Hugo Münsterberg (18631916)
Early Career
 Obtained his Ph.D. under Wundt in
1882
 Directed the lab in Freiburg
(Swirtzerland) --had the lab in his own
house.
 In 1892, enticed by James to direct the
Psychology lab at Harvard University
 In 1902, wrote American Traits
Münsterberg on Psych classics

(1893b). Psychological laboratory of Harvard University. [A catalogue of equipment and readings,
prepared for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.]

(1899). Psychology and history. Psychological Review, 6, 1-31. [Münsterberg's APA Presidential
address about the epistemological relation between the natural and the normative sciences. First
English discussion of idiographic and nomothetic methods, later popularized by Gordon Allport.]

(1908/1925). On the witness stand. [Attempt to sell the insights and methods of scientific
psychology to the legal community; foreshadows many of today's issues in forensic psychology.]

(1913). Psychology and industrial efficiency. [Attempt to sell the insights and methods of
scientific psychology to the industry; major early contribution to industrial/organizational
psychology.]
About the Münster lab
 http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Munster/L
ab/
 Go to the URL, look at the pictures,
glance at the contents of the catalog,
look at the experiments that were ongoing. If you were in that lab, which of
these experiments would interest you
most?
Münsterberg and the definition
of psychology
 In his APA presidential address,
Münsterberg defines the boundaries of
psychology in relation to other fields
such as history, physics and logic.
Forensics
 Go look at his writings on forensics at
http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Munster/Witness/index.htm
 Look at the content of his writings.
Choose something to read.
Summarize. What do you think?
Industrial Psychology
 This is the first "official" applied
psychology book. What does
Münsterberg think of applied
psychology?
 What are the areas of industrial
psychology Münsterberg considers
important?
 What do you think of his analysis?
Forensics today
 APA Division 41 at
http://www.apa.org/about/division/div41
.html
 Go to the division site itself
 What material there is interesting to
students?
 Go to their "links", explore some of the
other organizations
Industrial Psychology Today
 APA division 14
http://www.apa.org/about/division/div14
.html
 Go to the SIOP site. What seem to be
some of the important issues today?
What materials on there might be of
special interest to students?
Applied research relevant to
forensics
 The work of Elizabeth Loftus. Look at
her site at
http://www.seweb.uci.edu/faculty/loftus/
 Read one of her articles. A well-known
article that has become a classic is that
about creating false memories at
http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Art
icles/sciam.htm
Münsterberg and
psychotherapy
 Wrote Psychotherapy in 1909
 advocates a behavioral approach.
• There is no subconscious --though for a
time, he did use hypnosis.
 Read a 1911 encyclopedia article on
psychotherapy that uses Münsterberg
as one of its sources. Go to
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/1254
9a.htm
The End