Origins

• Wilhelm Wundt = 'father of psychology', founded the first psychology lab in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany.

  His approach was structuralism which breaks down behaviour into basic elements to study the structure of human mind.

  He used introspection - looking to, whilst investigating were asked to reflect and describe their cognitive processes. Pps would be presented with a problem or something to memorise and then asked to report on their inner experiences. This was obtained during task performance to ensure no memory problems. This was the 1st experimental attempt to study the brain.
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  • Somewhat scientific, all introspections were recorded under strictly controlled conditions, standardised instructions and procedures were used throughout allowing replicability to be possible. It used the scientific method improving the credibility of psychology as a science.
  • Behaviourists and Watson criticised the procedure as it produced subjective qualitative data rather than empirical methodology. Furthermore, there may have been individual differences and social desirability bias present. This led to the behaviourist approach and the emergence of psychology as a science.
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  • Wundt founded the Institute of Experimental Psychology
  • Wundt published one of the first books on psychology, helping to establish the subject as an independent branch of science
  • description of Wundt’s approach – structuralism
  • the use of the scientific method to study the structure of sensation and perception
  • the use of introspection in controlled studies
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  • use of controlled environments to establish general theories about mental processes
  • Wundt’s identification of higher mental processes (learning, language, emotions, etc.) that could not be studied in a strictly controlled manner
  • the development of the field of cultural psychology based on general trends in behaviour of groups of people.