Wundt believed that the very structure of psychological experiments leaves them severely lacking in their ability to investigate internal mental processes, such as consciousness and language.
In an effort to build a method of psychological study which would allow for investigation of these processes, Wundt argued that science needed a deeper means of accessing the inner minds of its subjects.
He cultivated a new branch of psychology known as Völkerpsychologie, which was distinct in its use of historical and comparative methods, rather than simply laboratory experimentation.
This led him to discovering a new type of psychology which dealt with the communal and cultural products of human nature, which includes religions, languages, and mythologies.
It is also noted that Wundt knew that Völkerpsychologie was essential for the completion of psychology in his earlier writings, but he did not fully commit to the explanation of it until his older age.
He also went on to discuss how experimental psychology focused on the physical (outer) body experiences, but did not do a very good job at explaining the psychic (inner) phenomena that would take place as well.
In his first book, Beiträge zur Theorie der Sinneswahrnehmung (Natural History of Man), which he wrote when he was at Heidelberg, Wundt talked about the programs involving experimental psychology and Völkerpsychologie.
In the second volume, Vorlesungen über die Menschen-und Thierseele (Lectures on the Human and Animal Mind), which Wundt wrote 16 years prior to when he started the experimental psychology program at Leipzig.
For Wundt, the whole reason for the comparative and historical study of these mental topics was to provide an objective point of view for making inferences about the psychological processes involved when they are produced.
An example of this: "The origin and development of these products depend in every case on general psychical conditions which may be inferred from their objective attributes.
"[6] Wundt naturally thought that experimental methods were wrong for the study of whole languages, myths, and customs, because they cannot be used properly in a scientific manner by introspection itself.
[8] Though they are recognized as being the founders of Völkerpsychologie, both men attribute many of their notions as being influenced by the ideas of brothers Wilhelm and Alexander Humboldt.
Wundt, a prominent German experimental psychologist, adapted many of the ideas of Lazarus and Steinthal and shaped them into what Völkerpsychologie has become known as in current times.
[8] Working on the ideas of Lazarus and Steinthal, Wundt also redefined Völkerpsycholgie’s scope as pertaining to language, mythology (arts, myths, and religion), and the moral system (law and culture).
[7] Though his work and ideas as an experimental psychologist have often been criticized as being too constricted, Wundt’s approach to Völkerpsychologie is perceived as having a much broader basis.
[8] Ernst Bergmann, a German philosopher and supporter of the Nazi party, believed that the German government should start utilizing Völkerpsychologie as a legitimate scientific field of study, stating that Germany’s “lack of psychological knowledge of other races” may again prove to be a major variable in deciding whether a war will be won or lost.
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