Origins of Psychology Flashcards
Why is Wundt considered the ‘father of psychology’?
1) he set up the first laboratory devoted to experimental psychology
2) he published one of the first books on psychology called Principles of Physiological Psychology, 1873
3) only investigated aspects of behaviour that could be controlled under experimental conditions
What is structuralism?
Wundt’s aim to study the structure of the human mind by breaking down behaviours into their basic elements
What does introspection mean?
‘Looking into’ and is where someone gains knowledge about their inner mind through examining conscious thoughts and sensations
What is Wundt’s process of introspection?
1) to study perception, participants were presented with different sounds (eg a ticking metronome), an image, or an object
2) they were asked to report on how they were perceiving it (the inner processes they were experiencing)
3) responses were noted by a trained experimenter and divided into three categories - thoughts, sensations, and images
What are the arguments that Wundt did contribute to the emergence of psychology as a science?
1) his work marked a shift towards a more rigorous scientific approach to psychology away from the more philosophical approaches previously used
2) inspired new psychological approaches that enabled mind and behaviour to be studied scientifically
3) introspection is useful for collecting data on human experiences that would otherwise be difficult to study scientifically
What are the arguments that Wundt did not contribute to the emergence of psychology as a science?
1) introspection relies on non-observable responses and, although participants can report conscious experiences, they can’t comment on unconscious factors relating to their behaviour
2) a truly scientific psychology should focus on observable and measurable phenomenon - empirical methods
3) reports may be deliberately distorted
4) parts of experience may be forgotten
5) reports could not be replicated and are therefore not reliable
