Wilhelm Wundt's place in the history of psychology

Wilhelm Wundt, the forgotten father of modern psychology

He was the first psychologist to call himself one, and he influenced a whole generation of early psychologists. Learn about the life and works of Wilhelm Wundt with this thorough entry from a philosophy encyclopedia.

What is psychology? An overview

What is psychology and why should we study it? This short video from Macat explains how the subject has developed over the years and introduces some of the key thinkers and ideas.

William James laid the foundation for psychology as a scientific discipline in the US

Though initially trained in painting, James would help establish Harvard's psychology department as a distinct science rather than an extension of philosophy. He taught one of the first psychology courses in America and is credited as one of the founders of American Pragmatism.

The basics of behaviorism and its founder John B. Watson

Watson believed he could use classical conditioning to shape the behavior of infants toward positive outcomes, culminating in his famous "Little Albert" experiment. Here's a quick overview of his life and thought.

Who was Freud and what did he say?

Sigmund Freud is one of the most famous psychologists and is widely cited—but do you really know the basics of what he taught? Here's a super brief breakdown of his major insights.

What is psychoanalysis?

This nine-minute video, the first of a four-part series, seeks to answer the questions: what is psychoanalysis, and is it weird? The answer to the latter question is overwhelmingly yes. The answer to the first question is a bit...

For most of recorded history dreams were considered divine in origin

The first venture into modern dream interpretation may have been when ancient Greek philosopher Heracleitus proposed dreams were created within the mind. In the late 1800s, the rise of psychoanalysis theorized that dreams content revealed truths about one's psyche, while the invention of the electroencephalogram linked dreams to brain functions.

Why the nature of consciousness is such a difficult problem

David Chalmers is one of the leading philosophers of consciousness. In this video, he outlines some of the major questions in this field, including the "hard problem of consciousness," which seeks to find neural correlate for every conscious experience.

Existentialism has been used as a therapeutic tool

Psychologists became interested in existentialism in the 1940s, with two Swiss psychiatrists—Ludwig Binswanger and Medard Boss—particularly taken with Martin Heidegger’s “Being and Time.” The existential approach to therapy emphasized a patient’s personhood and experiences, using them to help that patient face their problems head-on.

Carl Jung proposed the controversial idea of the 'collective unconscious'

The famed psychologist proposed the idea in 1916, referring to a hypothetical universal part of the unconscious mind shared by all humans. It contains innate elements called archetypes—such as the Hero, the Mother, or the Shadow—that shape human behavior, dreams, and myths across cultures.

'There cannot be mental atrophy in any person who continues to observe, to remember what he observes, and to seek answers for his unceasing hows and whys about things.'

-Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922)

An interactive timeline of history's famous figures

The past few millennia of humankind have produced numerous figures who left their mark on culture and society in their respective era. This interactive timeline from data visualization expert Jan Willem pulls data from Wikipedia to illustrate history's most important people relative to their prominence in modern-day thought.

The quantum model of the atom resulted from over two millennia of scientific thinking

In 440 BCE, Democritus proposed that everything was made up of tiny particles surrounded by empty space, which varied in size and shape based on the substance's properties. It was not until the 20th century that experimental evidence validated elements of Democritus' model.

Albert Einstein taught courses in Davos

This silent video from the 1920s shows footage of Einstein at Davos. The famous scientist spent time there, delivering public lectures on his theory of relativity as part of the town’s university courses.

Patient H.M. revealed that the hippocampus was responsible for memory formation

Henry Molaison became a landmark case in psychology after surgery removed large portions of his hippocampus, leaving him unable to form new memories. Upon his death, Molaison's brain was sliced into 2,401 sections and digitized for research.

The first official World Chess Championship was held in 1886

The inaugural world championship took place across New York, St. Louis and New Orleans in 1886, where Wilhelm Steinitz defeated Johannes Zukertort. Steinitz became the first recognized world champion, establishing the modern era of organized competitive chess.

Problem solving, problem recognition, and learning ability makes up intelligence

Psychologists have several theories from which the concept of intelligence is explained, including general and multiple intelligences. Although IQ is used to quantify intelligence, issues like its cultural biases have spurred debate.

Humans experience the world subjectively. What does that mean for scientific research?

When you close your eyes, do you see static or colorful patterns or an "intrinsic grey" known as Eigengrau in German? This variation of our internal experiences is just the tip of the iceberg, one that scientists are increasingly studying and...

Watch 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'

Robert Wiene’s 1920 film remains a significant film for the horror genre, illustrating the power that relatively simple visual choices, like shadows and jagged angles, can have on an audience.

When Marcus Aurelius created endowed philosophy chairs in Athens

The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius is known as one of the most famous Stoic writers or thinkers, penning his classic opus ‘Meditations.’ In 176 CE, he endowed four philosophy chairs in Athens: one for Stoicism, and one for three of Stoicism’s rival schools: Aristotelianism, Platonism, and Epicureanism.

What a tiny marine worm can tell us about our brains

Meet the amphioxus, a small eel-like animal that has a lot to teach us about brain evolution. The genetic roots of our brains can be seen in these unusual creatures. This three-minute educational video focuses on the evolutionary history of the human brain through these odd little critters with a 500-million-year-old history.

Wilbur published key papers, gave speeches in the burgeoning aviation community

Much of the theoretical work is credited to Wilbur, whose scientific mind observed birds and early pioneers to discover the key problem to solve was control. This 1901 speech surveys the recent work in the field and showcases what the brothers worked on two years before their breakthrough flight.

Understanding college basketball's guru, UCLA's John Wooden

John Wooden coached UCLA to an unprecedented 10 NCAA titles, including seven straight from 1967 to 1973. He studied the characteristics that made people successful and, in 1948, created his iconic triangular diagram with 25 common behaviors. This article unpacks the 25-block framework that makes the "Pyramid of Success" and shows how Wooden's off-court wisdom shaped future champs like Bill Walton and Steve Kerr.

How the Great Depression and end of WWI paved the way for Hitler’s rise to power

The end of WWI was triggered by an armistice that blamed the conflict on Germany and required the financially struggling country to pay reparations. This outraged nationalists and ignited conspiracies that Hitler was able to capitalize on, according to this six-minute video. It was during this financial strain that the Great Depression hit.

The origin story of the Paralympic movement and its founder, Dr. Ludwig Guttmann

Dr. Ludwig Guttmann, the founder of the Paralympic movement, revolutionized the treatment of spinal injuries. His belief in the power of sports for rehabilitation led to the creation of the Paralympic Games, now celebrated every Olympic year. This in-depth article from The History Press details the life and achievements of Dr. Guttmann, and includes historical photos and videos of the veterans-turned-athletes whose lives he changed.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which dates back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

Walt Disney's early film 'Alice's Wonderland' was a groundbreaking innovation in the silent film era

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Trace how the Bill of Rights, inspired by centuries of political theory, took shape between 1774 and 1789.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

Salvador Dalí believed he was his own dead brother, who had died nine months before he was born

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

About 12.5% of US adults experience a phobia in their lifetime, a diagnosis that hinges on the intense fear interfering with daily life and persisting for at least six months.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.