VoluntarismWilhelm WundtBeginning of Wundt’s laboratory in 1879
StructuralismEdward TitchenerTitchener earns his Ph.D. with Wundt in 1892
FunctionalismJohn DeweyDewey’s publication of “The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology” in 1896
BehaviorismJohn WatsonWatson’s publication of “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” in 1913
Gestalt PsychologyMax WertheimerWertheimer’s publication of “Experimental Studies on the Seeing of Motion” in 1912
PsychoanalysisSigmund FreudFreud’s publication of The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900

“As you can see,” Watson began, “Wundt called his system voluntarism, which he later made a point of distinguishing from Titchener’s structuralism. Although Wundt had a system, it’s hard to say that he really had a school in the sense of having followers who accepted his system. The Germans who got their Ph. D. s under Wundt for the most part used their degrees to teach in the German secondary school system, the Gymnasiums, which are preparatory schools for entrance into universities. The Americans who went to Leipzig and got their Ph. D. s from Wundt, such as Frank Angell, James McKeen Cattell, Edward Scripture, and Lightner Witmer, took great care to lose any specifics of Wundt’s voluntarism on board the ship bringing them back to the United States. What they got out of their experience with Wundt is the idea that psychology should be an experimental science.