Approaches in psychology

Question 1

Define psychology

Answer 1

The scientific study of the mind, behaviour and experience

Question 2

Describe Wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science

Answer 2

• “The father of psychology”
• In 1879, Wundt opened the first experimental psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany
• Wundt published the first academic journal for psychological research
• Wundt’s research marked the beginning of scientific psychology, separating it from its philosophical roots
• Wundt developed introspection - the systematic analysis of own conscious experience to a stimulus
• Wundt promoted introspection was a way of studying mental processes
• Wundt’s introspection paved the way for later controlled research into mental processes by cognitive psychologists

Question 3

Define introspection

Answer 3

The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations under controlled conditions

Question 4

Describe the method of introspection

Answer 4

Highly trained observers were asked to look inwards and report their own conscious experience in terms of thoughts, images and sensations, in response to a stimulus such as a ticking metronome

Question 5

Define structuralism

Answer 5

Isolating the structure of consciousness by breaking it down into its basic elements

Question 6

What are the strengths of Wundt’s introspection?

Answer 6

+ Scientific
* Conducted in highly controlled labs to remove extraneous variables
* Standardised instructions and procedures for research to be replicated to test for reliability

Question 7

What are the weaknesses of Wundt’s introspection?

Answer 7

• Unscientific today
• Relied on participants subjectively self-reporting their mental processes
• Particiants may have hidden some of their thoughts, making it difficult to establish general laws used to predict future behaviour