2.1 - Approaches In Psychology (Set A - Emergence + Wilhelm Wundt)

Question 1

Explain the main focus of cognitive psychology?

Answer 1

Branch of psychology dedicated to studying how people think

Question 2

Give the definition of psychology?

Answer 2

The study and examination of behaviour and mind through the use of scientific methods

Question 3

Describe what approaches mean in regards to psychology?

Answer 3

Ways in which psychologists have tried to explain and investigate human behaviour

Question 4

Explain any important events in 1870 and how they shaped psychology as we know it today?

Answer 4

Psychology becomes distinct from philosophy and is considered its own science - Wilhelm Wundt opens the first psychology lab in Germany and writes his first book ‘principles of physiological psychology’

Question 5

Explain any important events in the 1900s and how they shaped psychology as we know it today?

Answer 5

Sigmund Freud established the psychodynamic approach which emphasise the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour features ID,SuperEGO and EGO

Question 6

Explain any important events in 1913 and how they shaped psychology as we know it today?

Answer 6

skinner and john Watson established behaviourist approach - believed behaviour was controlled by the environment rather then genetics or parents

Question 7

Explain any important events in 1950 and how they shaped psychology as we know it today?

Answer 7

carl rogers and Abraham Maslow developed humanistic approach - idea human behaviour was not determined by the individual, focused on free will

Question 8

Explain any important events in 1960s and how they shaped psychology as we know it today?

Answer 8

cognitive approach developed - focus was on studying internal mental process like memory, through controlled experiments that could be objectively measured and replicated - more scientific then Wundt’s introspection

Question 9

Explain any important events in 1980s and how they shaped psychology as we know it today?

Answer 9

biological approach began to establish itself - advances in tech allowed for the study of how genetics and brain chemicals are involved used technology like MRI scans

Question 10

Explain any important events in 2000 and how they shaped psychology as we know it today?

Answer 10

cognitive neuroscience emerged - brought together the biological and cognitive approach

Question 11

Explain briefly who WIlhelm Wundt was and his beliefs and methods used?

Answer 11

Wundt was the first person to call himself a psychologist he believed that all aspects of nature, including the human mind could be studied scientifically though breaking down behaviours such as sensation and perception he used a technique called introspection

Question 12

Three important actions of Wilhelm Wundt?

Answer 12

• his first book ‘principles of physiological psychology ’ established the subject as an independent branch of science and separated it from philosophy
• studied the mind using a structuralist and reductionist approach
• Opened first lab for psychology ‘institute of experimental psychology’ in Germany

Question 13

What is reductionism or reductionist theory?

Answer 13

the idea that complicated human behaviors and phenomena can be better explained by “reducing” them into small, simple pieces

Question 14

Explain the technique and purpose of introspection?

Answer 14

method which involves analysing your own thoughts and feelings internally as they occurred - it was used by Wundt to study sensation and perception before the emergence of technology like brain scans

Question 15

How did Wundt use introspection?

Answer 15

Used it to examine his participants thoughts under strictly controlled systematic conditions, the experiment involved the participants recording how the stimulus (ticking metronome) made them think or feel at that moment

Question 16

What are some approaches Wundt made when doing his experiment using introspection to gain more reliable and reproducible results?

Answer 16

• had the participants record their internal thoughts as they reacted to the stimulus rather then have them do it later - helped avoid memory problems
• used standardised equipment like the same ticking metronome (stimulus) which allowed the experiment to be easily replicated

Question 17

Why did Wundt take the approaches he did when conducting the experiment?

Answer 17

To prove that psychology was a science so he had to show that the experiment could be conducted systematically and in a more structured way, so that it could be replicated which is one of the features which makes something a science

Question 18

Define systematic? and explain why it was an important part of Wundt experiment?

Answer 18

something that is done according to a system or method - this was important for Wundt’s experiment as he was proving psychology was a science and that the mind could be studied scientifically, therefore it had to meet the features of a science two of which are that it is replicable and under controlled conditions

Question 19

Give three problems with introspection?

Answer 19

• highly subjective - relies on people describing their own thoughts and feelings which also can’t be confirmed
• Cannot be used on children,animals and people suffering from mental disorders
• Reports may be distorted - deliberately lie to provide more positive thoughts

Question 20

Three reasons why the work of Wundt is important for the way it has shaped psychology?

Answer 20

• paved the way for later more systematic and controlled research
• encouraged others to look for more appropriate methods, helping bring about methods like brain scans
• Introspection still used today in therapy

Question 21

What was Wundt’s approach known as and why?

Answer 21

Structuralism - he used experimental methods to find the basic building blocks of thought and investigated how they interacted - did this through studying sensation and perception

Question 22

Main belief of Wilhelm Wundt?

Answer 22

believed that all aspects of nature, including the human mind could be studied scientifically though breaking down behaviours such as sensation and perception, his approach became known as structuralism because he used experimental methods to find the basic building blocks of thought

Question 23

Define structuralism and explain what it involves?

Answer 23

method involving breaking behaviours such as sensation and perception into their basic elements through the use of introspection - used by Wundt to study the mind

Question 24

Significance of Wundt presenting his participants with the same stimuli?

Answer 24

allowed Wundt to compare different participants reports in response to the same stimuli, helped establish general theories

Question 25

What was the new ‘scientific approach’ to psychology based on?

Answer 25

The two major assumptions - with techniques used to explore these assumptions being known as scientific methods

• assumption of determinism
• assumption of predictability

Question 26

explain what the assumption of determinism focuses on?

Answer 26

Idea that behaviour is based on cause and effect, so behaviour is caused by something and can affect other things

Question 27

explain what the assumption of predictability focuses on?

Answer 27

Idea that behaviour is determined

Question 28

Evaluation - explain why Wundt’s method was unreliable?

Answer 28

Approach relies heavily on non observable responses like memory and perception - which meant the approach lacks reliability as his introspective ‘experimental’ results were not reliably reproducible by other researchers in different labs

• compared to people like Pavlov and Thordndike who were achieving reliably reproducible results which could be generalised to all humans

Question 29

Evaluation - explain why Wundt’s method is not always necessary?

Answer 29

not all psychologists share the view that all human behaviour can, or should be exploited by the use of scientific methods especially as much of psychology is unobservable and can therefore not be measured with any degree of accuracy

Question 30

Evaluation - explain why introspection is not always possible to use?

Answer 30

could not be used to study a number of different aspects of human behaviour, such as children (due to limited vocabulary and inability to express thoughts and feelings) or animals (inability to express thoughts and feelings)

Question 31

Evaluation - explain how the validity of introspection is a problem?

Answer 31

complex topics such as learning, development, mental disorders, and personality could not be investigated with this method, as it is subjective - only an individual can report his/her own mental processes

Question 32

Define scientific method?

Answer 32

Refers to the use of investigative methods that are objective, systematic and replicable and the formation, testing and modification of hypotheses based on these methods

• Wundt believed all aspects of natural and the human mind could be studied scientifically

Question 33

Explain Wundt’s belief of studying human experience scientifically?

Answer 33

Originally Wundt believed that all aspects of human experience could be investigated experimentally - eventually he realised that higher mental processes such as learning, language and emotion could not be studied in this strict controlled manner

• these topics could be described in terms of general trends in behaviour among groups of people (a field referred to as cultural psychology)