Wundt and introspection Flashcards
What is psychology?
The scientific study of the human mind and its functions. Especially functions that are affecting behaviour in a given context.
What did French Philosopher Rene Descartes (1596–1650) do?
Developed ‘Cartesian Dualism’. The idea that mind and body are separate and ‘mind’ could be studied separately.
What did John Locke (1632–1704) do?
Proposed ‘Empiricism’
The view that all behaviour is acquired through experience. Man is born a ‘tabula rasa (blank slate) - Nothing is innate and everything we measure should be observable. This was the basis of the ‘behaviourist approach’.
What did Charles Darwin (1809–1882) do?
Developed the evolutionary theory. States that humans and animals have adapted to environments through a process of natural selection.
The ‘survival of the fittest’ suggests weak genes will be eradicated by dominant individuals obtaining resources.
What did Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) do?
1873 - published the first book on psychology ‘Principles of Physiological Psychology’
1879 - opened the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.
Who is Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)?
He is often considered to be ‘the father of psychology’
What was Wilhelm Wundt’s approach to psychology?
His approach to psychology was to study the structure of the human mind, by breaking down behaviours into their basic elements, hence his approach became known as structuralism.
What is introspection?
The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations.
How did Wilhelm Wundt investigate introspection?
Wundt used introspection to investigate the human mind.
Participants were asked to reflect on their own cognitive processes and describe them i.e. he asked people to explain their own thoughts and experiences in relation to his experiments (e.g. analysing their thought processes to hearing/seeing a ticking metronome).
Wundt pre-trained his participants beforehand so they could provide the most detailed reports possible.
Used scientific method – his ideas would lead to multiple different psychological perspectives.
What’s a strength of Wilhelm Wundt’s research?
Methods used by Wundt and his co-workers would be recognised as scientific today. For example, all introspections were recorded under strictly controlled conditions in his laboratory – using the same stimulus each time. The same standardised instructions were also given to all participants – allowing replication (repeating the study). This is a strength as Wundt’s work helped psychology separate from broad philosophical roots into scientific psychology.
What’s a limitation of Wilhelm Wundt’s research?
Many people have questioned the science and value of introspection. For example, John Watson (a behaviourist) argued it was too subjective, as it varied person to person. It also involves private processes when arguably it should be observable to be classed as a science. This is a limitation of Wundt’s work as it questions how useful introspection is as a scientific method in studying perception.
