The emergence of psychology as a science

• What is science?

  replicable, testable, measurable, controlled variables, lab experiments, testing hypotheses, large samples, general laws
• Psychology has its roots in 17th and early 19th century philosophy and was indeed once known as experimental psychology.
• 1879: Wilhelm Wundt opens the first experimental lab and psychology emerges as a distinct discipline. He studied the structure of the human mind, by breaking down behaviours into their basic elements
• Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) - German psychologist who founded structuralism. His research focused on introspection to understand how people think and feel about themselves and others. He believed that consciousness could be broken down into smaller parts called sensations which are then combined together to form thoughts and feelings.
• Introspection - a technique used by structuralists to examine one's own conscious experiences. This involved focusing attention on specific aspects of experience such as emotions, perceptions and memories.
• Structuralism - an approach developed by Wilhelm Wundt, whereby he sought to identify the building blocks or structures of mental processes through introspection. It aimed to discover the fundamental components of thought and feeling.
• Structuralism - an approach developed by Wilhelm Wundt, whereby he aimed to identify the building blocks or structures of mental processes through introspection. This involved asking participants to describe what they were experiencing when presented with stimuli such as colours, sounds etc. Structuralists also used physiological methods to investigate brain activity during these experiences.
• Introspection - a method used by structuralist psychologists to gain insight into the workings of the mind. It involves self-reflection and reporting one's own subjective experience.
• Structuralism - an approach developed by Wilhelm Wundt whereby he aimed to identify the fundamental building blocks of mental processes through introspection. It was based on the idea that all behaviour can be explained by understanding these underlying structures.
• 1900s: Sigmund Freud emphasised the influence of the unconscious mind and the psychodynamic approach is established
• 1913: J.B Watson rejecting the vagueness of introspection instead focusing on how we are a product of our learning, experience and environment. Thus the behaviourist approach was established.
• 1950s: Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow reject the ideas favoured by behaviourism and the psychodynamic approach. Humanistic psychologists emphasise the importance of self-determination and free will
• 1960s: With the introduction of the computer, psychologists applied the analogy of the workings of a computer to the human mind. Cognitive psychology studied the working of the internal mind in a more scientific way than Wundt's earlier investigations
• 1960s: Around the time of the cognitive revolution, Albert Bandura proposes the social learning theory. This provides a bridge between behaviourism and cognitive psychology
• 1980 onwards: the biological approach begins to establish itself as the dominant scientific perspective in psychology. Advances in technology have lead to increased understanding of the brain and biological processes
• Eve of the 21st century: cognitive neuroscience emerges as a distinct discipline bringing together the cognitive and biological processes