Graziano & Raulin
Research Methods (9th edition)
IV. EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY AND
STRUCTURALISM: THE STUDY
OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Psychology emerged as an independent science in the 1870s. Wundt’s laboratory in Leipzig, Germany was the first psychological laboratory in the world and became the major institution for psychological research and teaching. Research in genetics, anatomy, physiology, physics, sensory discrimination, and the nature of animal behavior during the early and mid 19th Century provided some of the framework for Wundt’s laboratory.
The Darwin-Wallace theory of evolution--the origin of species by natural selection--was an enormous factor in the development of the biological sciences. Educational institutions flourished, particularly in Germany, and scientific scholarship was highly prized. Philosophers had long speculated over concepts of mind and mind-body distinctions. The later 19th Century scientists were ready to investigate scientifically the psychological nature of organisms.
The influence of Wundt’s laboratory was immense. Wundt’s students went on to establish psychological studies in other countries, notably the United States and England. From those beginnings, modern psychology emerged and, by the early 20th Century, had become firmly established in major universities. In this section you will find:
| Brentano, Franz | Helmholtz, Hermann | Titchener, Edward Bradford |
| Ebbinghaus, Hermann | Muller, Georg Elias | Weber, Ernst |
| Fechner, Theodor Gustav | Stumpf, Carl | Wundt, Wilhelm |