Origins of psychology Flashcards
(16 cards)
AO1 origins of psychology
- Psychology – The scientific study of the human mind and behaviour
- Science – A means of Acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation
- Introspection – introspection means “looking into” and refers to the process of observing and examining your own conscious thoughts or emotion which can be shown through Wundt’s research
- Inference – going beyond the immediate evidence to make assumptions about mental processes that cannot be directly observed
- Empiricism – all knowledge of reality is gained from sensory experience
AO3 (1) origins of psychology
- A strength of Wundt’s work in the origins of psychology approach is that some of his methods were strictly controlled
- For example, introspection was recorded in controlled environments of the lab using standardised procedures and instructions
- This is a strength because it made sure that possible extraneous variables were not a factor as all the participants received the same information and were tested the same way through standardisation showing how his methods were controlled
- However some may argue that lab studies and standardised procedures do not represent the real world which shows that the results of introspection could be biased based on the unnatural setting of a lab and cannot be applied in the real world
- Despite this, Wundt’s research can be considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology, such as the behaviourist approach
- Thus increasing the validity of the approach
AO3 (2) origins of psychology
- A strength of Wundt’s contributions to psychology is his developments of introspection.
- Introspection involves studying the mind under controlled conditions, in an attempt to make psychology more scientific .
- This then later led to approaches such as the psychodynamic approach, using features of introspection to explain behaviour, such as the role of the unconscious, supporting Wundt’s role and showing how he contributed to developments of introspection
- However, other approaches such as the behaviourist approach reject introspection due to its subjectivity, thus weakening his contribution to psychology
- Despite this, introspection has a large role in influencing other psychological theories
- Thus increasing the importance of Wundt’s role
AO3 (3) origins of psychology
- A weakness of Wundt’s contribution to Psychology is the reliance on self-report
- For example, his information is gathered completely by the participants themselves, leading to bias or untruths
- This weakens his contribution as his results can be deemed as unreliable due to his lack of scientific methods by just relying on self-report.
- However, self-report is still commonly used as a way of gathering data today, for example by the cognitive approach due to the complicated nature of thorough processes. It also reduces investigator effects because the investigator has no control over the participants responses meaning Wundt’s findings are more credible than they seem at first glance
- Overall, self-report can be subject to social desirability, leading to inaccurate results in Wundt’s conclusion
- Thus decreasing the importance of Wundt’s role in Psychology
psychology meaning
The scientific study of the human mind and behaviour
science meaning
A means of Acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation.
introspection meaning
Introspection means “looking into” and refers to the process of observing and examining your own conscious thoughts or emotions.
empiricism meaning
All knowledge of reality is gained from sensory experience
inference meaning
Going beyond the immediate evidence to make assumptions about mental processes that cannot be directly observed.
info on Wilhelm Wundt
- Wrote first textbook of psychology (Principles of Physiological Psychology, 1873-4)
- He opened the first Psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, in 1879 and established psychology as a separate discipline in its own right.
- Used the scientific method to study the structure of sensation and perception
- Showed that introspection could be used to study mental states in replicable laboratory experiments
info on introspection
Wundt was interested in conscious experience and he trained himself and others to describe their experiences through Introspection. Before Wundt, introspection had been used by philosophers for studying how new ideas are created.
Introspection refers to the systematic process of observing and examining your own conscious thoughts or emotions in response to a stimuli. An experience was analysed in terms of its component parts e.g. sensations, emotional reaction etc. Wundt strictly controlled the environments where introspection took place.
In Wundt’s lab, highly trained participants known as “observers” were presented with carefully controlled sensory events. These individuals were asked to describe their mental experiences of these events. Wundt believed that the observers needed to be in a state of high attention to the stimulus and in control of the situation. The observations were also replicated a numerous times.
what is a paradigm shift and give info
A scientific approach has to have a scientific paradigm which is a specific idea or a belief system. Psychology has been criticised for being a science due to the subject lacking a common goal or perspective as there are five different approaches. Psychology has encountered several paradigm shifts from its origin with introspection
what is psychology fundamentally based on
Empiricism.
where do empiricists believe that knowledge is derived from
sensory experience
explain empirical methods of research
Empirical methods of research are based on actual experience rather than on theory or belief. It involves gathering data in an objective way so that researchers’ preconceptions cannot influence the data. It also measures quantitative details so that patterns can be examined and inferences (assumptions made from observation) from the results are credible.
When Wundt first applied empirical and scientific methods to the study of human beings, Psychology began to emerge as a distinct entity.
what assumptions is this “scientific approach” to psychology based on
- Behaviour has a cause (determined)
- Behaviour can be predicted
- Behaviour can be tested in different conditions
