Wilhelm Wundt the founding father of psychology - Essay Example

However, his interest was more aligned to a scientific paradigm. Wilhelm would later be appointed as a instructor in 1857 and began lecturing on physiology (Bre?hier, 1969). Wilhelm later became an assistant professor at Heidelburg and formulated a course known as physiological psychology. The course focused on the relation between psychology and physiology. This referred to the relation between a person’s reactions and the senses. Evidently, his course laid the foundation of his major works known as the Principles of Physiological Psychology that was later published in 1873 and 1874.

Wundt is credited with greatly influencing the development of psychology and more so in United States. Evidently, during Wilhelm’s tenure at Leipzig University, his fame grew to the point that he was allocated the world first psychology laboratory. Wundt’s philosophical principle emanated from his intellectual context (Goodwin, 1999). To this end, the German psychology of the early nineteenth century was overshadowed by Kantian principles which asserted that the science of psychology was an impossible principle.

The leading standpoint of argument was that would compel a psychologist to express concern over what a philosopher about his profession? It is important to note that Wundt was renowned as the father of experimental psychology. To this end, Wilhelm essentially triangulated a media via among the choice options. Evidently, Wilhelm rejected the mysticism by Fechner but simultaneously with his experimental approach. He traversed over and above the distinct physical interpretation of physiological experiments a la Helmholtz (Goodwin, 1999).

Wilhelm asserted that experimentation with humans could divulge law-like regularities of psychological reality. To this end, Wilhelm founded hybrid science that was otherwise expressed as physiological psychology. In assessing Wilhelm’s experimental psychology, two fundamental components comprising the object and method are critical. Foremost, in terms of the object, Wundt demonstrates the border between physiological and experimental psychology(Goodwin, 1999). According to Wundt, the unmediated or uninterrupted assessment of consciousness is termed as experimental psychology.

This is achieved through assistance with experimental principles of the natural sciences. However, it is essential to note two vital assumptions of Wilhelms’ definition that equally present an avenue for critique. Foremost, is the perception that psychology whether deemed as experimental, has for ‘the mental’ or its object consciousness. This notion was disputed by the behaviorist fundamentalists. Second, pertains to the notion that consciousness is vulnerable to experiment. This notion too was disputed by Kant.

Evidently, Wundt described consciousness as the sole ‘immediate real’ and ‘inner experience’ phenomena that makes up experience (Rieber, & Robinson, 2001). He further asserted that there was nothing beyond or behind it as opposed to psychophysichal or physiological investigation. It is paramount to note that Wilhelm’s experimental psychology was devoted towards conducting sensory investigations, exact displays in perception and sensation and vision acting as the major point of study (Rieber, & Robinson, 2001).

The major method applied by Wilhelm in investigating the psychological phenomenon was through introspection. According to Wundt, the science of experience constituted psychology. Consequently, investigating psychological was based on the study of conscious experience. To this end, by making experience a focal point of study in psychology, Wundt effectively avoided illustrating the relationship between the body and soul. Consequently, he was able to disassociate himself from the philosophical debacles of the