Wundt Flashcards
What is introspection?
Gaining knowledge about mental emotion/ state by observing conscious thoughts/feelings
What did Wundt do?
Set up first ever lab dedicated to psychology in Germany 1879.
Why did Wundt set up this lab?
Wanted to separate psychology from philosophy.
How did Wundt study Psychology?
In a structured scientific way.
Intropsection
Why is introspection scientific?
Strictly controlled conditions.
Standardised procedure - repeated - reliability.
Aim of Introspection
Analyse mind by breaking it down to simplest most basic elements - piecing basic elements together to understand how they from complex experiences - known as structuralism
What did Wundt do after introspection?
Went on to create general theories about human mental processes
Strengths
Start of cognitive psychology - uses scientific methods - would cognitive psychology exist today without Wundt?
Scientific discipline - if no lab set up by Wundt, may still have philosophical roots - psychology may have never gained status
Weakenesses
Private experiences and thoughts not observable - difficult to measure - experiences reported by participants we subjective - behaviourists disagree
Lack of reliability - lack of consistency across participants - across other psychologists findings - could not establish general theories about the mind.