Origins of Psychology Flashcards
Who was Rene Descartes?
A philosopher in the 1600s who developed the concept of dualism.
Dualism
The idea that our minds and bodies are two separate entities and should be studied as such.
Who was John Locke?
A philosopher in the 1600s who developed the concept of empiricism.
Empiricism
The theory that all knowledge is based on experience derived from the senses.
Who was Charles Darwin?
A scientist in the 1800s who developed the theory of evolution.
Evolution
The change of characteristics over generations of a species.
Who was Wilhelm Wundt?
The father of psychology, who established psychology as its own study in the 1800s by publishing the first book on psychology in 1873, and the first psychology lab in 1879 in Germany. He also developed the concept of introspection.
Structuralism
Breaking down human behaviour into their basic elements as a method of studying the structure of the human mind.
Introspection
Conscious examination of conscious experience (self-observation).
Explain the process of introspection.
Participants are presented with a stimulus, then report their thoughts and emotions towards it, then conclusions are drawn.
Why did some oppose introspection?
It was highly subjective and not observable. Watson argued that for scientific analysis, behaviours must be observable.
Standardisation
Where the procedures in a research are kept the same.
Paradigm
A group of psychologists who share a belief about how the mind and human behaviour works.
Paradigm Shift
When a new way of thinking about the human mind and our behaviour is adopted.
Origins - Strengths
- Supporting evidence - Griffiths (1994) used introspection to study cognitive processes of fruit machine gamblers.
