Emergence of psychology as a science

• 1. Wundt. He is credited with opening the first psychology lab in Germany around 1880 where he developed a technique called introspection that allowed people to gain an insight into how mental processes work by examining one's own thought processes.

  • people trained to record responses with stimuli
• 2. Watson and the behaviourists. By the 20th century, the idea of instrospection, as well as its scientific value and status was questioned by many. He suggested that introspection was subjective and varied greatly from person to person. Thus it is difficult to establish general principles of behaviour.

  He also suggested that in order for psychology to be considered a science, it must be a focus on a measurable or an observable phenomenon, such as the Skinner box. Watson and Skinner focused on scientific processes and rigour in their experiments.
• 3. Cognitive revolution. With the introduction of digital computers, psychologists began to say that the mind acts like a computer and used scientific methods to study this.
• 4. Biological approach. The biological approach further advances psychology as a science with the use of experimental data such as fMRIs, EEGs.

  Cognitive neuroscience has advanced it further today by looking at how biological structures influence mental states.
• TIMELINE

  Wundt - introspection

  Freud (psychodynamic approach)

  Behaviourists - Watson + Skinner

  Humanists - Maslow

  Cognitive revolution - invention of the first computer

  SLT

  Biological approach - dominant side of psychology today that involves using brain scans etc