Origins of Psychology

Question 1

What is introspection?

Answer 1

• Introspection was used by Wundt to investigate the human mind.
• Comes from Latin, meaning ‘looking into’.
• Participants asked to reflect on their own cognitive processes and describe them.
• Developed by Wundt and his co-workers recording their own conscious thoughts, with the aim of breaking these down into their constituent parts.

Question 2

Wundt’s Lab

Answer 2

• Wilhelm Wundt opened the first ever lab dedicated to psychological enquiry in Leipzig, Germany in 1879.
• Wundt set out to document and describe the nature of human consciousness- pioneering method known as introspection.

Question 3

What is structuralism?

Answer 3

Isolating the structure of consciousness by breaking down conscious thoughts into their constituent parts.