origins Of psychology AO3

• Strength - scientific

  • wundts methods were sytematic and controlled
  • all introspections were recorded in controlled environment of lab
  • ensured all extraneous variables werent a factor
  • procedures and instructions were standardised so all p's received same info and were tested in the same way
  • this suggests that wundts research can be considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology such as behaviourist approach
• limitation - subjective data

  • other aspects of his research would be considered unscientific
  • wundt relied on all p's self reporting their mental processes
  • such data is subjective
  • p's may have hidden some thoughts - difficult to establish meaningful laws of behvaiour from such data
  • general laws are used to predict future behaviour
  • this suggests that some of wundts early efforts to study the mind were flawed and wouldnt meet the criteria of scientific enquiry
• strength - wundts contribution

  • wundt produced first academic journal for psychological research and wrote first textbook
  • hes referred to as founder of modern psychology
  • its suggested that wundts pioneering research set the foundation for approaches that were to come
  • particularly behaviourist and cognitive psychology
• strength - modern psychology

  • research in modern psych can claim to be scientific
  • psychology has same aims as natural sciences
  • learning approaches , cog and bio approach rely on use of scientific methods
  • this suggest that throughout the 20th century and beyond , psychology has established itself as a scientific discipline
• subjective data - limitation

  • not all approaches use objective methods
  • HA rejects scientific approach and focusses on individual experiences and subjective experience
  • PA makes use of the case study method which does not use representative samples
  • subject of study are active p's in research responding to demand characteristics
  • therefore a scientific approach to study of the human thought and experience may not always be desirable or possible
• paradigm


  philosopher said any science must have a paradigm - set of principles assumptions and methods that all people who work within it agree on

  • he said psychology isnt a science as it doesnt have a paraadigm as there is so much internal disagreement at its core