Approaches In Psychology : Origins Of Psychology Flashcards
Who opened the first psychology lab and what year was this
1879
Wilhelm Wundt
Where was the first psychology lab set up in
Leipzig, Germany
Why is wundts work significant
Marked the beginning of scientific psychology separating it from its philosophical roots
What was wundts aim
To try to analyse the nature of human consciousness, and thus represented the first systematic attempt to study the mind under controlled conditions
What is wundts method
Introspection
What is introspection
The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations
How did wundt used standardised procedures and what were his main objectives
Objective - try and develop theories about mental processes such as language and perception
He and his co workers recorded their experiences of various stimuli they were presented with such as different objects or sounds.
They would divide their observations into three categories - SENSATIONS/IMAGES/THOUGHTS
For instance - participants might be given a ticking metronome and they would report their thoughts, images and sensations
What is structuralism
Isolating the structure of consciousness
How did Wundt used standardised procedures structuralism
The stimuli that Wundt and his co workers experienced were always presented in the same order and the same instructions were issued to all participants
What is psychology
The scientific study of the mind, behaviour and experience
What is science
A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation
The aim is to discover general laws
1900’s behaviourists
Introspection was questioned by many - John B Watson (behaviourist)
Introspection produced SUBJECTIVE data so that it was very difficult to establish general laws
What did Watson and Skinner later propose
A truly scientific psychology should study phenomena that can be observed objectively and measured
What did behaviourists focus on
Behaviours they could see, and used carefully controlled experiments
How long was behaviourist approach dominating
50 years
1950’s cognitive approach
Cognitive psychologists linked the mind to a computer and tested their prediction about memory and attention using experiments
(Eg. A multi-store model)
What did the cognitive approach ensure
The study of the mind was a legitimate and highly scientific aspect of the discipline
1980’s biological approach
Researchers take advantage of advances in technology to investigate psychological processes as they happen
Eg - sophisticated scanning techniques : fMRI and EEG to study live activity in the brain
New methods - genetic testing have allowed a better understanding between genes and behaviour
STRENGTH of Wundts work
Some of his methods were systematic and well-controlled
All introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of the lab ensuring possible EV’s were not a factor
Instructions were carefully standardised so that all participants received the same information and were tested in the same way
This suggests Wundts research can be considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology, such as the behaviourist approach.
LIMITATION of Wundts work
Other aspects of Wundts research would be considered unscientific today
Wundt relied on participants self reporting their mental processes
Such data is subjective (influenced by a personal perspective)
Participants may have hidden their thoughts
It is difficult to establish meaningful ‘laws of behaviour’ from such data
General laws are useful to predict future behaviour, one of the aims of science
This suggests some of Wundts early efforts to study the mind were flawed and would not meet the criteria or scientific enquiry
STRENGTH of modern psychology
Can claim to be scientific
Same aims as natural science - to describe, understand and predict and control behaviour
Learning approaches, cognitive and biological all rely on the use of scientific methods, for example LAB studies used to investigate theories in a controlled and unbiased way
This suggests that throughout the 20th century and beyond psychology has established itself as a scientific discipline
LIMITATION of modern psychology
Not all approaches use scientific methods
Humanistic approach rejects the scientific approach, preferring to focus on individual experiences and subjective experience
The psychodynamic approach makes use of the case study method which does not use representative samples
The subject of study - human beings - are active participants in research, responding for example to demand characteristics
Therefore a scientific approach to the study of human thought and experience may not always be desirable or possible
