Emergence of psychology as a science

• Outline Wundt’s method of introspection.


  Investigates conscious mental processes.

  The aim of this is to establish theories about how the mind works.

  Takes place in lab environments whereby participants are presented with stimuli and asked to self-report their conscious experience.

  For example, one common stimulus presented was a metronome.

  It is based on Wundt’s school of Psychology known as structuralism.

  This is because it studies the individual structures of consciousness and examines how they combine to form

  our conscious experience.
• Explain Wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science.


  Wundt published the first book on Psychology and was the first person to call themselves a ‘psychologist’.This helped to establish Psychology as its own independent branch of science.
• Explain Wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science.


  Wundt also established the first psychology laboratory – a room dedicating to conducting psychological researcher under controlled conditions. This moved psychology from its philosophical roots to the use of more scientific research.
• Explain Wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science.


  Wundt developed the method of introspection which trained participants to break down their conscious experiences in controlled lab environments. This enabled internal mental processes to be studied in a more objective and scientific way.
• Evaluate Wundt’s method of introspection: elements of it are still used in psychology such as in talking therapies. 


  This is because talking therapies instruct patients to report back their thoughts and feelings to their therapist, much like Wundt instructed participants to report back their thoughts and feelings to the researcher. This is a strength as it shows how elements of introspection still have value today.
• Evaluate Wundt’s method of introspection: objective. 


  This is because participants are trained to break their conscious experience down into separate components such as sensation, perceptions, emotions etc. This is a strength as it led to scientific research in Psychology.
• Evaluate Wundt’s method of introspection:subjective. T


  his is because mental processes cannot be directly observed so introspection relied on participants self-reporting their conscious experience. This is a limitation as it means researchers could not verify the accuracy of their reports or, given its subjective nature, create general theories about the mind.
• Evaluate Wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science: used scientific methodologies. 


  This is because he established the first psychology laboratory. This is a strength because it encouraged later psychologists to continue using controlled laboratory research e.g. behaviourist psychologists have used lab research when studying classical and operant conditioning. As such, research in Psychology is more easily replicated to check the reliability of the findings.
• Evaluate Wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science: not scientific. 


  This is because he studied mental processes that cannot be directly observed. This is a limitation as it means his studies of introspection relied on subjective self-reports and assumptions.
• Evaluate Wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science: behaviourists are argued to have played a more important role. 


  This is because they studied directly observable behaviour. This is a limitation as it meant that behaviourists did not need to make assumptions or rely on self-reports and so their research is considered more objective and scientific.
• Evaluate Wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science: motivated the scientific advancements in cognitive psychology. 


  This is because cognitive psychologists developed on his study of mental processes by developing more scientific methods such as brain scanning techniques. This is a strength as this research has developed our scientific understanding of how brain structures are responsible for cognitive processes.