832 in a small village, Nekarau, near Mannheim, Beden, Germany. He was the son of a Lutheran Clergyman. He was a solitary child. He shunned the games of children in favor of books and study. At the age of thirteen he joined Bruchsal Gymnasium High School. He received his early education at the hands of a private tutor.

CareerAt the age of nineteen, he decided to study medicine, most likely as a means of entering a scientific career. But later on, he turned to physiology. He joined Tubingen University. Here, his uncle Friedrich Arnold, held the chair in Anatomy and Physiology.During his first summer semester, he worked intensively on the study of cerebral anatomy under his uncle's guidance. By the end of summer, he decided to make physiology as a career.After one year he went to Heidelberg University for further studies. Wundt earned a medical degree in 1855. After studying briefly with Johnnes Muller, he was appointed as a lecturer in physiology at the university of Heidelberg. At the time of appointment, he was only 25 years old. During his early years at Heidelberg, he established his own private psychological laboratory. Here, he married Sophie. His first experiment, with his wife serving as subject, was designed to test whether it was possible to attend simultaneously to two different events.

A New Concept - Physiological Psychology

Though he became a doctor with M.D. from the University of Heidelberg, but interested in anatomy, Physiology, Physics, Chemistry and clinical medicine and later turned to psychology.Psychology was just beginning to emerge as a distinct science. Wundt started working on psychological problems of the society. His work was based on physiological methodology.During the years following his graduation, he lectured widely and published a number of articles on physiological psychology. His Lectures on psychology were published as "Lectures on the mind of Humans and Animals''.

Bypassed in 1871, for the appointment to succeed Helmholtz Wundt then applied himself to writing a work that became the most important in the history of psychology.His book "Principles of Physiological Psychology" contains the concept of apperception, consciousness, sensations, feelings, volition and ideas. The methodology prescribed was introspection. In other words, conscious examination of conscious experience. He went to the University of Zurich. There, he worked for a one year.

World's First Psychology Laboratory

He was invited to join the University of Leipzig. He worked there till 1917. That was the most productive phase of his career. As a result of his endless efforts; the first psychological laboratory of the world was founded at Leipzig. He concentrated almost exclusively on psychological research.

His research was based on the study of human sensory experience. He conducted a series of experiments to determine the dimensions of feeling and perception. He was opposed to the application of psychology, and stressed the methodology that had dominated the scientific movements of the seventeenth century.

His laboratory became a focus for those with a serious interest in psychology. It became very useful first for German philosophers and psychology students, then for American and British students as well. All subsequent psychological laboratories were closely modeled on the Wundt Model.

Apperception - The Basic Mental Activity

He pioneered the concept of stating mental events in relation to objectively knowable and measurable stimuli and reactions. According to him, the essence of all total adjustments of the organism was a psychophysical process.

It was an organic response mediated by both the physiological and psychological. He designated psychology as part of an elaborate philosophy where mind is seen as an activity, not a substance.

His Major Publications

In 1880s, he published books on logic, ethics, and general philosophy. At Leipzig, he concentrated almost exclusively on psychological research. He pursued his work on the study of human sensory experience. His use of a systematic methodological approach in tackling psychological problems was a landmark in establishing psychology as a science.

He pursued his work with boundless energy and enthusiasm until his death. He died after two weeks of his 88th birthday, on August 31, 1920 near Leipzig, Germany.