Origins Of Psychology

Question 1

What is the definition of psychology

Answer 1

• the study of the human sour or mind

Question 2

What did Wundt do

Answer 2

• described as the finding father of psychology
• set up the first ever psychology lab in Germany
• aimed to systematically study mental processes such as attention and perception
• studied introspection

Question 3

What is introspection

Answer 3

• mental process
• trying to analyse how the mind works by asking people to think carefully about doing mental tasks
• aiming to break our mental processes down into compartments

Question 4

How did Wundt study introspection

Answer 4

• in a controlled and systematic way
• trained his co-workers carefully
• undergo thousands of trials before doing the real thing

Question 5

Positives of wundts contribution

Answer 5

:) one of the first people to argue that scientific methods could be used to study human thinking

Question 6

Negatives of wundts contribution to psychology

Answer 6

:( found that introspection was unreliable
- people’s reports were to subjective
:( many mental processes occur automatically and we are not aware

Question 7

What is the emergence of psychology as a science and why did it happen

Answer 7

• Wundt paved the way for psychology to emerge as a science

- gradually more people started to use methods associated with science

Question 8

What are the key features of science

Answer 8

CORE
Control 
Objective
Replicable 
Empiricism

Question 9

What is control

Answer 9

Scientists often aim to discover cause and effect relationships so that we can predict future events. This has lead to an emphasis On the use of experimental methods in psychology

Question 10

What is objective

Answer 10

Scientific knowledge and theories should be based on observable information and not on opinion, belief or emotion. The scientists expectations should not influence what they record

Question 11

What is replicable

Answer 11

Scientific knowledge should be able to be verified by other people by repeating the procedures

Question 12

What is empiricism

Answer 12

Knowledge is gained by developing theories and testing the theories by direct observation and dats gathering

Question 13

Why do theories need to be falsifiable

Answer 13

• we develop theories and test them on the same people cause we can’t test them on everyone
• always possible the theory is wrong
• cannot prove that the theory is true
• if we do find an exception to the theory then it shows the theory can be false and needs improving
• example for this would be the black and white swan analogy

Question 14

Advantages of scientific approach

Answer 14

• helps us to develop treatments or social policies
• breaking down complex processes to testable hypothesis Enables us to understand human behaviour better
• scientific cycle means the theories should be constantly developing and improving

Question 15

Disadvantages of scientific approach

Answer 15

• studying people in controlled conditions often means that they are not observed naturally - limit the validity
• most processes are not directly observable or measure able
• human behaviour may not be predictable in the same way a chemical is