P2 Approaches: Origins Of Psychology

Question 1

Where and when did Wundt open the first psychological lab

Answer 1

Leipzig (Germany)
1879

Question 2

What is introspection

Answer 2

A process of looking inwards/self examination, it is a systematic analysis of own conscious experience of a standard stimulus, reporting present experience

Question 3

What standard stimulus was used by Wundt

Answer 3

A metronome

Question 4

What was the first requirement of Wundt’s introspection

Answer 4

the use of “trained” or practiced observers.
The observers could immediately observe and report a reaction

Question 5

What was the 2nd requirement of Wundt’s introspection

Answer 5

use of repeatable stimuli that always produced the same experience in the subject.

Question 6

What was the 3rd requirement of Wundt’s introspection

Answer 6

That it was held in very specific experimental conditions

Question 7

What is structuralism

Answer 7

Structuralism is the attempt to understand the structure and characteristics of the mind

Question 8

What are the advantages of Wundt’s work

Answer 8

• It paved the way for later scientifically controlled research in psychology
• the study of internal mental processes was later continued by cognitive psychologists who built models of how systems such as memory worked, however they used experimentation not introspection

Question 9

What are the disadvantages of Wundt’s work

Answer 9

• it would be considered unscientific today as his data was subjective (influenced by a personal perspective)
• Wundt’s methods are unreliable because they rely on inobservabas responses, for example memory and perception

Question 10

What was Wundt’s aim?

Answer 10

To study the structure of the human mind

Question 11

How did Wundt analyse an inward experience

Answer 11

By breaking them down to different components e.g. thoughts, images, sensations