Wilhelm Wundt was a German psychologist who contributed significant psychology theories established the first lab for psychology research and experimental psychology. William James was considered the father of American psychology, establishing the first American lab for teaching clinical psychology, experimental psychology, and physiological psychology principles.
Two other psychology fathers, Carl Rogers social psychology and Sigmund Freud psychoanalysis , promoted psychology as a science through their clinical practices with actual patients. In psychology, William James is considered a father of psychology and Wilhelm Wundt, Sigmund Freud, and Carl Rogers because of his influential contribution to educational psychology and scientific psychology within the sphere of western psychology.
However, all four psychologists contributed numerous groundbreaking psychology theories. More specifically, James is considered the father of American psychology. In , William James established the first American scientific lab to teach experimental psychology and psychology research theories.
While Wilhelm Wundt proposed structuralism, William James established functionalism theory, which centered its argument around physiological psychology principles. The theory of functionalism argued that human emotion came about by physiological changes occurring in reaction to external influences.
Narendranath Sengupta is most famous for founding the Indian Psychological Association , the first experimental psychology department at the University of Calcutta, and being an integral part of establishing the Psychology and Educational Science division of the India Science Congress Association. Guardian David Boaz established the first psychology department at the University of Madras.
Depending on which expert in the history of psychology you ask, Wilhelm Wundt, William James, Sigmund Freud, and Carl Rogers hold coveted positions among psychology fathers. Wilhelm Wundt and William James are especially popular for their work in psychology research. While Carl Rogers and Sigmund Freud are more well known for their breakthroughs in clinical psychology. Psychology theories abound within the field of child psychology. However, one of the most famous of these, the theory of cognitive development, has bestowed the father of child psychology's title on its creator Jean Piaget.
She devoted much of her professional life to the study of motor activities and how it influences cognition. Educational psychology flourished thanks to William James' establishment of the first American psychological lab devoted to the teaching of experimental psychology. William James is also known as the founder of functionalism, an area of psychology that argues that physiological processes are intrinsically linked to and affect emotional and mental processes.
Scientific psychology textbooks started appearing in the late 19th century. Wilhelm Wundt wrote the first psychology textbook titled "Principles of Physiological Psychology. Social psychology is a subfield of study first championed by psychologist Carl Rogers. Carl Rogers' theory of social psychology argued that relationships between individuals significantly impacted the individual's emotional and mental well-being.
This site requires anonymous cookies and third party services to function properly. This site may store and process health related data for the purposes of providing therapy and related services. To continue using MyTherapist, you must consent to our Privacy Policy. You can opt-out at any time. Updated August 04, Medically Reviewed By: Lauren Guilbeault The late 19 th century saw a change in the way people viewed the study of psychology and how patients with mental disorders were treated.
If you can say yes to any of these questions, you should seek out a cognitive psychologist: Do you have a psychological disorder that you would like to try cognitive behavior therapy for treatment? Have you suffered from brain trauma or injury? Are you experiencing difficulties with sensory perception? Do you have a learning disability that you would like to try different intervention strategies for?
Frequently Asked Questions F. Is Sigmund Freud the father of psychology? Who are the founders of psychology? Why is William James the father of psychology? Who is the father of psychology in India?
Who is called the father of psychology? Who is the father of child psychology? Cultural psychology - which included the study of customs, language, and myth. In his research, Wundt distinguished between immediate and mediate experiences. Immediate experiences are based on pure, unbiased sensory input. Mediate experiences rely on an interpretation of sensory input.
Just as there is a periodic table of elements in chemistry, Wundt wanted to catalog all the basic immediate experiences that he could. He believed the best way to learn about consciousness was through introspection. To collect the data he needed, Wundt observed simple processes under careful conditions that he could replicate. For example, he would expose trained observers to lights, sounds, or other stimuli and ask them to report their sensations, feelings, and thoughts.
To determine how complex a certain mental operation was, Wundt measured and tracked the reaction times of his observers. Observers had to make 10, observations before they were considered fully trained. In his model of psychology, Wundt claimed that the basic components of consciousness the immediate experiences could be organized into more complex thoughts. The process by which the human mind puts new information in context is called apperception. Apperception involves associating perceptions information from the eyes or other sense organs with ideas and experiences you had before.
For example, seeing moldy cheese in the fridge is a perception; knowing that moldy cheese will make you throw up if you eat it is an apperception. Although Wundt reasoned that immediate experiences could be organized into higher-level thoughts, he did not think that this process occurred mechanically.
Rather, he claimed that the human will is vital to the organizing process. According to Wundt, will is the aspect of humans that allows them to direct their attention wherever they wish. As Wundt believed that the process of apperception is an act of will or free choice, his psychological school of thought was referred to as voluntarism. He also set new standards in research by emphasizing that psychology experiments should be conducted in carefully controlled settings.
Over time this helped to establish psychology as a valid experimental science. In his experiments, Wundt focused on three aspects of mental functioning: images, thoughts, and feelings. These three areas are still being investigated by modern day researchers in fields such as cognitive psychology, social psychology, personality psychology, abnormal psychology, economics, and linguistics. Therefore, it can be said that Wundt pioneered scientific exploration into these areas.
One of his most famous students, Edward Bradford Titchener, established Structuralism after he became a professor at Cornell University. Functionalism soon appeared as a psychological school of thought that was in opposition to Structuralism. For example, while Wundlt studied consciousness extensively, he largely ignored the unconscious mind. He also showed little interest in other branches of psychology that were coming to the fore such as educational psychology and child psychology.
While Wundt laid the foundation for future researchers by encouraging a scientific approach to the study of psychology, many of his own theories are no longer accepted today. For example, introspection was largely discarded as a tool of psychology experimentation in the s. Behaviorists such as Skinner argued that introspection produced subjective results that cannot be verified as the results changed depending on who was being tested.
According to Skinner, behavior must be seen in order for it to be objectively measured. Other critics claim that Wundt could have put greater effort into getting more accurate results. For example, gestalt psychologists argue that the mind cannot be broken down into individual elements.
Wundt authored several books on physiology, philosophy, and psychology. Some of his most well-known works are:. Wilhelm Wundt married Sophie Mau on August 14, They had three children together—Eleanor, Louise, and Max. Louise died in when she was only four years old. Eleanor grew up to become an assistant to her father. Max enjoyed a career as a professor of philosophy. Wundt retired from teaching in so that he could focus on his scientific writing. Three years later, he commented that he felt as if his vitality was waning.
Wilhelm Wundt died on August 3, He was eighty-eight years old. American Psychological Association. Eminent psychologists of the 20th century.
Wundt's aim was to record thoughts and sensations, and to analyze them into their constituent elements, in much the same way as a chemist analyses chemical compounds, in order to get at the underlying structure.
The school of psychology founded by Wundt is known as voluntarism, the process of organizing the mind. During his academic career Wundt trained graduate students in psychology. This is significant as it helped disseminate his work. Indeed, parts of Wundt's theory were developed and promoted by his one-time student, Edward Titchener, who described his system as Structuralism , or the analysis of the basic elements that constitute the mind. Wundt wanted to study the structure of the human mind using introspection.
Wundt believed in reductionism. That is, he believed consciousness could be broken down or reduced to its basic elements without sacrificing any of the properties of the whole.
Wundt argued that conscious mental states could be scientifically studied using introspection. He trained psychology students to make observations that were biased by personal interpretation or previous experience, and used the results to develop a theory of conscious thought. Highly trained assistants would be given a stimulus such as a ticking metronome and would reflect on the experience. They would report what the stimulus made them think and feel.
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