Origins of psychology

Question 1

Introspection

Answer 1

Wundt was the first person to call themselves a psychologist, Wundt developed introspection which was the first systematic and experimental attempt to study mental processes by breaking down conscious awareness into basic structures of reflections, thoughts , images and sensations.

Introspection involves a person saying everything that is going through their mind whilst doing something or thinking about something. They did not need to hesitate, explain themselves or form full sentences. Introspection could be repeated making it more reliable and scientific.

Question 2

Structuralism

Answer 2

This is a theory of consciousness developed by Wundt involving the use of introspection, self reporting of sensations, feelings, emotions etc.

Question 3

Watson and behaviorists

Answer 3

Watson said introspection produced biased data as it varied greatly between individuals so general principles couldn’t be established easily. He said they should only study phenomena could be observed and measured.

Behaviorist approach focuses on controlled lab experiments and would be the main approach till the 1960s. Afterwards cognitive psychology gained more traction as more people approved of the study of mental processes, the biological approach has grown with new technology such as through different types of brain scanning.

Question 4

Introspection strengths

Answer 4

• ) It is extremely scientific as it studies behavior in a laboratory setting and makes predictions from hypotheses similar to other science subjects.
• ) It is still used today in areas of therapy that study emotional states such as in cognitive therapy to get patients to later negative thinking.
• ) it establishes what causes behavior allowing us to predict future behavior such as if we know dopmine causes OCD like symptoms we can make sure they are kept low to prevent OCD like symptoms

Question 5

Introspection weaknesses

Answer 5

• ) Introspection was criticized by Watson as it produces subjective data and so may not be reliable.
• ) It does not explain how the mind works and the processes involved in thinking about a topic, introspection cannot be properly observed.
• ) It is not very scientific or accurate as it does not explore behavior and attitudes outside conscious thoughts such as unconscious bias or racism. Introspection would not help us understand these things.