Approaches: origins of psychology Flashcards
The process of introspection involves…
investigating internal events i.e. inner mental and emotional states, by examining conscious thoughts and the feelings as a form of data collection.
Introspection allows us to observe and report on our inner world of thoughts and feelings in terms of intensity, duration and quality
Outline Wilhelm Wundt and Introspection, as context.
approx 3 marks in essay
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) is often cited as one of the founders of psychology and believed that all
aspects of the behaviour and the human mind could be studied scientifically. In 1879 in Leipzig,
Germany he created what has become known as the first experimental psychology laboratory that was
quickly followed by researchers in America and Britain. His laboratory was called The Institute of
Experimental Psychology.
- He is credited with pulling psychology onto more scientific ground from the less scientific field of
philosophy, with a view of examining behavioural processes in more detail. - Wundt approach was influenced by biologists, philosophers, and medical experts and he aimed to
study the structure of the human mind, thoughts and sensations, and break them down into basic
elements. This approach is called STRUCTURALISM (involves looking at the structure of our abilities and
behaviours). A key technique that he used was called INTROSPECTION.
To begin with Wundt believed all human behaviours and mental processes can be studied this way in the
controlled setting of his laboratory. However, he later claimed some complex mental processes (e.g.
language and emotional expression) may not be suited to such controlled environments.
What is empiricism?
knowledge= observation and experience
not inborn or innate
all behaviour has causes and can be predicted
what are the features of a science?
Falsifiable
Replicable
Objective
General laws
Systematic
Evaluation of Wundt: led to general laws
Wundt and introspection led to some useful general laws.
Wundt struggled to create universal general laws, modern researchers have used
introspection more successfully. Hunter et al (2003) used introspection with teenagers to
try and identify what makes them happy or unhappy throughout the day. Through
teenagers questioning their own thoughts they were able to identify that when energies
were focused on challenging tasks, they were far more upbeat
This means Wundt’s work has ultimately helped psychology become recognised as a
credible scientific subject.
evaluation of wundt: highly subjective
Introspection can be highly SUBJECTIVE
By its very nature introspection introduces personal opinion and beliefs (i.e. it’s
subjective) and trying to create general laws about the causes of behaviour in this manner
is very limited. The lack of numerical data also limited the statistical analysis that could
take place if measures like fMRI scans were used to objectively detect changes in the
brain when completing key tasks
This is likely to mean that the introspection lacks scientific rigour and is not fully open
to observation.
evaluation of wundt: helped us move forward in psych
Wundt’s approach was the first to try and apply the rigour of the natural sciences to the
study of human behaviour. Wundt’s work instigated Psychology as we know it i.e. the
systematic observation and experimentation on human and animal behaviour using an
evidence based approach. This has been invaluable in helping move forward our
understanding of behaviour.
Limitations of Wundt’s SCIENTIFIC APPROACH (lacks generalisability )
Limitations of Wundt’s SCIENTIFIC APPROACH (lacks generalisability )
Introspection activities in artificial contrived environments fail to fully represent real life
experiences, and as such can be said to lack ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY. This is a similar issue
with other methods designed to measure thoughts, intentions and behaviour in a
scientific way as the degree of control needed to make this scientific, takes away from the
realism of the task
This implies that by using the scientific approach we cannot fully study all of human
experience and behaviour.
draw hypothetico deductive model
