105 years ago today, on August 31, 1920 (July 18, 1920 in the lunar calendar), German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt passed away. Wilhelm Wundt (1832 - 1920) was a German psychologist, philosopher, founder of the first psychology laboratory, and a representative figure of constructivist psychology. His "Principles of Physical Psychology" is the first and most important book in the history of modern psychology. In 1836, Wundt received a doctor's degree in medicine. In 1875, he became professor of philosophy at the University of Leipzig. In 1879, the world's first psychological laboratory was established there. On August 16, 1832, Wundt was born in Neckarau, a village on the northern outskirts of Mannheim in the Baden region. He was the fourth child in the family. His father, Maximilian Wundt, was the village's Lutheran priest, and his mother's name was Mary Friedrich. Among our ancestors, there were university presidents, doctors and scholars, and they were considered to be scholars. Wundt's performance in his childhood was not outstanding. He always daydreamed and was in a trance in class, and was often punished by his teachers. It was not until he was in middle school in Heidelberg that he gradually controlled the habit of daydreaming in class, but his grades were still average. From 1851 to 1856, he studied in Tübingen, Heidelberg and Berlin. He chose to enter Tübingen to study medicine because his father passed away and the doctor's income could enable his family to maintain a decent life. At the end of his first year in college, his poor family gave him a stimulus. He vowed to change his past, study hard, and transferred to Heidelberg University. In 1855, Wundt graduated from the Department of Medicine at the University of Heidelberg with a doctorate and won the first place in the National Medical Examination. But he was not interested in pursuing clinical medicine, but went to the University of Berlin for another year, studying under Johann Muller. In 1857, Wundt returned to Heidelberg University as a lecturer in physiology. In 1858, Hermann von Helmholtz came to the school and founded a physiology institute, with Wundt serving as his laboratory assistant. At that time, Wundt was still married and devoted himself to laboratory work crazily. A few years later, he completed a massive book "Essays on the Theory of Sensory Perceptions"(1858 - 1862). It was during this period that Wundt opened the first course to teach scientific psychology. In this course, he began to use experimental methods from the natural sciences and research results from neurophysiology to study psychology. In 1862, he first proposed the name of experimental psychology. His handouts were compiled as Essays on Human and Animal Psychology (1863). The book was evaluated as "the physiologist's naive psychology." In 1864 he was promoted to assistant professor. In 1871, Helmholtz left Heidelberg University, but Wundt was unable to get the position he should have replaced and was only given the title of interim professor. At this time, his income allowed him to marry his fiancee Sophie Mao. After his marriage, Wundt devoted himself to writing one of the most important books in the history of psychology: "Principles of Physical Psychology"(published in 1874). In this book, he organized the results of psychological experiments into a system and set out to separate psychology from philosophy and develop it into a systematic science to study the following psychological activities of people: feelings, emotions, will, perception (what Wundt called apperception) and thinking. This work earned him a professorship at the University of Zurich. In 1875, Wundt was hired as professor of philosophy at the University of Leipzig. In December 1879, he created the world's first psychology laboratory in a small room on the third floor of Convet House (boarding house) in the university. Wundt lived in Leipzig until his death, rarely traveled, and was not keen on public events other than attending concerts; however, he and his wife often hosted senior students and assistants at home. Like Kant, Wundt has always lived a rigorous and regular life, spending most of his time in the morning writing, visiting the laboratory, taking classes, and then walking in the afternoon. Wundt is passionate and eloquent in the classroom, which fully reflects his omniscience about his major; Wundt did not retire until he was 85. He died on August 31, 1920, at the age of 88. In that year, he published the ten-volume masterpiece "Ethnic Psychology" that took him 20 years to complete. Wundt's influence on the discipline of psychology was extremely unique. First of all, he identified psychology as a new science, demarcated research areas and established a macro framework;"Before Wundt founded his laboratory, psychology was like a wanderer, knocking on the door of physiology, now on ethics, now on epistemology. In 1879, it became an experimental science, with a place to live and a name." (G. Murphy) Secondly, he introduced experimental methods into this emerging discipline, and even his laboratory became a model for psychology laboratories for half a century. Third, his massive textbooks have had unparalleled authority for two generations; Fourth, many of his students also became very well-known psychologists. Most of the important experts and scholars in the first 50 years after the independent development of psychology came from Wundt: Cattell (James McKeen Cattell): Edward Titchner, the first psychology professor in the United States Edward Bradford Titchener: Charles Spearman, who founded America's first psychology laboratory at Cornell University (Charles Spearman): British psychologist who developed the two-factor theory of intelligence and conducted some important statistical analyses by Stanley Hall (G. Stanley Hall): Witmore, father of the child psychology movement and theorist of adolescent development (LightnerWitmer): Created the first psychological clinic in the United States: Charles Hubbard Judd: Dean of the School of Education at the University of Chicago However, Wundt's psychological thoughts themselves had little impact after the 1920s, and some emerging psychological schools quickly replaced them: Behaviorist psychology emphasized more rigorous empirical scientific research and opposed Wundt's introspective experimental method. Overall, Wundt's psychology is much broader and broader than is generally believed. However, on average, he was strict and exclusive, leaving behind or banning many areas of research that are today accepted as the most basic parts of the field: opposed to any form of practical use of psychology: -he opposed every form of practical use of psychology; when one of his most talented students, Ernest Moman, turned to educational psychology, Wundt thought he was abandoning this side and turning to the enemy. Oppose any form of introspection other than the one he prescribed-he also opposes any form of introspection other than the one he prescribed. He lashed out at the work of other researchers-members of the Wardsberg School, about which we will learn more in a moment. This school of thought asked their subjects to say whatever came to their minds during the experiment. This method, Wundt said, is a "fake" experiment, neither experimental methodological nor introspective. - He opposed child psychology as soon as it emerged, because the conditions of these studies could not be sufficiently controlled and the results were not real psychology. Abandon contemporary French psychological work-He abandoned contemporary French psychological work because French psychology relied heavily on hypnosis and suggestion. Because such research lacked strict introspection, he said it was not a psychological experiment. He was particularly disgusted with the psychology of William James-finally, he was particularly disgusted with the psychology of William James, whose psychology was more complete, more insightful, and more personal. After reading James's book "Principles of Psychology", which was very popular around the world, Wundt said sourly: "This is literature. It is beautiful, but it is not psychology." Many of Wundt's students also became very well-known psychologists.