Origins

• Science is discovering the physical and natural world systematically and objectively using empirical methods (eg observation and experimentation).
• Systematic is using a fixed / controlled method. In scientific research, scientists follow a standardised procedure.

  • Gives researchers confidence that they have measured what they planned to and their measurements are not a result of errors in conducting their study.
  • Other scientists can replicate study using the same methods to check that initial results are not due to chance.
• Objectivity is the absence of bias in research which can significantly impact the study's design, outcomes and conclusions. It it crucial that the research is not influenced by the researchers personal opinions (may result in bias).
• Empiricism is where scientists must test their arguments on data collected from the world, not just accepting theories or logical arguments.
• Emergence of psychology as a science:

  • Wundt (1832 - 1920) is known as the 'father of psychology'. Before him, the study of the mind and behaviour was limited to philosophy and medicine. Wundt wanted to use controlled empirical scientific research techniques used by the physical sciences to study the mind.
• Emergence of psychology as a science:

  • Wundt set up the first psychological laboratory (the Institute of Experimental Psychology) in Leipzig in Germany (1870s).
  • First person to call himself a psychologist.
  • Produced one of the first books on psychology.
  • First academic journal that published psychological experiments.
• Emergence of psychology as a science:

  • His research was called structuralism, an attempt to uncover the hidden structure of the mind by describing it in terms of its simplest definable components.
  • His work focused on the structure of sensation and perception.
  • The experimental method he used in his research was called introspection.
• Process of introspection:

  1. Participants trained to report conscious experiences as objectively as possible.
  2. Participants were asked to focus on a sensory object (often a ticking metronome).
  3. Participants would systematically report their experience of the object by breaking their thoughts into separate elements.

  Wundt carefully controlled the environment and conditions of the study. He then developed general theories of mental processes based on the experimental data collected.
• Introspection is not direct observation of mental processes; Wundt made interferences (guess / assumptions) on the structure of the internal mental processes based on observed behaviour.
• Strength of Wundt and his origins in psychology:

  • Highly scientific - He controlled the conditions in his experiments, had large sample sizes and used transparent methods. He had a very systematic approach that allowed him to develop general theories of mental processes. This allowed other researchers to replicate his findings.
• Strength of Wundt and his origins in psychology:

  • Use of interferences influences cognitive psychologists. These psychologists asks participants to complete tasks under experimental conditions, and the participants ability to complete those tasks are used to make interferences about the structure of internal work processes (eg memory, attention and perception).
• Strength of Wundt and his origins in psychology:

  • Wundt argued that behaviours are determined, so they have a cause that can be studied objectively. Historical explanations of mental disorders and criminality often has a religious perspective, using ideas such as sin and demonic influence. Following Wundt, other researchers used scientifically deterministic arguments, leading to effective biological treatments in healthcare and forensic psychology.
• Limitations of Wundt and his origins in psychology:

  • Use of interference to identify internal mental states has been criticised. Interferences are assumptions, so they could be mistaken. Behaviourist psychologists rejected the study of internal mental states because they only studied fully observable stimuli-response mechanisms because the findings were more reliable.