origins of psychology Flashcards
WUNDT AND INTROSPECTION
what is psychology?
the scientific study of the mind and behaviour
when was the birth of psychology?
1879
who was the first psychologist?
wilhelm wundt
where did he establish the first psychology laboratory?
leipzig, germany
how did he study the mind?
he separated pscyhology from philosphy and focused on studying the mind in a structured and scientific way
what approaches did he use?
a structuralist and reductionist approach
what is stucturalism?
breaking down human thoughts and experiences into basic components
what is reductionism?
the idea that things can be reduced to simple cause and effect processes
what method did he use to investigate the mind?
introspection
what is introspection?
examining peoples mental activity and breaking down conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts and sensations
what were participants asked to do?
describe their experiences when presented with a set of stimuli, and often their reaction times were recorded
how were introspections recorded to allow procedures to be replicated?
under strict, controlled conditions, using the same physical surroundings, the same stimulus, and the same verbal instructions to each participant
what did he later conclude couldn’t be studied through introspection?
higher mental processes, such as emotion
2 criticisms of introspection
- 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.
1 strength of introspection
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
THE EMERGENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE
what is science?
the study of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment
5 features that make something a science
- objectivity
- control
- predictability
- hypothesis testing
- replication
what is objectivity?
scientific observations shouldn’t be bias and influenced by any other factors, or people
what is control?
scientific observations should take place under controlled conditions
what is predictability?
scientists should be able to use the results and knowledge gained from experiments to predict future behaviour
what is hypothesis testing?
theories generate hypotheses which can be tested to either strengthen the support for the theory, or disprove it
what is replication?
each experiment should be able to be replicated exactly so people can have confidence in the results
2 arguments that psychology is a science
- 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.
2 arguments that psychology isn’t a science
- 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.
