L1 - Origins Of Psychology

Question 1

Describe the emergence of Psychology as a Science

Answer 1

• Wilheim Wundt is the Father of psychology
• Moved psych away from philosophical roots to controlled research
• Set up first lab in Leipzig in 1870s
• Founded the Institute of Experimental Psychology and published a book helping to establish the subject as a science
• Created Introspection
• Highly controlled env. helped him establish general theories, but found higher mental processes could not be studied in a strictly controlled manner
• Developed the field of cultural psychology

Question 2

Evaluation of Emergence of Psychology as a Science

Answer 2

+ Wundt was first to open a lab which allowed replication, making it more scientific
+ Wundt was the first psychologist to focus on understanding the psychological processes of perception rather than philosophical/biological
+ Wundt recognised that higher mental processes were difficult to study using his procedures and encourages others to look for other methods, paving the way for brain scanning techniques

• Modern Psychologists argue that behaviourists like Pavlov had a greater contribution to developing psychology than Wundt as they had reliable results that were generalisable

Question 3

What is Introspection?

Answer 3

• A systematic analysis of our own conscious experiences of a stimuli. An experience is examined in terms of its component parts e.g sensations, feelings, images
• Wundt claimed with sufficient training, an individual’s conscious mental processes could be objectively recorded by them as they occurred.
• e.g Would ask people to focus on an object and look inwards to reflect on sensations, feelings and images that came to mind. This info was used to gain insight into the mental processes in perception

Question 4

Evaluation of Introspection

Answer 4

+ Focus on mental processes through introspection can be seen as the forerunner of the cognitive approach
+ Introspection is still used in modern research and in areas in therapy and studying emotional states. Demonstrates its value as one way mental processes,can be investigated

• Studies with introspection may be invalid as psychologists argue that aspects of our mind are outside our conscious awareness so cannot be reported