| German psychologist and philosopher regarded
as the guiding force behind the experimental study of thought
processes identified with the Würzburg school of psychology.
After completing a dissertation on sensual feeling for
Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of experimental psychology, at
the University of Leipzig (1887), Külpe spent eight
years at the Leipzig laboratory. During most of that time
he acted as Wundt's assistant. In 1888 Külpe became
Privatdozent (lecturer) at the university. He wrote Grundriss
der Psychologie (1893; Outlines of Psychology), in which
he defined psychology as a science concerned with experiences
dependent on the experiencing individual and outlined the
findings of experimental psychology.
In 1894 Külpe was appointed professor at the University
of Würzburg, and under his inspiration and direction
the institute published some 50 experimental studies before
his departure for the University of Bonn in 1909. Best known
is his research on the effects of attitudes and tasks on
perception and the course of recall and thought.
In 1913 Külpe took a post at the University of Munich.
At the time of his death he was writing another systematic
treatment of experimental psychology. Die Realisierung,
3 vol. (1912–23; “Realization”), considered
to be a valuable contribution to the theory of knowledge,
was his last published work.
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