origins of psychology

Question 1

What was Wundt’s approach to psychology?

Answer 1

To study the human brain by breaking down behaviours such as sensation and perception. This became known as structuralism

Question 2

What did Wundt believe about the human mind? What did this cause

Answer 2

He believed it could be studied scientifically, and this helped move psychology away from philosophy into a science of its own right

Question 3

What was Wundt’s technique and what does this involve?

Answer 3

Introspection. A person gains knowledge about their emotional/mental state by observing/examining their conscious thoughts and behaviours. In his study’s of perception, p/p’s were presented with carefully controlled stimuli eg a visual image, and they were asked to reflect on the inner processes they experienced when looking at it. Wundt would then compare p/p’s responses to establish general theories about perception and other mental processes.

Question 4

How was Wundt scientific?

Answer 4

He relied on the views of empiricism. This is the belief that all knowledge derives from sensory experience. He only studied behaviours that could be controlled e.g. Perception. He recorded behaviours using the same stimulus every time using standardised instructions, and thus, procedures could be repeated

Question 5

what is a critisicm of wundt? (unreliable)

Answer 5

wundt’s approach ultimately failed because of the lck of reliability of his methods. introspective results could not be reproduced reliably by other researchers in other labs. behaviourist psychologists were achieving reliable results and discovering principles that could be generalised to human behaviour;
limitation as there is a better, more reliable, alternative explanation