When did the study of psychology begin?

Psychology emerged as an official discipline in the late 1800s. Wilhelm Wundt, a German physiologist, used scientific research methods to investigate reaction times. He published a book that demonstrated the connections between physiology and human thought and behavior.

Wundt's work heavily influenced psychological research methods. Approximately 17,000 students attended his psychology lectures, and many obtained degrees in psychology.

Psychology's first school of thought was structuralism, which taught that human consciousness consisted of small parts. The structuralists train people to examine and break down their responses into the most basic perceptions and sensations. As of 2015, contemporary psychologists view structuralism as unreliable and subjective.