Who opened the first psychology laboratory in 1875?

• A. Freud
• B. William James
• C. Wilhelm Wundt
• D. Ivan Pavlov

Answer: (C)

Understanding who started psychology as an experimental science is key here. Wilhelm Wundt opened the first formal psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig in the late 1870s (commonly cited as 1879). This event marks psychology’s separation from philosophy and physiology and the beginning of systematic, experimental study of conscious experience, reaction times, and perception. Wundt’s approach laid the groundwork for psychology as a science with controlled experiments and trained observers.

Freud is known for psychoanalysis, not founding a laboratory of experimental psychology. William James helped popularize psychology in the United States and contributed to its theoretical foundations, but he did not establish the first dedicated lab. Ivan Pavlov conducted influential conditioning experiments, but again, the milestone of opening the first psychology lab belongs to Wundt.