Emergence of Psychology as a science

• Define introspection

  The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking down conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations
• Describe how John Watson’s criticism of introspection led to psychology becoming more scientific?

  • Behaviourists made use of controlled lab experiments to study phenomena- producing objective data.

  • Cognitive psychologists make use of inference in order to scientifically study mental processes.

  • Biological- advances in technology= dev. Of brain scanning techniques (fMRI, EEG) allowed live activity in brain to be investigated
• Wundt


  Set up the first psychology lab in Leipzig, Germany
• Wundt's approach

  • Moved psychology from its philosophical roots to controlled research
  • Introduced the concept of introspection; breaking down the mind into thoughts, images and sensations
  • Ensured control over confounding variables by using a standard stimulus and let participants openly say what sensations were around them in a controlled laboratory
• Wundt later recognised that higher mental processes were difficult to study using his procedures
• Wundt's work


  • Paved the way for objective, replicable methods in psychology, including the cognitive approach and brain scanning techniques in cognitive neuroscience