Origins of Psychology

• Wundt

  • Father of psychology
  • Set up the first experimental psychology lab (1879)
  • Introspection
• Was Wundt's work scientific

  • was scientific because was controlled (lab setting_
  • not scientific- social desirability, subjective (self report)
• Introspection- focus

  • Asked participants to consider their mental processes while focusing on a stimulus, such as a ticking metronome
  • All participants had the same amount of time and watched the same object
• Introspection- reflect and record

  • Participants recorded the mental processes they experienced while focusing on the stimulus
  • They broke them down into categories such as thoughts, sensations and feelings
• Introspection- compare and analyse

  • The responses were compared by analysing different reactions to the same stimulus
  • he was therefore able to identify patterns and propose theories about the mind using the participant direct responses as evidence