approaches 1.1 Flashcards
Origins of Psychology: Wundt, introspection and the emergence of Psychology as a science.
when did Wunt set up his first lab?
1879
introspection
conscious examination of conscious experience
self observation of own thoughts
3 steps of introspection
presented with stimulus - e.g. metronome or turning on light
inspect own thoughts - report back own emotions, sensations and thoughts that resulted from stimulus
draw conclusions - compared results to see what was similar and what was different
aims of wunt’s introspection
wanted to be able to repeat experiment and check reliability
example of wunt’s standardised procedure
used a light bulb
same colour, brightness and length of time of bulb
timeline of psychology
wunt (1879)
freud (1900s)
behaviourist (1913)
humanistic (1950s)
cognitive approach (1960s)
biological approach (1980s)
cognitive neuroscience (2000s)
structuralism
isolating conscious thoughts into basic structures of thoughts, processes and images
this method was highly scientific allowing for replication under standardised condition which creates reliable data
why did Skinner disagree with introspection?
due to the subjective nature
the findings differed greatly from individual to individual making it difficult to establish general laws and unifying principles of behaviour and cognition
therefore in the 1930s Skinner’s idea of radical behaviourism was tested using a lab experiment
this allowed for the objective measurement of observable behaviour providing reliable data through controlling extraneous and confounding variables
dualism
in the 17th century Descartes suggested that the mind and the body represented a dualism and that the two interact in different ways to produce different behaviours and thoughts
this was the basis for the nature vs nurture debate
psychology
the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes and how these are affected by internal and external factors
science
the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world, following a systematic methodology based on evidence
features of a science
a universal paradigm
theory construction
hypothesis testing
deduction
falsification
replicability
objectivity
empirical method
strengths of Wunt’s methods
self corrective ideas as theories can be adapted should they be found incorrect
is is one of the earliest methods used which formed the foundation for current therapies including cognitive behavioural therapy
limitations of Wunt’s methods
methods aren’t reliable, subjective and is difficult to report on behaviour that cant be seen as researchers are reliant on the participants report of what they think
introspection isn’t particularly accurate as there could be other factors involved in their thoughts of processing
not everything is observable so can’t explain evert behaviour including our views of oral and justice
explain how being highly subjective is a limitation of introspection
getting participants to self report what is going on in their mind through self observations is highly subjective
there is no way of verifying that what was going on in their thoughts was actually going on
B.F Skinner argued Wunt’s introspection wasn’t truly scientific because he wasn’t studying observable behaviour
can’t observe = can’t be objective
explain how a strength of introspection is that it was a starting point for Psychology
he trained 186 graduate students throughout his academic career
116 of them specialised in Psychology
these students went on to other countries in Europe and around the world to develop research into human behaviour and the mind
Catherine Collin - “the foundations were laid for the next generation of Psychologists at the turn of the century to develop a truly objective study of the mind and behaviour and to appply their own new theories to the treatment of mental disorders”
