origins of psychology

• P: a criticism of Wundt's structuralist approach, was that this approach relied primarily on 'nonobservable' responses

  E: although participants could report on their conscious experiences, the processes themselves were considered to be unobservable constructions. Wundt's introspective methods are considered subjective and are not truly scientific.

  L: in contrast, early behaviourists such as pavlov were already achieving reliably reproducible results
• P: because of its reliance on objective and systematic methods of observation, knowledge acquired using the scientific method is more than just the passive acceptance of theories about behaviour

  E: this means that scientific methods are able to establish the causes of behaviour through the use of methods that are both empirical and replicable

  L: a consequence of this is that if scientific theories no longer fit the facts, they can be refined or abandoned, meaning scientific knowledge is self-corrective
• Wundts use of inferences influenced cognitive psychologists; these researchers ask participants to complete tasks under experimental conditions, and the participant's ability to complete tasks is used to make inferences about the structure of internal mental processes like memory, attention and perception