Wundt and Introspection

• What did Wundt set up in 1879?

  In 1879 Wundt set up his first laboratory where he adopted the use of introspection
• What is Introspection?

  • A means of learning about ones own currently ongoing mental state or processes
  • Introspective Knowledge is often held to be more immediate or direct than sensory knowledge
• How did Wundt Carry out Introspection?

  By participants focusing inward and reporting sensations , feelings and images
• What was the Process of Introspection?

  :

  • Participants were trained to report conscious experiences objectively
  • asked to focus on a sensory object often a ticking metronome
  • Asked to systematically report their experience , breaking their thoughts into separate elements
• What were two pro evaluation for wundts idea? (A03)

  :

  • For his time , wundts work was highly scientific , primarily because of his controlled experiments , large sample sizes and transparent methods . This systematic approach was a significant inspiration for subsequent scientific pyschologists
  • Wundts use of inferences influenced cognitive pyschologists ; these researchers ask participants to complete the tasks under experimental conditions and the participants ability to complete these tasks is used to make inferences about the structure of internal mental processes
• Why is Introspection not a direct observation of mental process?

  As Wundt made inferences , which means making a guess or an assumption on the structure of internal mental processes based on observed behaviour
• What is one issue with inferences?

  they are educated guesses so researchers assumptions may be wrong
• What is one small drawback of Introspection?

  :

  • Compared to Modern pyschological techniques , Wundts introspective methods are considered subjective and are not classified as truly scientific . Participants cannot be relied to accurately report on their states as they may be biased or influenced by demand characteristics
  • However introspection remains relevant for studying unobservable mental processes e.g emotional states and is also used in various forms of therapy