Structuralism

Wilhelm Wundt (say "Vil-helm Voont") established the first lab to study psychology in Leipzig, Germany in 1879. Its purpose was to study consciousness in the normal adult human by analysing it into its component parts. By looking inward ("introspecting"), subjects could report on their conscious experience of various stimuli.

Structuralism tried to model itself after the highly successful science of chemistry by viewing the mind as a compound made up of mental "elements" like sensations and feelings. The goal was to understand consciousness by analysing it into its "elements" much in the same way that chemistry did with physical substances. For this reason the new psychology was referred to as "mental chemistry."

Structuralism soon died out because its subject matter — consciousness — couldn't satisfy the empiricism requirement of science. This made verification of experimental findings difficult (see verifiability). Also its method, introspection, could only be used by mentally healthy adults — no animals, children, or psychotics.

E.B. Titchener was largely responsible for bringing it to America.