Approaches - origins of psychology

Question 1

psychology

Answer 1

the scientific study of behaviour and mental processes

Question 2

introspection

Answer 2

examination of one’s own thoughts and feelings

Question 3

empiricism

Answer 3

the view that knowledge originates in experience and that science should, therefore, rely on observation and experimentation

Question 4

who was Wilhelm Wundt?

Answer 4

the first person to call himself a psychologist. he studied introspection and was alive from 1832-1920

Question 5

when was the idea of psychology first introduced?

Answer 5

1880

Question 6

evaluation of introspection

Answer 6

+ still useful in theory and used today in therapy
- Wundt’s methods were unreliable, subjective and non-observable
- inaccurate, we have very little knowledge of what influences our emotions

Question 7

when did psychology begin to be seen as a science?

Answer 7

start of 20th century, people questioning value of introspection and wanted to focus on the objective rather than subjective. behaviourist approach starting

Question 8

evaluation of psychology as a science

Answer 8

• the scientific approach is not always appropriate
  + scientific tests assumptions about behaviour which is objective rather than just passively accepting theories which are subjective