Origins

• In 1873 Wilhelm Wundt published the first book on Psychology ‘Principles of Physiological Psychology’.
• Wilhelm believed that the human mind could be studied scientifically through introspection.
• In 1879, Wilhelm opened the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany.
• Wilhelm’s approach became known as structuralism.
• Introspection is a process of gaining knowledge about a persons mental state through inferring their outward behaviour.
• Basic features of introspection:

  • Focus on being objective
  • Reflection on sensations
  • Breaking thoughts down
  • Systematic reporting
• Criticism of of introspection:


  • Not reliable- cannot objectively measure a persons responses because they are unobservable.
  • Other researchers were not able to reproduce the results.
  • Some early psychologists such as Pavlov were achieving results reliably.
  • Introspection is not particularly accurate.