Carl Stumpf - Later Years

Later Years

The majority of Stumpf's later work did not include sensational or interesting research, like that of Clever Hans. With the outbreak of World War I, many students left the Institute of Experimental Psychology to fight in the war. Furthermore, the war between Germany and the allied nations disrupted many professional relationships he had with other psychologists. Stumpf retired from the University of Berlin in 1921 and was succeeded as director of the psychological institute by his former student, Wolfgang Köhler. Unfortunately, many of Stumpf's contributions to the field of auditory perception and aesthetics was lost within sensory psychology because his work was not elaborated by later generations, due to the severing of contact with Stumpf by the war.