Wundt AO3

• His methods are not scientific. He used introspection which is a subjective method, which meant that his experiments were not replicable nor reliable.
• For example: higher mental processes like memory are impossible to observe neither objectively nor scientifically.
• His use of non-scientific methods meant that his experiments were criticised for being less reliable and invalid by other psychologists due to their subjectivity.
• However, introspection still has some use today in contemporary research. Cognitive psychologists still use introspection, which proves that as it has been further developed and coupled with other methods that it makes for a reliable method.
• For example: Hunter and Csikszentmihalyi used introspection as a way of measuring happiness. Teenagers were equipped with beepers which went off at random times in the day. When the sound went off, they had to record how they were feeling at that exact time.
• It is clear that Wundt initiated the development of psychology into a science and the fact that his use of methods is still relevant and accepted in modern research shows that he made big contributions to the development of psychology as a science.
• Behaviourists arguably had a great contribution to psychology becoming a science and Wundt made very small steps in moving psychology away from philosophy and towards science.
• For example: Pavlov experimented with classical conditioning which can explain how humans learn. He did this with dogs. First he presented the dogs with food which caused them to salivate, he then followed this with a bell. Eventually, Pavlov would just ring the bell and the dogs would start to salivate as they had associated the bell with being fed.
• Whilst Wundt set the foundations in psychology’s becoming a science, behaviourists arguably made some changes and contributions. Behaviourists, produced reliable findings with explanatory principles that were generalisable- more in keeping with the scientific approach.
• Wundt's methods were the forerunner to the cognitive approach and psychology becoming a science.
• There were concepts that were previously thought to be impossible to research scientifically. They had only been researched subjectively before through introspection. Wundt was the first to apply empirical methods to internal mental processes (this technique has been developed by cognitive psychologists and is called 'The scientific method').
• For example: Cognitive psychologists developed inference to study these concepts such as: memory and aggression.
• Without Wundt’s initial research and findings, cognitive psychologists wouldn't be able to develop research methods further. He moved psychology onto a more scientific path.