Origins of Psychology

• Introspection


  First systematic experimental attempt to study mind
• Psychology 


  Study of mind and behaviour
• Science 


  Getting knowledge through systematic and objective investigations
• When did Wundt open his lab?


  1879
• Where did Wundt open his lab?


  Leipzig Germany
• What was Wundt's aim?


  Analyse nature of human consciousness under controlled conditions.
• What did Wundt's pioneering method became known as?


  Introspection
• What was Wundt's main objective?


  Try and develop theories about mental processes such as language and perception.
• What were the three categories Wundt and his co-workers would divide their observation in?


  Thoughts, images and sensations
• What is one stimuli Wundt would use to gain insight into participants mental processes?


  Ticking mentronome
• What was Psychology a branch of?


  Philosophy
• What was the problem with introspection?


  Produced subjective data rather than objective so it was very difficult to establish general laws
• What did Watson and B.F Skinner propose?


  A truly scientific psychology should only study phenomena that can be observed objectively and measured
• Behaviourists

  • Value of introspection being questioned
  • Introspection produced subjective data
  • Watson and B.F. Skinner
  • Proposed that a truly scientific psychology should only study phenomena that can be observed objectively and measured
• 1950s Cognitive Approach

  • Digital revolution of 1950s gave a new generation of psychologists a metaphor for studying the mind
  • Cognitive psychologists likened the mind to a computer
  • Tested their predictions about memory and attention using experiments
• 1980s Biological approaches

  • To investigate physiological processes as they happen
  • The use of sophisticated scanning techniques such as fMRI and EEG to study live activity in the brain