Wundt and introspection

    Cards (13)

    • Wundt and introspection
      Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology lab. Wundt pioneered the method of introspection. Standardised procedures. Significance of Wundt's work.
    • Wundt's psychology lab
      1. Opened in Leipzig, Germany in 1879
      2. Aim was to describe the nature of human consciousness (the 'mind') in a carefully controlled and scientific environment
    • Introspection
      The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations
    • Structuralism
      Isolating the structure of consciousness
    • Wundt's procedures
      • Standardised instructions given to all participants
      • Procedures could be repeated (replicated)
      • Participants given a ticking metronome and reported their thoughts, images and sensations
    • Wundt's early attempt to study the mind would be seen today as naïve
    • Wundt's work marked the separation of modern scientific psychology from its broader philosophical roots
    • Wundt's work was significant as it led to the emergence of psychology as a science
    • Strengths of Wundt's methods
      • Recorded introspections
      • Standardised procedures within a controlled lab environment
      • Can be considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology
    • Limitations of Wundt's methods
      • Relied on subjective self-reporting of 'private' mental processes
      • Participants may not have wanted to reveal some thoughts
      • Participants would not have had exactly the same thoughts every time, so establishing general principles would not have been possible
    • General laws are useful to predict future behaviour, one of the aims of science
    • Wundt's early efforts to study the mind were naïve and would not meet the criteria of scientific enquiry
    • Research in modern psychology can claim to be scientific