origins of psychology- approaches

Question 1

what was wundt’s lab

Answer 1

1879 opened first lab dedicated to psychological enquiry in leipzig germany
marked beginning of scientific psychology separating from philsophical roots
aim was to try and analyse the nature of human consciousness
represented the first systematic attempt to study the mind under controlled conditions
introspection

Question 2

what was standardised procedures

Answer 2

main objectives was to try and develop theories about mental processes
recorded his and co workers experiences of various stimuli they were presented with
divide observations into three categories- thoughts images sensations
pps might be given ticking metronome and would report thoughts images and sensations

Question 3

what is structuralism

Answer 3

isolating structure of consciousness- structuralism stimuli experiences were always presented in the same order and same instructions issued to all pps

Question 4

what is the emergence of psychology as science

Answer 4

aim to discover general laws
1900s behaviourists- value of introspection questionned, problem was produced subjective data so very difficult to establish general laws, watson and skinner proposed truly scientific psychologist should only study phenomena that can be observed objectively and measured, focused on behaviours they could see and used controlled experiments
1950s cognitive approach- digital revolution, likened the mind to computer and tested predictions about memory and attention using experiments, ensured that study of mind was legitimate and highly scientific aspect of discipline
1980s biological approach- taken advantage of advances in technology investigate physiological processes as they happen, fmri and eeg to study live activity in the brain, new methods allowed us to better understand relationship between genes and behaviour

Question 5

what is scientific (wundt evaluation)

Answer 5

some methods systematic and well controlled
all introspections recorded in controlled environment of lab ensuring possible extraneous variables not a factor
procedures and instructions carefully standardised so all pps received the same inof and tested the same way
can be considered forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology

Question 6

what is subjective data (wundt evaluation)

Answer 6

considered unscientific today
relied on pps self reporting mental processes
data subjective
pps may have hidden some thoughts
difficult to establish meaningful laws of behaviour from data
general laws useful to predict future behaviour one of aims of science
suggests effprts to study mind flawed and would not meet the criteria and scientific enquiry

Question 7

what is modern psychology (modern psychology evaluation)

Answer 7

can claim to be scientific
psychology has same aims as natural sciences- describe understand predict and control behaviour learning approaches, cognitive and biological approach rely on use of scientific methods
lab studies to investigate theories in controlled and unbiased way
suggests that throughout 20th century psychology has established scientific discipline

Question 8

what is subjective data (mdoern psychology evaluation)

Answer 8

not all approaches use objective methods
humanistic approach rejects scientific approach preferring to focus on individual experiences and subjective experience
psychodynamic- makes use of case study method does not use representative samples
humans beings are active pps in research responding to demand characteristics
scientific approach to study of human thought and experience may not always be desirable or possible