Wilhelm Wundt 1832 – 1920
Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was a German physiologist, psychologist, and philosopher and the principal founder of experimental psychology. In 1879 he opened the first formal laboratory of psychological experimentation, at Leipzig, training a generation of researchers from Europe and the United States. His Principles of Physiological Psychology and Outlines of Psychology established a program for scientific psychology, while his ten-volume Volkerpsychologie applied psychological method to the historical study of language, myth, and culture. He stood self-consciously within the broader German philosophical tradition of his time.
Key facts
- Nationality
- German
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Continental
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Wilhelm Wundt:
“Psychology is the science of immediate experience.”
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Attributed to Wilhelm Wundt:
“Mind is not a thing but a process.”
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Attributed to Wilhelm Wundt:
“Voluntary attention is the foundation of mental life.”
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Attributed to Wilhelm Wundt:
“Folk psychology is the study of the higher mental products of communities.”
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Attributed to Wilhelm Wundt:
“All inner experience is a process; nothing in the mind is at rest.”