Origins, Structuralism and Introspection Flashcards
Outline how philosophy influenced the birth of psychology.
Descartes, investigated psychological problems.
Believed in Dualism, mind and body as separate entities.
Concerned with the meaning of human experience.
Outline how biology influenced the birth of psychology.
Charles Darwin, theory of evolution and research in genetics.
Research has many applications to understanding human behaviour.
This resulted in discoveries of the functions of the: brain, nervous system and endocrine system.
Outline how physics influenced the birth of psychology.
Gustav Fechner, used principles in scientific method.
This made psychology a quantified science.
Scientific methods of studying human behaviour are reliable and controlled.
What did Wundt do?
Pioneered Structuralism, used experimental methods to find the basic structures of thought and investigate how they interacted.
What did Wundt believe about psychology?
Believed the object of Psychology should be the conscious mind.
How did Wundt investigate psychology?
Studied sensation and perception, breaking participants’ observations of images or objects down into constituent parts.
At first he did this studying reaction time, systematically changing the stimuli he presented to participants and measuring how long it took them to respond.
He inferred that the longer it took to respond - the more mental processes involved.
Later, he developed introspection to infer more about the nature of processes involved.
What is introspection? How was this catered for in Wundt’s studies?
The examination of one’s own conscious thought processes.
Introspection participants were trained to report detailed inner experiences from a stimulus. It took place in a controlled environment.
State 2 advantages of introspection.
Data is personal.
Introspective methods helped bring psychology about.
State 2 disadvantages of introspection.
Data is subjective.
Doesn’t replicate an authentic experience.
Describing in detail can be a struggle.
What did Wundt do in 1862?
Published one of the first books on Psychology.
What 3 things did Wundt do in 1879?
Created the first Psychology laboratory at the University of Leipzig.
Founded the institute of experimental psychology.
When was psychology classified as a separate scientific discipline?
1879.
Outline Griffiths study from 1994.
(Supports Wundt’s introspection)
Supports Wundt’s introspection.
This is because they were able to produce accurate findings when participants gave verbal feedback about emotions and thoughts when gambling.
This suggests that introspection can sometimes prove useful, especially in self-report situations.
Who opposed Wundt’s methods? Why?
John Watson
Strongly criticised and disproved the ‘findings’ of Wundt’s introspection.
He believed that Psychology must use scientific methods to be fully reliable.
