The Origins Of Psychology Flashcards
How was Wundt influential?
He differentiated psychology from a philosophical subject to a scientific subject through the use of the scientific method, allowing him to be the first ‘psychologist’
How did Wundt carry out psychological research?
Only studied aspects of behaviour that could be specifically controlled under experimental conditions e.g the study of reaction time
When did Wundt publish the first book on psychology and what was it called?
1873 - Principles of Physiological Psychology
What was Wundt’s main aim when studying psychology?
To study the STRUCTURE of the human mind by breaking down behaviours such as sensation and perception into their basic elements.
His approach was called structuralism
What did Wundt find could and couldn’t be studied scientifically in human experiences and behaviour?
Basic elements could be studied in a controlled manner but higher mental processes such as learning couldn’t
What technique did Wundt use to study the structure of the human mind?
Introspection
What is introspection?
The idea that an individual can gain knowledge on their internal mental and emotional states using introspective abilities, like you use your perceptual abilities to observe and gain knowledge of the outer world
- using introspection, with sufficient training, Wundt believed that mental processes could be observed systematically
How did Wundt study the mental processes in perception?
Presented participants with controlled stimuli (e.g visual images)
The participants would use introspection to describe the inner mental processes they were experiencing when presented with the stimuli
Reports’ of different participants responses to the same stimuli were compared to establish general theories on perception
How did Wundt control for extraneous variables during introspection?
Used a ticking metronome
