William James at Harvard and Wilhelm Wundt at Leipzig University are widely remembered as the two principal founders of modern experimental psychology. While James vocally promoted open-minded but scientifically rigorous studies of contested phenomena such as telepathy and mediumship and published results of his own investigations, Wundt in Germany aggressively battled belief as well as … Read more
1874 is a significant year in the history of psychology. Wilhelm Wundt published the first edition of Outlines of Physiological Psychology, and Franz Brentano issued his epistemological study, Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint. Another event in the same year is usually passed over by chronologists of the mind sciences: The foundation of Psychische Studien (Psychical … Read more
Ostensible ‘poltergeist phenomena’ are the very epitome of ‘things that go bump in the night’, and most modern scientists would probably relegate them to the realm of fairy tales without thinking twice. And yet, for historians studying the historical continuity of scientific interest in the supposed ‘supernatural’, they offer surprising insights. Probably coined by Martin … Read more