L1 - Wundt and Introspection Flashcards
Define psychology
The scientific study of the human mind and its functions especially affecting behaviour in a given context
Define science
A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation to discover laws
Who was Wundt?
Father of psychology
Devised introspection as first scientific attempt to study psychology
Wundt paved the way for what
Controlled research and study of mental processes, e.g. by cognitive psychologists
Define introspection
Studying the mind by breaking down conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images, and sensations
A person gains what in the introspection process
Knowledge about heir own mental processes and emotional states
What type of experimental design did introspection use?
Laboratory design
What happened in introspection?
People say aloud all of their thoughts when doing an activity or thinking about a topic/object
Can participants hesitate?
No
Keep talking even if thoughts are incoherent
Don’t need to justify thoughts
How was introspection standardised
All participants had same stimuli, reaction times, and instructions
Advantage of introspection related to being scientific?
Shares same qualities as other sciences
Made predictions
High level of control
Repeatable
Disadvantage related to effectiveness
Ineffective
Little knowledge of behaviours and attitudes outside conscious awareness e.g. racism
Introspection can’t help understand it
Disadvantage related to how?
Doesn’t explain how mind works or processes involved
Can’t see thought generation or properly observe introspection - non-observable
Less scientific
What is empiricism
Knowledge comes from observation and experience alone
What is the determinism assumption
Behaviour is caused
What is the predictability assumption
If behaviour is determined, we should be able to predict how humans will behave in different situations
What technique is used to explore the assumptions
Scientific method
The scientific method is what
Objective
Systematic
Replicable
Objective means what
Researchers don’t let preconceived ideas or biases influence data
Systematic means what
Observations and experiments are carried out in an orderly way
Considers EVs
What does it mean if results aren’t replicable
Not reliable
Can’t be accepted as universally true
Evaluate the scientific approach
+ self-corrective as it refines/abandons theories that don’t fit facts using empirical/replicable methods to establish behaviour causes
- lacks mundane realism and ecological validity as focusing on objectivity and control
