origins of psychology

• wundt established the first psychology laboratory at leizpig university (1875)
• wundt used empiricism to study the mind
• wundt wanted experiments to be replicable - if a true scientific observation have been made then they should repeat themselves
• wundt wanted experiments to be objective - based on facts, not opinions
• introspection is a psychological process that involves looking inward to examine ones own thoughts, emotions, judgements, perceptions
• Despite trying to apply a scientific method, Wundt discovered that the process

  was too subjective (based on one person’s opinion and open to different

  interpretations) - results could not be replicated and were therefore unreliable.
• wundts processes aimed to be objective, however interpreting thoughts that cannot be seen or measured is a subjective process
• self-reporting is prone to bias - there is no way to measure or confirm if peoples reports are accurate.
• wundt used lab experiments which is a strength due to the control of variables (scientific methods)
• positives- he used scientific methods to study the mind, study of internal mental processes was later continued by cognitive psychologists yet they used experimentations not introspection
• negatives- wundts work was later criticized by "behaviourists" who argued that internal mental processes could not be studied scientifically by introspection, behaviourists focused on observable inputs (stimuli) outputs (behaviours), they claim that working on the mind can never be objectively measured.