origins of psychology

• Structuralism


  Focus on breaking down mental processes into its most basic components
• who was considered as one of the "fathers of psychology"?

  Wilhelm Wundt
• • Wundt set up the first laboratory dedicated to psychology at the university of Leipzig in Germany, in the year 1879. Its opening is usually thought of as the beginning of modern psychology.
  • He published the first book on psychology called "principles of Physiological Psychology"
  • He wanted to take psychology out of philosophy and establish it as a science.
• • Wundt focused on the strucutre of an individuals conscious experience.
  • used a method called introspection = a process of a person looking into their own mental experiences and to observe and record what they were experiencing(reporting).
• • Wundt tried to make his work (introspection) as scientific as possible.
  • He established psychology a science by using the scientific method =controlled =objective =replicable
• Wundt studied reaction times and sensory processes. participants were exposed to a standard stimulus (light or sound of metronome) and were asked to report what they thought and felt.

  it was scientific because:

  *same standardised instructions (control)

  *same stimuli given

  *same amount of time

  *produced subjective data (varied greatly between individuals)
• Wundt's contribution to the emergence of psychology as a science: STRENGTHS


  he tried to carry out his investigations as carefully and systematically as possible

  his work with introspection marked a shift towards a more rigorous scientific approach away from more philosophical approaches.

  introspection used as a research tool to investigate subjective experiences of happiness. so enables certain types of information to be collected in scientific research
• Wundt's contribution to the emergence of psychology as a science:

  WEAKNESSES

  we are unaware of many of the mental processes that underpin our behaviours and attitude as they are unconscious, so the introspection will not be abe to reveal much about them.
• introspection= "looking into"

  1. presented with stimulus - e.g the sound of a metronome or the turning on of a light
  2. inspect own thoughts - report back their own emotions, sensations and thoughts that resulted from the sound of the metronome/ turning on of the light.
  3. draw conclusions- compare all the responses from the participants to see what was similar and different abouth them in order to draw conclusions.
• standardisation= where the procedures used in research are kept the same.

  e.g with using light as the stimulus: same colour, same brigtness and same length of time for all participants.