origins of psychology

Question 1

WUNDT AND INTROSPECTION

Question 2

what is psychology?

Answer 2

the scientific study of the mind and behaviour

Question 3

when was the birth of psychology?

Answer 3

1879

Question 4

who was the first psychologist?

Answer 4

wilhelm wundt

Question 5

where did he establish the first psychology laboratory?

Answer 5

leipzig, germany

Question 6

how did he study the mind?

Answer 6

he separated pscyhology from philosphy and focused on studying the mind in a structured and scientific way

Question 7

what approaches did he use?

Answer 7

a structuralist and reductionist approach

Question 8

what is stucturalism?

Answer 8

breaking down human thoughts and experiences into basic components

Question 9

what is reductionism?

Answer 9

the idea that things can be reduced to simple cause and effect processes

Question 10

what method did he use to investigate the mind?

Answer 10

introspection

Question 11

what is introspection?

Answer 11

examining peoples mental activity and breaking down conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts and sensations

Question 12

what were participants asked to do?

Answer 12

describe their experiences when presented with a set of stimuli, and often their reaction times were recorded

Question 13

how were introspections recorded to allow procedures to be replicated?

Answer 13

under strict, controlled conditions, using the same physical surroundings, the same stimulus, and the same verbal instructions to each participant

Question 14

what did he later conclude couldn’t be studied through introspection?

Answer 14

higher mental processes, such as emotion

Question 15

2 criticisms of introspection

Answer 15

• it doesn’t explain how the mind works. it relies on people describing their thoughts and feelings, which usually isn’t objective.
• it doesn’t provide reliable data because people are reporting on their experiences, their accounts can’t be confirmed.

Question 16

1 strength of introspection

Answer 16

psychologists often use it alongside scientific methods to investigate people’s thought processes. for example, griffiths used it to assess the irrational thoughts of regular gamblers, asking them to think aloud while gambling. introspection provided useful insights into their behaviours

Question 17

THE EMERGENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

Question 18

what is science?

Answer 18

the study of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment

Question 19

5 features that make something a science

Answer 19

1. objectivity
2. control
3. predictability
4. hypothesis testing
5. replication

Question 20

what is objectivity?

Answer 20

scientific observations shouldn’t be bias and influenced by any other factors, or people

Question 21

what is control?

Answer 21

scientific observations should take place under controlled conditions

Question 22

what is predictability?

Answer 22

scientists should be able to use the results and knowledge gained from experiments to predict future behaviour

Question 23

what is hypothesis testing?

Answer 23

theories generate hypotheses which can be tested to either strengthen the support for the theory, or disprove it

Question 24

what is replication?

Answer 24

each experiment should be able to be replicated exactly so people can have confidence in the results

Question 25

2 arguments that psychology is a science

Answer 25

• Allport (1947) said psychology has the same aims as a science - to predict, understand and control.
• behaviourist, cognitive and biological approaches all use scientific procedures to investigate procedures. they are usually controlled and unbiased.

Question 26

2 arguments that psychology isn’t a science

Answer 26

• it’s hard to get a representative sample of the population for a study, so findings can’t reliably be generalised.
• psychological experiments are open to extraneous variables, such as demand characteristics which can be hard to control.