Origins of psychology

Question 1

Who is Wilhelm Wundt?

Answer 1

-Generally known as the founder of experimental psychology
-Considered first person to be a psychologist
-Wrote ‘principles of physiological psychology
-Established the first laboratory at Leipzig university,Germany in 1879

Question 2

How did Wundt and his coworkers intend to study psychology?

Answer 2

By trying to explain and understand the nature of people’s consciousness,By breaking them down into their basic elements-thoughts feelings and sensations.

Question 3

What is introspection?

Answer 3

-Translated ‘looking into’
-Involves a process of conscious self reflection
-Techique involved individuals monitoring and reporting on the contents of their consciousness(their mind) while being presented with a stimuli.

Question 4

What is an example of introspection?

Answer 4

The co-workers were given a ticking metronome and they would report their sensation,thoughts and images .

Question 5

What did Wundts process of the mind become known as?

Answer 5

Structuralism-They believed that by isolating elements of the mind- like sensation and perception-they could understand how they combined to form the compounds of the mind,and that in doing so they might ultimately gain an understanding of the structure of the mind.

Question 6

extraneous variables

What were the strengths of introspection?

Answer 6

Wundts careful conduction of the investigation into the mind(using laboratory settings,standardized instructions and the same stimulus)meant his controlled and systematic experiments could be replicated.
Therefore,extraneous variables did not interfere with the research,increasing the internal validity.
LINK in PEEL paragraph-The outcome is that Wundts influence continues today in making the discipline of psychology ‘scientific’ in nature.

Question 7

What are the limitations of introspection?

Answer 7

-Too subjective because subjects are self reporting their mental processes
-By their very nature of thoughts and feelings they are ‘non-observable’ private experiences so therefore they can not be directly observed or measured by a researcher (in an empirical way.)
Peoples feelings and emotions varied depending on the person and some people may omit their thoughts when reporting .
LINK in a PEEL paragraph-It can not meet the criteria of scientific enquiry ,thus does not support the notion that psychology is a science.