Wilhelm Wundt

Question 1

What institute did Wilhelm Wundt open?

Answer 1

The Institute for Experimental Psychology at the University of Leipzig in 1879

Question 2

What did Wundt do that was so special?

Answer 2

He separated psychology from philosophy by studying human behaviour and analysing the workings of the mind in a more structured way

Question 3

What made Wundt’s methodology was both replicable and falsifiable?

Answer 3

Controlled environments, standardised procedures and a focus on collecting empirical data

Question 4

What is the meaning of the Latin word introspection?

Answer 4

Looking into

Question 5

What is introspection?

Answer 5

Introspection is the systematic analysis of your conscious experience of an object
or event.

Question 6

What was Wundt’s methodology?

Answer 6

Wundt used introspection to study consciousness using scientific methods; he set up
controlled conditions, in which participants were presented with a stimulus (a
metronome, a visual image or an auditory tone.) They were then asked to provide a
description of the inner processes they experienced as they looked at the image or heard the
tone. He encouraged them to break down thoughts about the object into separate
elements, reporting sensations, feelings and images.

Question 7

What is a limitation of introspection?

Answer 7

It is not objective as Wundt claimed it to be.
Introspection relies on the self-report of private mental processes, so there is room for
the individual to be selective about what information they share. Social desirability bias
may affect the internal validity of Wundt’s method; individuals may either filter out what
they consider to be inappropriate experiences, or could ‘tell more than they know’.

Question 8

What is a positive evaluation point of Wundt’s method?

Answer 8

Wundt’s focus on measurement and control helped to establish psychology as a respected
field of science and his use of introspection to study conscious mental processes can be seen as
a forerunner of the cognitive approach. Introspection is also still used today in talking
therapies and the study of emotional states. This demonstrates the value of Wundt’s work and
in studying internal mental processes in humans.