Origins of Psychology Flashcards
(15 cards)
Who is Wundt?
He was the first person to call himself a psychologist, known as the ‘father or psychology’
Established the forts psychology laboratory in Liepzig, Germany.
What is introspection?
The method developed by Wundt
It involves the examination of a personas own to ought processes, feelings and sensations. It involves training people to analyse and report in detail their inner thoughts and break them down into their separate parts.
Used in carefully controlled lab conditions.
What is the method of Introspection?
Wundt and his colleagues recorded their own conscious thoughts. The researchers were presented either carefully controlled stimuli (e.g visual images or auditory tones) and had to provide a description of the inner processes they were experiencing. All introspections were recorded under controlled conditions using the same stimulus each time.
Who was Watson
John Watson criticises introspection for not being objective as it varied from person to person.
He proposed that truly scientific psychology should restrict itself to being empirical, studying phenomena that can be observed
What are the features of Science
-The empirical method
-Objectivity
-Replicability
-Falsifiability
-Theory construction and hypotheses testing
-Paradigms and paradigm shifts
What is the empirical method?
Empirical evidence is directly observable, gathered through senses.
It can be verified by measurements and does not go beyond the boundaries of what can be observed.
What is objectivity?
Free from bias; based on observable phenomena; is not influenced by personal opinion, prejudice or emotion.
What does replicability mean?
The extent to which a study can be respected so that the reliability of results can be judged
What does falsifiability mean?
When it is possible to prove a statement, hypothesis or theory wrong.
Only possible if a study is replicable and the hypothesis is testable.
What is through construction and hypothesis testing?
In order to make scientific progress it must be possible to test and falsify and theory. The theory needs to be rigid and hypothesis must be clear (operationalised)
What are paradigms and paradigm shifts?
A paradigm is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns within a specific domain.
A paradigm shift happens when a theory is falsified and a new paradigm is created that is based on the newly discovered information.
Why is Wundts research not scientific?
Introspection is a non-empirical, subjective method. The process of introspection was unobservable.
Wundts approach ultimately failed because of the lack of reliability in his methods.
What is a strength of Wundts method
P: Some aspects alwould still be considered scientific if today
E: He recorded the introspection within a controlled lab. He also standardised his procedures so all ppts had the same info and were tested in the same way
E: His research could be considered a forerunner to the later scientific approaches in psychology
What is a limitation of the scientific method?
P: Low ecological validity
E: Many psychologists believe that concentrating on objective and controlled methods does not reveal a great deal about how people behave in natural settings
E: The research is unlikelet to be valid, so it is arguably pointless to adopt a purely scientific approach.
What is a strength of introspection?
P: Still being used as a useful method by modern psychologists
E: Hunter et al (2003) uses introspective methods as a way of making happiness as measurable phenomenon.
They gave a group of teenagers keepers that went of at random times during the day, requiring them to write form their thoughts and feelings in the moment before the beeb. Most entries indicated they were unhappy, but they also found that when their energies were focussed on a challenging task, they were more upbeat.
E: Research demonstrated who introspection is a useful tool and can be used with scientific methods to provide a greater understanding of human behaviour
