Wilhelm Wundt

Until the 1800s, psychology was considered a division of philosophy and was more often than not referred to as philosophy of the mind. However, during the 1800s, a trend emerged in studying psychology as its own discipline, furthermore, as a scientific discipline. Wilhelm Wundt, born 1832, in Neckarau, Germany, is seen by many as the father of Scientific/Experimental Psychology, due in large part to his founding of the first psychological laboratory.

While the creation of the laboratory served as a practical location for the scientific study of psychology, the symbolism of the laboratory is of greater importance. Through Wundt's founding of his laboratory, psychology finally began to view itself as more of a concrete science,one that was able to make objective claims, and provide reliable support for such claims, as opposed to merely a facet of philosophy. This scientific approach to psychology has continued to the present day, and is still the method by which the vast majority of psychological practice is conducted.

While focusing the majority of his earlier years to his structuralist type endeavors, Wundt devoted the later part of his life to the of what he called the second half of psychology, Völkerpsychologie, which translates to Folk Psychology. This branch of psychology somewhat resembles the current discipline of social psychology. Folk psychology was largely interested in the study of language, myth, social interaction, and customs. While Wundt never actually labeled his brand of psychology (to him it was simply psychology), his name became attached to the structuralist school of thought which was in large part propigated by his student Edward Titchener.