Origins of Psychology AO3

• + Partly scientific.

  Wundt recorded introspections within a controlled lab setting using standardised methods, e.g. reporting thoughts whilst watching a metronome. Allows for

  replication. S0 - forerunner to modern psychology.
• -Self-reporting of participants’ own private mental thought processes is subjective. Which contrasts the objectivity of the scientific process. So, Wundt’s efforts were naïve.
• -Introspection isn’t valid as many aspects of our minds are outside of our conscious awareness, e.g. Nisbett & Wilson researched the halo effect which showed people’s perceptions can be affected unconsciously.
• -Whilst he wrote the first academic journal and textbook in psychology, greater contributions to the development of psychology were made by behaviourists, as they produced reliable findings with explanatory principles that were generalisable − more in keeping with the scientific approach.