origins of psychology

• It was first thought that Psychology came a distinct branch around the 1800 when the first lab experiment was established. However, the philosophical and physiological roots of psychology stretch much further then this
• Psychology


  The scientific study of the human mind and its functions
• Science


  A means of acquiring new information through systematic and objective investigation. The aim is to discover general laws.
• Introspection


  The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up the conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts images and senses. Introspection in other words means to look inwards, specifically look inside a person's head to understand what they are thinking and the way that their mind works. It is a way of access conscious thinking.
• Objective


  Means non personal/factual
• Subjective


  Meaning having a personal experience
• The aim of science is to build knowledge through systematic and objective measurement. Empirical methods of research are based on actual experience rather than on theory or belief. It involves gathering data in an objective way. The laboratory experiment is the most important empirical method used in science. They allow complete control of variables that might affect the results. The control means that methods can be standardised and experiments replicated by other researchers to test they are reliable. The aim is to create general laws.
• 17th - 18th century Psychology is a branch of the broader discipline of philosophy. If psychology has a definition during this time it is best understood as experimental psychology.
• 1879 Wilhelm Wundt opens the first experimental psychology lab in Germany and psychology emerges as a distinct discipline in its own right.
• 1900s Freud publishes the interpretation of dreams and the psychodynamic approach is born. Freud emphasises the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour and psychoanalysis.
• 1913 Watson writes Psychology as the Behaviourist views it and Skinner establishes the behaviourist approach.
• 1950 Rogers and Abraham develop the humanistic approach. The third force of psychology, Humanistic approach emphasises the importance of self-determination and free will.
• 1960s The cognitive revolution came with the introduction of the digital computer. The cognitive approach reintroduces the study of mental processes to psychology but in a much more scientific way.
• 1960s Bandura proposes the social learning theory approach. This approach draws attention to the role of cognitive factors in learning, providing a bridge between the newly established cognitive approach and traditional behaviourism.
• 1980s The biological approach begins to establish itself as the dominant scientific perspective in psychology. This is due to advances in technology and has led to an increased understanding of the brain and the biological processes.
• Eve of the 21st century Cognitive neuroscience emerges as a distinct discipline bringing together the cognitive and biological approaches. Cognitive neuroscience is built on earlier computer models and investigates how biological structures influence mental states
• Wilhelm Wundt


  Opened the Institute for Experimental Psychology at the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1879. This was the first laboratory dedicated to psychology. Wundt was important because he separated psychology from philosophy by analysing the workings of the mind in a more structured way, with the emphasis being on objective measurement and control.
• Introspection


  The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up the conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts images and senses.
• For example, in an experimental set up, under controlled conditions, participants will be presented with a stimulus such as a visual image or an auditory tone. They would then be asked to provide a description of the inner processes they experiences as they looked at the image or heard the tone.
• Introspection


  He studied the mind scientifically using introspection. Wundt claimed that with sufficient training, mental processes such as memory and perception can be observed systematically using introspection.
• Evaluation of Introspection


  • Strength: controlled method, some systematic methods and well controlled making it more scientific, all introspection recorded in controlled environment of the lab ensuring extraneous factors were reduced, all instructions were standardised, so all participants received same instructions & tested In same way. Therefore, can be considered as forerunner to later scientific approaches such as behaviourist.
  • Weakness: Certain aspects of Wundt's study can be considered unscientific today, he relied on participants self-reporting of their own mental process. Such data is subjective, participants may have hidden their thoughts/ or reported what they thought the researchers wanted, therefore, it is difficult the draw general laws from such subjective data. We cannot predict future behaviour , one of science's main aims.