Origins of Psychology

Question 1

What was Wundts Role in the emergence of psychology?

Answer 1

• Wundt opened the first ever lab dedicated entirely to psychological enquiry
• W’s work is significant as it marked the beginning of scientific psychology- separating from its broader psychological roots
• Aim was to try analyse the nature of human consciousness
• Represented the 1st systematic attempt to study the mind under controlled conditions- Introspection

Question 2

What is introspection?

Answer 2

• The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts images & sensations

Question 3

What were Wundt’s standardised procedures?

Answer 3

• One of W’s main objectives was to try and develop theories about mental processes such as langauge & perception
• He & his coworkers recorded their experiences of various stimuli they were presented with, such as different objects or sounds.
• They would divde their observations into 3 categories- thoughts, images & sensations

E.g. participants might be given a ticking metronome and they would report thier thoughts, images and sensations

Question 4

What is one strength of Wundt’s work?

Answer 4

• OS is that some of his methods were systematic & well controlled
• All introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of the lab ensuring that extrenuous variables were not a factor
• Procedures were carefully standardised so all ppts recieved info in the same way

Suggests that Wundts research can be considered a forerunner to later sicentific approaches in psychology such as the behaviour approach

Question 5

Give one limitation of Wundts work.

Answer 5

• Other aspects of Wundts research would be considered unscientific today.
• W relied on ppts self-reporting their mental processes. Such data is subjective
• Ppts may have also hidden their thoughts - its difficult to establish meaningful laws of behaviour from such data

This suggests that some of Wundts early efforts to study the mind were flawed & would not meet the criteria of scientific enquiry.

Question 6

What is a paradigm?

Answer 6

• A set of principles, assumptions and methods that all peope who work within that subject agree on.

Question 7

What order did the approaches develop in?

Answer 7

• Wilhelm Wundt- Introspection
• Psychodynamic approach
• Behavioursit approach
• Humanistic approach
• Cognitive approach
• Social learning theory
• Cognitive neuroscience