Trace the fate of Wundtian psychology in Germany. On what grounds was Wundt’s system criticized?
Wundtian psychology spread rapidly in Germany, and other parts of the world. Wundt applied his psychology knowledge only till academics. He was not keen or interested in using it for practical purposes.
So, when a meeting was held in Berlin, the other prominent psychologists debated to increase the funds to run the laboratories. The mayor gave them a warning, to first show the practical purpose of their study or else be done with psychology forever.
The wundtian psychology had no skill to take on the real life problem, maybe that’s why American did not adapt to wundtian psychology. The Psychology in 1925 Germany was being taught at only 14 universities out of the 23. Only 25 scholars were registered as psychologists. While at the same time in America, almost every university had a psychology department.
The primary criticism started for Wundt, when he was carrying out his internal perception experiments. Many thought these experiments to be at fault. The observations made by the observers were all different as they took into account individual perception of each observer.
His attitude on the political matters also dragged him into another controversy. He blamed England for starting the war, and defended Germany’s attack on Belgium. These statements were incorrect and turned the American psychologist against him.
His political statements, also lost him his Nobel Prize. Although he was the best psychologist at that time he did not win due to the ongoing World War I. Apart from America even Germans were getting against him. Two new schools of thoughts originated. One was Gestalt psychology and other was psychoanalysis.
The economic conditions were also against the Wundtian era as the World War I destroyed the financial assets the laboratory enjoyed earlier. During World War II the British atomic bombing destroyed his laboratory on 4december 1943 thus, bringing down the Wundtian era.