a psychological method that involves observing one's own conscious thoughts, feelings, and mental processes to gain insight into the mind
Structuralism
a psychological theory that attempts to understand the structure of the mind by analysing its basic components- to find the building blocks of thought.
1879
Wundt opened the first lab in Germany
Wundt
First psychologist. Began to move psychology away from it philosophy roots
Wundts aim
Try to analyse the nature of human consciousness.
The controls of introspection
Same stimuli each time to allow for a standardised procedure
Same instruction to each participant
Participants in the same experimental environment
What do the control variables do?
They allowed for a more accurate comparison between each participant. Aim was to draw conclusions about our mental processes from the participants collective response.
Describe what is meant by introspection
Focuses on present experiences
An individuals conscious experience would be systematically analysed
The individual would focus on an object, whilst listening to a stimulus e.g metronome and look inwards noticing sensations, feelings and images
Analysis is broken up into components of thoughts, images and sensations
Strengths of introspection
Emotional regulation (help individuals process feelings)
Self awareness
Systematic and well controlled
Weakness of introspection
Bias (self evaluation)
Misinterpretations of emotions, thoughts etc
Unscientific as it's bias
reductionist ( only focused on certain parts of the brain and not all of it)
