Wundt, Wilhelm - (b. 1832, near Mannheim, Germany, d. 1920. M.D., University of Heidelberg, 1855). In his most influential psychological work, Principles of Physiological Psychology (1874) he argued that conscious states could be scientifically studied through the systematic manipulation of antecedent variables, and analyzed by carefully controlled techniques of introspection.
Wundt spent the early part of his career at Heidelberg before being appointed professor of scientific philosophy at Leipzig in 1875, where he established the world's first institute for experimental psychology and created the first journal devoted to experimental psychology, Philosophische Studien. In his 1858 book Contributions to the Theory of Sensory Perception, Wundt first suggested the possibility of an experimental psychology. In his most influential psychological work, Principles of Physiological Psychology (1874) he argued that conscious states could be scientifically studied through the systematic manipulation of antecedent variables, and analyzed by carefully controlled techniques of introspection. Wundt employed two broad methods for isolating mental atoms into which mental phenomena could be analyzed: the method of subtraction used in chronometric studies of reaction times, and the analysis of mental operations through introspection. With respect to ‘higher’ cognitive phenomena like linguistic behavior, Wundt favored a non-experimental, ethnographic methodology as expounded in his Volkerpsychologie ("ethnic psychology," or "group psychology"), a ten volume work published in 1920.
Francher, Raymond (1979). Pioneers of psychology. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. [bookstore]
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