Origins of psychology: lesson 22 Flashcards
Define psychology
Scientific study of human minds and their functions, especially functions affecting behaviour
Highlight key facts regarding psychology?
- relatively new scientific discipline
- roots in 17th & 18th century
- “ experimental philosophy”
- Cartesian dualism: mind & body ≠ brain & mind
Who was involved in the beginning of psychology?
- John Locke: concepts of empiricism
- Charles Darwin: evolutionary theories
What was John Lockes concept of empiricism?
- all knowledge is derived from sensory experience
Key facts about Wilhelm Wundt
- 1873 book “principles of physiological psychology”
- 1879 opened first psychology lab in Germany
- father of psychology
- structuralism: studied structure of mind by breaking behaviour down into basic elements
What is introspection?
- Wundt’s method to study mind
- participants asked to reflect on own cognitive processes
What are weaknesses in regards to introspection?
- Participants can report conscious experiences but not unconscious factors relating to behaviour
- due to subjectiveness of data it’s difficult to establish principle so it’s not reliable
Who has recently used introspection to gain access to cognitive processes?
Griffiths 1994
- studied fruit machine gamblers
- asked to think allowed when playing
- gamblers had more irrational verbalisations
What are the two assumptions Wundts scientific approach was based on?
1) all behaviour is seen as determined
2) therefore should be predictable
What is the scientific method?
Use of investigative methods
- objectivity: based on findings & facts
- systematic: step by step procedure
- replicable
What’s the step by step of the scientific method?
1) ask question
2) state hypothesis
3) conduct experiment
4) analyse result
5) make conclusion
What are psychology’s 4 goals?
- description of what occurred
- explanation of why behaviour occurred
- prediction of what conditions will cause it to occur again
- change unwanted behaviour
