Origins of Psychology

Question 1

Wundt’s methods were unreliable:

Answer 1

his approach relied on ‘nonobservable’ responses. The processes of memory/perception are unobservable and thus lacked reliability

Question 2

Introspection isn’t particularly accurate:

Answer 2

We have little knowledge about causes and processes behind behaviour and attitudes. The problem is that some attitudes are implicit and exist outside conscious awareness and thus introspection wouldn’t uncover them

Question 3

Strength of a scientific approach to psychology:

Answer 3

its reliance on objective and systematic methods means knowledge is based on more than just facts. Also, because psychologists are always repeating each other’s experiments, it’s hard for a theory to that doesn’t explain facts to hang on for very long

Question 4

limitations of a scientific approach to psychology:

Answer 4

due to controlled observations, psychologists often create contrived situations that don’t reflect natural environments.
much of psychology is unobservable and thus cannot be measured with any degree of accuracy