The Approaches: Origins of Psychology Flashcards
What is meant by the term science?
Gaining knowledge through the use of objective (factual) investigation.
Who is known as the father of Psychology
Wilhelm Wundt
Where and when did Wundt create the first psychology laboratory?
Germany in 1879
Wundt used controlled environments to establish
general theories about mental processes
Which components did Wundt claim human experience should be analysed?
Sensations
Emotions
Reactions to present experiences
Which group of psychologists developed from Wundt’s original work?
Cognitive Psychologists
What was the name of the technique used by Wundt?
Introspection
What type of experiences does introspection focus on?
Present
In introspection a person would focus on an object while ….
listening to a stimulus e.g. metronome
Give an example of a stimulus a person may listen to whilst focusing on an object.
Listening to a metronome
In introspection what does a person focus on when looking inwards?
Sensations
Feelings
Images
The analysis of components in introspection is broken up into what there things?
Thoughts
Images
Sensations
What is introspection?
Investigating internal events by examining conscious thoughts and feelings.
Why is Wundt praised?
He helped move psychology from philosophical roots by using controlled environments and standardised procedure to study human experience.
Give two ways Wundt’s research could be seen as scientific
uses controlled environments
uses standardised procedures
By using standardised procedures and controlled environments what does this mean for Wundt’s research?
It can be easier to replicate the research.
Although Wundt’s research is replicable it might not be seen as …
reliable
Why might introspection not be reliable?
It focuses on a person’s subjective experience which varies from person to person so is hard to establish consistent general principles
Why would behaviourists reject introspection?
Psychology should only study behaviour that can be observed and measured scientifically.
How did the behaviourist approach differ from Wundt in terms of how research is conducted.
They used empirical and objective measures such as carefully controlled lab experiments.
