Origins of Psychology

• 1873 - Wundt published the first book on psychology called 'Principles in Physiological Psychology'
• 1879 - Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig called 'The Institute of Experimental Psychology'
• The approach Wundt used was called structuralism (an early form of reductionism)
• Structuralism attempts to understand the structures of a behaviour rather than the behaviour itself e.g. happiness underpinned by family, friends etc.
• A key technique Wundt used was introspection
• Introspection - Wundt gave standardised instructions, used a metronome and got subjective data from talking to clients about their feelings, sensations and thoughts