Origins of Psychology Flashcards
A01
What did Wundt initially do?
Wundt established and opened the first psychology lab in Leipzig in 1879.
The aim was to describe the nature of human conciousness in a carefully controlled environment.
A01
What is introspection?
introspection is the process used to examine the inner world of sensations and perceptions.
Introspection works by a person consciously observing and being aware of their sensations and perceptions (in the form of thoughts and emotions)
A01
Outline the use of controlled procedures.
The same standardised instructions were given to all participants and stimuli were presented in the same order.
A01
What is meant by Structuralism?
Identifying the structure of consciousness by breaking it up into the basic structures: thoughts, images and sensations.
A01
What happened in the early 1900s?
Watson
Watson (1913) argued that introspection was subjective, in that it is influenced by a personal perspective.
A01
What happened in the 1930s?
Behaviourists
Skinner (1953) The behaviorists brought the controlled, scientific research into psychology. Such as the use of lab experiments.
A01
What happened in the 1950s?
Cognitive
The cognitive appraoch developed as a way to quantify and study the internal processes of the mind, likening it to a computer, by testing hypothesis in labs under controlled conditions.
A01
What happened in the 1980s?
Biological
The later development of the biological approach has seen further developments in methodology, such as the use of brain scans. Such developments add even more scientific methodology to the study of psychology.
A03
What is one strength of Wundts work?
Scientific
Aspects of Wundts research are scientific.
-For instance, he recorded the introspections within a controlled lab evnironment.
-He also standardised his procedures so that all the participants recieved the same information and were tested in the same way.
-Therefore wundts research can be considered a forerunner to the later scientific approaches in psychology.
A03
What is one limitation of Wundts work?
Subjective
One limitation is that other aspects of Wundts research are subjective
-Wundt relied on participants self reporting their private mental processes. Such data is subjective. Participants may also have hidden some of their thoughts.
-This makes it difficult to establish meaningful laws of behaviour, one of the aims of science.
-Therefore Wundts early efforts to study the mind were naive and would not meet the criteria of scientific enquiry.
A03
What is one strength of research into modern pscyhology?
Scientific
Research can claim to be scientific
-Psychology has the same aims as natural sciences - to describe, understand, predict and control behaviour
-Learning ,cognitive and biological approaches all use scientific methods e.g lab studies.
-So throughout these years psychology has established itself as a scientific discipline.
A03
What is a limitation of psychology?
Subjective
Approaches may use subjective data
-Humanstic approach does not formulate with the general law of behaviour, and the Psychodynamic approach uses case studies with unrepresentatative samples.
-Psychologists study humans who are active participants and therefore respond to demand characteristics.
-Therefore a scientific approach to the study of human thought and experience is not possible.
