5.2. Emergence Of Psychology As A Science (Approaches)

Question 1

17th-19th Century

Answer 1

Psychology is a branch of the broader discipline of philosophy.
If psych had a definition now it would have been Experimental Philosophy.

Question 2

1879

Answer 2

Wundt opens the first psych lab in Germany.
Psych emerges as a distinct discipline in its own right.

Question 3

1900s

Answer 3

Psychodynamic Approach
Sigmund Freud emphasises the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour.
He also develops his person centred therapy.
Psychoanalysis and shows that psychological problems can be explained in terms of conflict of the mind.

Question 4

1913

Answer 4

Behaviourist Approach
John B Watson writes psych as the behaviourist views and later Skinner establishes the behaviourist approach.

Question 5

1950s 1

Answer 5

Humanistic Approach
Rogers & Maslow develop it. Rejecting the behaviourist and psychodynamic view that the human behaviour is determined by outside factors.
Humanistic Psychologists emphasise the importance of self determination and free will.

Question 6

1950s 2

Answer 6

Cognitive Approach.
The intro of the dig.comp gives psych a metaphor for the operations of the human mind.
Reintroduces the study of mental processes to psychology but in a much more scientific way than Wundts earlier investigations.

Question 7

1960s

Answer 7

Social Learning Theory
Bandura. This approach draws attention to the role of cognitive factors in learning origins a bridge betweeen newly established cognitive approach and traditional behaviourism.

Question 8

1980s

Answer 8

Biological Approach.
Begins to establish itself as the dominant scientific perspective in psych.
This is due to the advances in technology that have increased understanding of the brain and biological processes.

Question 9

2000s

Answer 9

Cognitive Neuroscience
Emerges as a distinct discipline bringing together the cognitive and the biological approach.
Cognitive Neuroscience investigates how biological structures influence mental states.

Question 10

What is science?

Answer 10

Science involves building knowledge through systematic and objective measurement.
The aim is to discover general laws.

Question 11

1900s - Early behaviourists’ rejected introspection

Answer 11

• Watson argues that introspection was subjective, influenced by personal perspective.
• according to the behaviourist approach, scientific psychology should only study phenomena that can be observed and measured
• for this reason behavioursists focused on behaviours that they could see and use controlled experiments
• the behaviourist approach dominated psych for the next 50 years.

Question 12

1950s - cognitive approach

Answer 12

• following the computer revolution, the study of mental processes was seen as legitimate in psych
• cognitive psychs compared the mind to a computer (multi-store model) and tested their predictions about memory and attention using experiments
• the cognitive approach ensured that the study of the mind was a legitimate and highly scientific aspect of the discipline.

Question 13

1980s - biological approach

Answer 13

• biological psychs have taken advantage of recent advances in tech to investigate physiological processes as they happen
• example is using sophisticated scanning techniques such as MRI and EEG scans to study live activity in the brain
• new methods (genetic testing) have also allowed us to better understand the relationship between genes and behaviour.

Question 14

One strength of the emergence of psych as a science

Answer 14

Is that research in modern psychology can claim to be scientific.
Psych has the same aims as natural sciences - to describe, understand, predict and control behaviour. The learning appproaches, cognitive approach and biological approach all rely on the use of scientific methods, eg lab studies to investigate theories in a controlled and unbiased way.
There4, throughout the 20th century and beyond, psych has established itself as a scientific discipline.

Question 15

One limitation of the emergence of psych as a science.

Answer 15

Is that not all approaches use objective methods.
Humanistic approach rejects scientists approach preferring to focus on individual and subjective epxerience. Psychodynamic approach makes use of the case study method which does not use representative samples.
Subject of human beings- are active ppts in research, responding for example to demand characteristics.
Ther4, a scientific approach to study of human though and experience may not always be desirable or possible.