introspection

• the method:

  participants were asked to reflect on their own cognitive processes and describe them
• the scientific method:

  ideas would lead to multiple different psychological perspectives
• what was wundt's approach called?

  structuralism
• structuralism:

  • its subject matter was the structure of the mind, built from the elements of the consciousness, such as ideas or sensations 
  • observers were taught to engage in introspection, the use of which was governed by strict rules 
  • introspectionists observed stimuli and described their experiences 
  • pps would be asked to ‘observe’ their inner mental processes (such as emotions) and to report them in terms of their intensity, quality or duration
• give one of wundt's aims

  to analyse the content of conscious experiences
• give one of wundt's aims

  to determine how the elements of conscious are connected
• give one of wundt's aims

  to devise a law which would explain such connections
• where did attention shift from in response to introspection?

  study of the human mind to the study of behaviour
• what provided an alternative to introspection?

  behaviorism