The Origins of Psychology

Question 1

Wundt and Introspection

Answer 1

1879 started first lab in Leipzig, Germany
Introspection- a means of learning about one’s own currently ongoing mental states or processes
Features 3 conditions- The mentality condition, the first-person condition, the temporal proximity condition
Wundt isolated conscious thoughts into basic structures of thoughts, processes and images in a process called structuralism
-Highly scientific

Question 2

Skinner, Watson and Behaviourism

Answer 2

Skinner disagreed with the subjective nature of introspection as findings differed from person to person making it difficult to establish general laws
Skinner’s idea of radical behaviourism was tested using the lab experiment method of research
Allowed for objective measurement of observable behaviour, providing reliable data through controlling and eliminating the effects of extraneous and confounding variables by using highly controlled discipline
Marked the beginning of Psychology as scientific

Question 3

Further Progress

Answer 3

The Cognitive Approach= invention of the computer in the 1960s, psychologists had a metaphor for the functions and workings of the mind

SLT= Bandura also agreed with behaviourist principles but argued that these principles are better applied to a social context

The Biological Approach= Advances in technology, particularly with brain scanning techniques in the 1970s, allowed psychologists to objectively observe and measure the biological basis of behaviour