Introduction
In earlier periods before the establishment of the Wundt’s laboratory, psychology was not entrenched in the discipline of sciences. Theories of philosophers such as Plato, Hobbes, and Kant were dominant in explaining the behaviors of human beings; unfortunately, these theories did not offer experimental mechanism to study psychology like any other discipline in science.
Wundt was not comfortable with these theories and this motivated him to devise a way through which human behavior would be experimentally understood. It’s in fact argued that Wundt borrowed much from John Stuart Mill so much that, while Mill theorized, Wundt sought to provide the scientific performance by providing a methodology to scientific experiment.
The prior psychological theories lacked the statistical evidence to prove them and deduct inferences from them. Wundt thus recognized this as source of criticism to the previous theories. He thus sought to make use of statistics for future psychologists as he applied them in his works. Use of statistical methods was thus inherent in the Wundt’s laboratory studies (Klein, 1970, p. 823).
From physiology to psychology
Having worked as physiologist, Wundt transferred experimental physiology to a psychological laboratory where the stimulating conditions were to be controlled. Observations of conscious processes resulting from the stimuli would then be made and attention given to bodily changes induced by the stimuli.
Calibrated instruments were used to record the observations in a bid to enhance accuracy in analyzing data. What changed these experiments from physiological l to psychological was the emphasis of the observer on consciousness as the immediate (Klein, 1970, p.828).
Wundt’s laboratory
The University of Leipzig in Germany spared some rooms for Wundt to set up his psychological laboratory. By the year 1879, Wundt had managed to set up an operational laboratory at the university where tests of human perceptions and sensation were done.
In the following period after the establishment of the laboratory, and according to Cohen (1979), Wundt started to sponsor research into simple reaction times, color blindness, and visual contrasts (p.935). Wundt was also interested in touch and how people could accurately respond to touches in specific areas. Wundt was determined to unravel the time taken by the mind to react to stimulus and the processes that take place.
Since chemistry and physics had succeeded in analyzing matter in its constituent elements, Wundt thought that it was the role of psychology to analyze conscious processes into their basic constituent elements. The atoms of the mind and of consciousness were thus his subject matter.
The interest as to how fast the mind reacted out of which mental atoms do people fashion their experiences was gauged by seeing colored dots and hearing of tunes. Wundt thought that just as there are formulas to chemical elements there should also be formulas from combination of mental atoms that equaled seeing the colored dots.
Wundt believed that experiments alone can never provide full understanding of human consciousness; consequently, he proposed a second explanation for consciousness as observing aggregate human behavior. This should be done by accommodating other factors such as culture and forces that drive human evolution. Wundt laboratory thus, not only relied on empirical experiments, but also the general observations of human behavior.
The people doing experiments in the laboratory were also charged with the responsibility of observing each other and incorporate their behaviors when analyzing results. O’Boyle (2006) posits that, Wundt for instance, viewed that language had its role in shaping consciousness which could only be understood in the cultural context (p.174).
Significance of Wundt’s laboratory in contemporary psychological testing
Wundt’s school of psychology has contributed greatly to the 21st psychological testing because as early as 1890, students all over the world would travel to Leipzig for training in experimental psychology at Wundt laboratory. The graduates from the institute helped in establishing similar laboratories especially in the western countries.
For instance, in the US, the first psychology laboratory was established only four years after Leipzig in Johns Hopkins University Hospital. Even though most of these laboratories were radically different from the one in Leipzig, Hergenhahn (2009) concludes that, Wundt s experiments in psychology, the pioneers, had in one way or the other influenced by teachings of the Wundt’s laboratory (p.264).
Even though there have been drastic changes in Wundt’s laboratory in the twenty first century, it remains core in explaining the development of experimental psychology. Actually the developments experienced in the contemporary experimental psychology hinges on the fact that there has been great technological development in the running from the 20th century to the contemporary times.
Therefore, Wundt’s ideas have evolved to the present day models. Wundt, in fact, can be said to have provided the new ground for the study of psychology; the experimental part of it. Psychological assessments and testing methods of individual thus originated from him.
Presently, such methods are used to provide information about intellectual abilities, personality features, attitudes, interests and attainments of individuals. Without Wundt’s ideas and developments, may be the experimental part of psychology would not have seen the light of the day.
References
Cohen, D. (1979). Psychology a hundred years on. In New Scientist, 82(1159), 935. Web.
Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An introduction to history of psychology. Belmont: Cengage Learning Press. Web.
Klein, D. B. (1970). A history of scientific psychology. Its origins and philosophical backgrounds. London: Routlede & Pegan Paul. Web.
O’Boyle, C. G. (2006). History of psychology: A cultural perspective. New Jersey: Routledge. Web.