Who is considered the father of modern psychology?

Wilhelm Wundt is considered the father of modern psychology primarily due to his establishment of the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, in 1879. This event marked the formal beginning of psychology as a scientific discipline, separate from philosophy and physiology. Wundt's emphasis on experimental methods and his focus on introspection as a way to study conscious experience laid the groundwork for psychology as an empirical science. He sought to understand the structure of the mind and how various mental processes work, which led to the development of structuralism, a school of thought that aimed to categorize and analyze the mind's components.

While figures like Sigmund Freud, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner have made significant contributions to psychology, their work emerged from the foundation laid by Wundt. Freud is known for his psychoanalytic theory, while Watson and Skinner are key figures in behaviorism. However, all of these later approaches evolved partly as a reaction to or expansion upon the ideas introduced by Wundt, reaffirming his pivotal role in the transition of psychology into a discipline grounded in scientific research.