Structuralism and Functionalism-  During the time in which Munsterberg started his education in Germany, two schools of psychology were dominant in different parts of the world.  In Europe, there was a stronger influence of structuralism in which William Wundt was the founder and opened up his lab.  In the United States, there was a stronger emphasis on functionalism due to its applied nature.  Structuralism was characterized by the belief that psychology should be the study of consciousness and its elements by the method of introspection.  The study of psychology also was characterized as being a pure science.  On the other hand, functionalism was influenced heavily by William James and founded by John Dewey and James Angell which believed that psychology should study the functions of consciousness along with keeping an open mind to other subfields within psychology, such as animal and child psychology.  In the United States, the notion of pure science was very unpopular, as Americans were looking towards ways to advance society.  This aspect of the zeitgeist greatly influenced the approach to psychology that people took.  For instance, Munsterberg's first dissertation was not accepted by Wundt because it went against principles that were central to the practices of structuralism.  After Munsterberg accepted the job at Harvard University, his theories spread like fire due to its applied nature and the methodology that was taken to form such theories or experimentations.  It is interesting to mention that James recruited Munsterberg from Germany because he found his ideas to be highly applicable to the United States, whereas during this particular time, his methods would not have been accepted in a society that was dominated with a structuralist mind set.  

Problems in the Workforce- There began to be a growing interest in business related practices on such topics of motivation, production, efficiency, selection, and labor unions.  Psychology began to get involved in industry with its discourse on a social, human relations approach  which redirected the previous management approach from a technical basis (Van de Water, 1997).  One influential article that expounded the panacea for managers was "A Piece Rate System, Being a Step Toward Partial Solution of the Labor Problem", by Frederick Taylor.  This article outlined a familiar concept that Darwin set forward which was pertaining to 'survival of the fittest', however, Taylor applied it to business.  This article was a basis that started many changes in the work environment.  Taylor believed that managers should set production standards and in turn set wages accordingly to workers who either met or felll below this standard.  This idea relates back to 'natural selection' because he thought that the best suited for the demands of the job would increase their pay rate by decreasing labor costs, as a result for their effort in production (Van de Water, 1997).  Going beyond these practices, other related topics in industry that were of interest as well were training, cooperation over individualism, shorter hours and higher wages.  These issues were continually being addressed and individuals were constantly trying to develop ways to combat these problems.  Since the zeitgeist in the United States welcomed applied science and work outside of the lab, these innovative ideas to address the problems in industry were highly recognized as practical.  

The Influence of World War I- Before the official outbreak of the war, there was growing animosity towards Germany, who was viewed as the country that started the war in the first place.  In the United States, Munsterberg was greatly affected by the outlook on Germans.  Munsterberg was a strong advocate for Germany in which he set out to be a spokesperson for German Americans, along with writing most of his books in German (Landy, 1992).  He was ostracized from his academic career and mostly socially as well.  He was made a mockery in many magazines with caricatures making fun of him and he was even accused of being a spy for the Germans.  Since he sided with Germany during this time, his outstanding accomplishments were swept underneath the rug.  Beyond the damaging effects that WWI had on Munsterberg, once the United States became involved in the war, many psychologists that were involved in industry began to develop tests that helped match people in the army to positions that would benefit the most from their talents.