origins of psychology

• empiricism

  the belief that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience it is characterised by the use of scientific method
• introspection

  he process by which a person gains knowledge about their own mental and emotional states as a result of the examination of their conscious thoughts and feelings.
• scientific method

  refers to the use of investigative methods that are objective ,systematic and replicable as well as the formulation of testing and modification of hypotheses based off these methods
• Wundt

  • believed that all aspects of nature including the human mind could be studied scientifically
  • he studied only those aspects of behaviour that could be strictly controlled under  experimental conditions e.g reaction time
  • his aim was to study the structure of the human mind
  • he used introspection
  • eventually realised that higher mental processes such as learning ,language and emotions could not be studied in a controlled manner
• introspection

  • introspective ability enables the observation of our inner world
  • Wundt suggested that with training mental processes such as memory and perception could be observed systemically  as they occurred using introspection e.g  observing an object and being asked to reflect on how they perceive it
  • participants were given a carefully controlled stimuli e.g visual images  or auditory tones) and then were asked to provide a description of their inner processes .This made it possible to compare the results in response to the same stimuli and so establish theories on perception
• the emergence of psychology as a science

  • empiricists believe that knowledge comes from observation and experience alone.
  • behaviour is seen as being caused( the assumption of determinism)
  • if behaviour is determined than it is possible to predict how human beings will behave in different conditions( the assumption of predictability)
  • the technique used to explore these assumptions became known as scientific method
• scientific method in psychology

  • investigative methods are objective systematic and replicable
  • its objective as researchers do not let biases influence data collection
  • its systematic as experiments are carried out in an orderly way
  • recording of data is carried out accurately and other factors that influence results are considered
  • replicable as observations can be repeated by other researchers to see if the same results are obtained,improving reliability
  • development of scientific theories and constant testing and refining of theories to further observations completes the scientific cycle
• introspection

  systematic analysis of own conscious experience of a stimulus
• Describe Wundt’s role in the development of psychology

  • Wundt known as ‘the father of psychology’
  • Promoted the use of introspection as a way of studying mental processes.
  • Introspection – systematic analysis of own conscious experience of a stimulus
  • An experience was analysed in terms of its component parts e.g. sensations, emotional reaction etc
  • His work paved the way for later controlled research and the study of mental processes e.g. by cognitive psychologists
• science is:

  • discovering the physical and natural world systematically and objectively using empirical methods such as observation and experimentation
• systematic methods

  • using a fixed or controlled method.
  • allows scientists to use a standardised plan in investigations
• objectivity

  • absences of bias in research
  • crucial that researcher's findings are not influenced by researcher's opinions
  • psychology about human behaviour is subjective and can be interpreted in various ways
• empiricism

  • scientists must test their ideas and base their conclusions on data collected from the world, not just accept theory or logical arguments.
• psychology as a science

  • objectivity
  • systematic
  • empiricism
• wundt

  • first person to call himself a psychologist
  • his use of scientific methods helped establish psychology as an independent field of scientific research.
  • Wundt's research was called structuralism, an attempt to uncover the hidden structure of the mind by describing it in terms of its simplest components
  • he used introspection
• process of introspection

  1. participants are trained to report conscious experiences as objectively as possible
  2. participants would be asked to focus on a sensory object
  3. participants would systematically report their experience of the object by breaking their thoughts into separate elements; participants would focus inward and report sensations, feelings and images
• • wundt carefully controlled the experimental conditions and environment
  • wundt developed general theories of mental processes bases on the experimental data collected
• • introspection is not direct observation of mental processes
  • wundt made inferences, which means making a guess or an assumption on the structure of internal mental processes based on observed behaviour
• • with enough observations of people all behaving the same way in an experiment, researchers make inferences about the process that may be driving their behaviour
  • However, inferences are effectively educated guesses, so researchers' assumptions may be incorrect