approaches: origins of psychology Flashcards
(12 cards)
What is psychology?
The scientific study of the human mind, behaviour, and experiences.
Who is considered the father of psychology?
Wilhelm Wundt.
What significant event did Wilhelm Wundt achieve in 1879?
Opened the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.
What was the title of Wilhelm Wundt’s first book on psychology?
Principles of Physiological Psychology.
What did Wundt’s work signify for psychology?
Marked the beginning of scientific psychology, separating it from its philosophical roots. > it was the first systematic attempt at studying the mind under controlled conditions
What is introspection?
The examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes.
What did Wundt argue about conscious mental states?
They could be scientifically studied using introspection.
Describe Wundt’s method of introspection.
Highly trained assistants reflected on their experience after being given a stimulus.
this is a self-examination technique
What type of stimuli did Wundt’s assistants use during introspection?
A ticking metronome.
What areas of mental functioning did Wundt concentrate on?
Thoughts, images, and feelings.
AO3: helped psychology become a science
His methods were systematic and well-controlled. All introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of the lab, ensuring all possible extraneous variables were not a factor. Additionally, procedures and instructions were carefully standardised so that 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 approach in psychology such as thebehaviourist approach.
AO3: hindered psychology in becoming a science
One limitation is that his work relied on participants self-reporting their mental processes. Such data is subjective. Also participants may have hidden some of their thoughts. It is **difficult to establish meaningful laws of behaviour from such data ** which does not meet the criteria of scientific enquiry.
Studying the mind through an unobservable way.
