Appraoches: Orgins Of Psychology

Question 1

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Answer 1

• a French philosopher
• Cartesian dualism: the mind and the body are independent from each other
• suggested that the mind could be an object studied in its own right
• “i think therefore i am”

Question 2

John Locke (1932-1704)

Answer 2

• empiricism: the idea that all experience can be obtained through the senses
• and that humans inherit neither knowledge or instincts
• laid the ground for the behaviorist approach and the theory that the world can be understood by investigating external events that are observers and measured

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empiricism
all the experience can be obtained through the senses, and human beings inherit neither knowledge or instincts

behaviourist response that the world can be understood by investigating external events that are observed and measured

all behaviour is learned through interaction w the environment and can be modified through rewards and punishments

Question 3

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Answer 3

• evolutionary theory: the notion that all human and animal behavior has changed over successive generations
• “survival of the fittest”
• the assumption that many humans have evolved due to their adaptive value
• bases for the biological approach

Question 4

Evaluating the emergence of psychology as a science

Answer 4

(+) modern psychology can claim to be scientific
- same aims as the natural sciences
- some approaches such as the biological and cognitive approach rely on the use of scientific methods
- suggests that the subject has established itself as a scientific discipline

(-) not all approaches uses scientific methods
- such as the humanistic approach rejects any scientific methods and focuses on studying and understand the individual and subjective experience
- the psychodynamic approach uses case studies which are individual and subjective and unique which go against science.
- hence some might say studying human through and experience in a scientific way may not always be possible.

Question 5

Wundt

Answer 5

• he created the first lab dedicated to psychology in Leipzig, Germany in 1879
• he wanted to document and describe the nature of human consciousness
• father of psychology

Question 6

Wundt’s introspection

Answer 6

Wundt’s pioneering method was called introspection
- this was when Wunt and his co-workers recorded their own conscious thoughts, with the aim of breaking them down into their constituent parts
- isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism

Question 7

Wundt’s controlled methods

Answer 7

• this early attempt to investigate the mind may be naive but some of the methods and techniques he used were recognized as “scientific” today.
• all introspections were recorded under strictly controlled conditions, using the same stimulus every time (such as a ticking metronome)
• the same standardized instructions were issued to all participants, which allowed procedures to be repeated and replicated every single time
• wunts works was significant as it marked the separation of modern scientific psychology from is philosophical roots

Question 8

Evaluating Wundt

Answer 8

(+) he used systematic and well controlled methods
- he carried out his research in lab environments, allowing him to sustain high levels of control
- he used standardized procedures allowing his research to be the the forerunner of later scientific approaches such as the behaviourist approach

(-) many other elements of his method would be considered unscientific
- such as self-reporting mental processes
- as participants may have hidden thoughts they wouldn’t want to share therefore not report them afterwards.
This results in a collection of subjective data

Question 9

“Describe Wundt’s role in the development of psychology”

Answer 9

1. Father of psychology
   - moved psychology from its philosophical roots to controlled research
   2. German lab 1870s
      
      • in Leipzig Germany in 1879
   3. Promoted introspection
      
      • a way of studying mental processes
   4. Define introspection
      
      • systematic analysis of own consciousness experience of a stimulus
   5. Structuralism
      
      • the experience was analyzed in terms of its component parts like sensations and emotional reactions
   6. Paved the way.
      
      • paved the way for later controlled research and the study of mental processes , like cognitive psychologist