Origins of psychology

• Who opened the first ever lab dedicated to psychology?

  Wilhelm Wundt
• When was the first ever lab dedicated to psychology developed?

  1879
• What was Wundt's goal with opening a lab just for psychology?

  To create a new, scientific branch of psychology so that it is distinct from philosophy
• What is introspection?

  The examination or observation of one's own conscious thoughts (mental processes) and feelings (emotional processes)

  • In Wundt's case, it was his method of recording him and his co-worker's own conscious thoughts, breaking them down into thoughts, images and sensations
• How was Wundt's procedures to study psychology?

  • Controlled - all introspections were recorded under strictly controlled conditions using the same stimulus (e.g. a ticking metronome)
  • Standardised - instructions given to all participants, allows procedures to be repeated exactly the same way (replicated) every single time
• What is structuralism?

  Isolating the structure of consciousness and linking elements of the structure to show how they relate
• What are the strengths of Wundt's study?

  • Methods were mostly systematic and well-controlled (scientific)
  • Introspections recorded in lab - no extraneous variables
  • Standardised - all participants tested the same
• What are the weaknesses of Wundt's study?

  • Participants were self-reporting their mental processes (subjectivity - unscientific)
  • Some may have hid their thoughts - difficult to establish meaningful 'laws of behaviour'
• What was Wundt's significance in terms of learning about psychology?

  Wundt set the foundation for different approaches to psychology to submerge
• What is science?


  Building knowledge through systematic and objective (unbiased) measurements
• What is a paradigm?

  A set of principles, assumptions and methods that all people who work within that subject agree on
• What method began to emerge around the 21st century to understanding psychology?

  Cognitive neuroscience
• What two approaches does cognitive neuroscience focus on?

  Biological and cognitive approaches
• What is the timeline for developments into psychology?

  • 17th-19th century: Experimental philosophy
  • 1879: Wundt first psychological lab
  • 1900s: Freud psychodynamic approach and psychoanalysis
  • 1913: Watson + Skinner behaviourist approach
  • 1950s: Rogers + Maslow humanistic approach
  • 1950s: Computer metaphor cognitive approach
  • 1960s: Bandura social learning theory
  • 1980s: Technological advances biological approach
  • 21st century: Cognitive neuroscience