Introspection - Wundt

• What did Wundt do in 1879?


  he opened the first lab dedicated entirely to psychology
• Why is Wundt's work significant?


  it marked the beginning of scientific psychology, separating it from its philosophical roots, and making it a distinct scientific discipline
• What was Wundt known as?


  Father of Modern Psychology
• What was Wundt's aim?


  to analyse the nature of human consciousness and thus studying the human mind in a more scientific and structured way
• What is introspection?


  the process of examining one's own thoughts and feelings - self examination - he believed the mind could be studied this way
• What was Wundt's main objective?


  to develop theories about mental processes, such as language and perception
• What was Wundt's procedure?


  • participants (his highly trained students) would all report on the same stimuli e.g. a ticking metronome, in the same environment and receiving the same instructions
  • they would report their thoughts, images and sensations
• What made his procedure valid/reliable?

  • introspection obtained during task - avoids memory problems
  • replication - all pps were in the same environment/had the same instructions