1. Wundt and introspection, emergence of psychology as a science Flashcards
WUNDT’S LAB
In 1879 Wilhelm Wundt opened the first ever
lab dedicated entirely to psychological enquiry in Leipzig in Germany.
Wundt’s work is significant it marked the
beginning of scientific psychology, separating it from its broader philosophical roots.
Wundt’s aim was to try to analyse the nature of human consciousness, and thus represented the
His pioneering method became known as
first systematic attempt to study the mind under controlled conditions.
introspection.
STANDARDISED PROCEDURES
One of Wundt’s main objectives was to try and develop theories about mental processes, such as language and perception. He recorded patients’ experiences of various stimuli they were presented with, such as different objects or sounds.
They would divide their observations into three categories:
give an example
thoughts, images, and sensations.
For instance, participants might be given a ticking metronome, and they would report their thoughts, images, and sensations.
define STRUCTURALISM
Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism.
The stimuli experienced were always presented in the same order and the same instructions were issued to all participants.
AO3: strength of INTROSPECTION
well controlled - scientific
Some of Wundt’s methods were systematic and well controlled, making it scientific.
All introspections were recorded in a controlled lab, ensuring that possible extraneous variables were not a factor. Procedures of introspection were clearly standardised, so all participants received the same information and were tested in the same way.
This suggests that Wundt’s research can be considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology such as the behaviourist approach.
AO3: limitation of INTROSPECTION
self report subjective - unscientific
Other aspects of Wundt’s research would be considered unscientific today.
Wundt relied on participants self-reporting their mental processes. Such data is subjective (influenced by personal perspective). Also, participants may have hidden some of their thoughts. It is difficult to establish meaningful laws of behaviour from such data - general laws are useful to predict feature behaviour, one of the aims of science.
This suggests that some of Wundt’s early efforts to study the mind were flawed and would not meet the criteria of scientific enquiry.
Science involves building knowledge through systematic and objective (unbiased) measurement. The aim is to
discover general laws.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the value of introspection was questioned by many, most notably Watson.
The problem was that introspection produced subjective data (rather than objective), so that it was very difficult to establish general laws. Watson, and later B.F. Skinner, proposed that a truly scientific psychology should only study phenomena that can be observed objectively and measured.
For this reason,
behaviourists focused on behaviours that they could see, and used carefully controlled experiments.
The digital revolution of the 1950s gave a new generation of psychologists a metaphor for studying the mind cognitive psychologists likened the mind to a computer (e.g. the multi-store model) and tested their predictions about memory and attention using experiments.
The cognitive approach ensured
that the study of the mind was, once again, a legitimate and highly scientific aspect of the discipline.
In more recent times, the biological approach has taken scientific psychology to new levels. Researchers within this area have taken advantage of advances in technology to investigate physiological processes as they happen the use of sophisticated scanning techniques such
as fMRI and EEG to study live activity in the brain.
New methods (e.g. genetic testing) have also allowed us to better understand the relationship between genes and behaviour.
AO3: strength of PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE
scientific
Modern psychology can claim to be scientific.
Psychology has the same aims as natural sciences - to describe, understand, predict, and control behaviour. The learning approaches, cognitive and biological approaches all rely on the use of scientific methods, e.g. lab studies to investigate their theories in a controlled, unbiased way.
This suggests that throughout the 20th century and beyond, psychology has established itself as a scientific discipline.
AO3: limitation of PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE
not all approaches use objective methods
Not all approaches use objective methods.
The humanistic approach rejects the scientific approach, preferring to fucus on individual experiences and subjective experience. The psychodynamic approach makes use of the case study method which does not use representative samples. Finally, the subject of the study - humans - are active participants in research, responding to demand characteristics.
Therefore, a scientific approach to the study of human though and experience may not always be desirable / possible.
