wundt and the origins of psychology Flashcards
outline the order of the 8 approaches.
Wundt - origins of psychology.
Freud - psychodynamic approach.
Pavlov and skinner - behaviourist approach.
Rogers and Maslow - humanistic approach.
cognitive approach.
Bandura - social learning theory.
biological approach.
cognitive neuroscience.
name the three key features/assumptions of origins of psychology.
introspection.
structuralism.
emergence of psychology as a science.
outline Wundt’s approach to psychology (structuralism).
established the first psychological lab in order to study the mind in a carefully controlled and scientific environment.
the same standardised procedures were used with all ptps so procedures could be replicated.
His approach to psychology was to study the structure of the human mind, by breaking down behaviours into their basic elements of thoughts, images and sensations - hence his approach became known as structuralism.
describe introspection.
Wundt used introspection to investigate the nature of human consciousness.
the first systematic experimental attempt to study the human mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, sensations and images - under controlled conditions.
Participants were asked to reflect on their own cognitive processes when experiencing an object and describe them, e.g. a metronome.
how did Wundt establish psychology as a science?
Wundt established psychology as a science by using the scientific method – his ideas would lead to multiple different psychological perspectives.
what is the scientific method?
Wundt’s new ‘scientific’ approach to psychology was based on two major assumptions.
- All behaviour is seen as being caused (determined)
- If behaviour is determined, then it should be possible to predict how human beings would behave in different conditions (predictability)
This technique used to explore these assumptions became known as the scientific method.
The scientific method refers to the use of three investigative methods.
name these three.
objective.
systematic.
replicable.
give 3 strengths of the scientific approach to psychology.
Knowledge acquired using scientific methods are more than just the passive acceptance of facts.
Causes of behaviour can be established through the use of methods that are empirical and replicable.
Scientific knowledge is self-corrective meaning that it can be refined or abandoned.
give 3 limitations of the scientific approach to psychology.
Scientific psychologists create contrived situations that create artificial behaviours.
Much of the subject matter of psychology is unobservable, therefore cannot be measured with any degree of accuracy.
Not all psychologists share the view that human behaviour can be explored through scientific methods - humanism focuses on individual experiences and subjective experience.
evaluate the use of introspection.
Introspection relies primarily on non-observable responses - although participants can report conscious experiences, they are unable to comment on unconscious factors relating to their behaviour.
Introspection produced data that was subjective - became very difficult to establish general principles. This means that introspective experimental results are not reliably reproduced by other researchers.
In contrast, the early behaviourists such as Pavlov were achieving reliably reproducible results and discovering explanatory principles that could be easily generalised to all human beings.
evaluate the scientific nature of Wundt’s research.
a strength of Wundt’s work is that some of his methods were scientific and well-controlled.
all introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of the lab, ensuring that possible extraneous variables were not a factor.
procedures were carefully standardised so all ptps received the same info and were tested the same way.
suggests Wundt’s research can be considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology - e.g. the behaviourist approach.
a limitation however is that other aspects of his research would be considered unscientific today.
Wundt relied on ptps self-reporting their mental processes. such data is subjective. ptps also may have hidden some of their thoughts. it is difficult to establish meaningful laws of behaviour from such data , and general laws are useful to predict future behaviour, one of the aims of science.
this suggests that some of Wundt’s early efforts to study the mind were flawed and would not meet the criteria of scientific enquiry.
outline the 4 aims of science.
Description – tells us “what” occurred
Explanation – tells us “why” a behaviour or a mental process occurred
Prediction – identifies conditions under which a future behaviour or mental process is likely to occur
Change – applies psychological knowledge to prevent unwanted behaviour and to bring about desired change
outline the emergence of psych as a science.
1900’s: Early behaviourists rejected introspection – too subjective; should study observable and measurable phenomenon (Watson)
1930’s: Behaviourist scientific approach dominated psychology: carefully controlled lab studies; focus on learning (Skinner)
1950’s: Cognitive approach used scientific procedures to study mental processes; made inferences based on tests in controlled environment
1960’s: Biological approach introduced technological advances – use of scanning techniques such as fMRI and EEG; advanced genetic research
outline any issues and debates in origins of psychology.
Introspection produced data that was subjective.
However it attempted to be nomothetic as he wanted to create laws and standardize procedures - but still was not fully scientific.
what study is an example of introsprection?
Griffiths (1994) used Introspection to study the irrational thoughts and perception of regular gamblers, asking them to think aloud whilst gambling and say everything that came into their mind.
Here, Introspection provided useful insights into the behaviours of said gamblers.
