Origins of psychology

• Definition of psychology

  The scientific study of the human mind and behaviour
• Definition of science


  A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation
• What is Introspection?


  refers to the process of observing and examining your own conscious thoughts or emotions
• Definition of empiricism

  All knowledge of reality is gained from sensory experience
• Definition of inference


  Going beyond the immediate evidence to make assumptions about mental processes that cannot be directly observed
• Wundt published one of the first books on psychology, helping to establish the subject as an independant branch of science
• Wundt founded the institute of experimental psychology in 1879
• During Introspection thoughts are broken down into their component parts, individuals were presented with sensory events like a ticking metronome and asked to report their reactions
• Evaluation point (A03): introspection is still used today
• Evaluation point 2 (A03): wundt helped to establish psychology as a science
• Evaluation point 3 (A03): introspection cannot be replicated and therefore is not reliable
• Psychology originally had its roots is philosophy and biology
• According to John Watson introspection was considered unscientific and not a valid method of research