origins of psychology

• Wundt's lab -

  • 1879 - opened the first ever lab dedicated entirely to psychological enquiry in Germany
  • significant because it marked the beginning of scientific psychology - separating it from its broader philosophical roots
  • aim was to try to analyse the nature of human consciousness and thus represented the first systematic attempt to study the mind under controlled conditions - pioneering method became known as introspection
• introspection - 


  first systematic experiment attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts images and sensations
• standardised procedures -

  • one of Wundt's main objectives was to try and develop theories about mental processes such as language and perception
  • he and his co-workers recorded their experienced of various stimuli such as objects or sounds
  • divided their observations into 3 categories: thoughts, images and sensations
  • for instance they might be given a ticking metronome and they would report their thoughts, images and sensations
• structuralism -

  • isolating the structure of consciousness in Wundt's technique
  • stimuli that Wundt and his co-workers experienced were always presented in the same order and the same instructions issued to all participants
• evaluation of Wundt's introspection: scientific (strength) -

  • P: some of his methods were systematic and well controlled (scientific)
  • E: all introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of the lab, ensuring that possible extraneous variables were not a factor
  • E: procedures and instructions were carefully standardised
  • L: suggests that Wundt's research can be considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology
• evaluation of Wundt's introspection: subjective data (limitation) -

  • P: other aspects of research would be considered unscientific today
  • E: relied on participants self-reporting their mental processes - data is subjective - influenced by a personal perspective
  • E: also participants may have hidden some of their thoughts - difficult to establish meaningful 'laws of behaviour' from data - general laws are useful to predict future behaviour - one of the aims of science
  • L: suggests some of Wundt's early efforts to study the mind were flawed and wouldn't meet criteria of scientific enquiry
• emergence of psychology as a science -

  • science = involves building knowledge through systematic and objective measurement - aim is to discover general laws
  • 1900s behaviourists - Watson and Skinner proposed true scientific psychology should only study phenomena that can be observed objectively and measured
  • 1950s cognitive approach - digital revolution - likened the mind to a computer - legitimate and highly scientific
  • 1980s biological approach - advances in tech to investigate physiological processes - relationship between genes and behaviour
• evaluation of psychology as a science: modern psychology (strength) -

  • P: research in modern psych can claim to be scientific
  • E: has the same aims as the natural scientists - to describe, understand, predict and control behaviour
  • E: learning approaches, cognitive and biological approaches all rely on use of scientific methods to investigate theories in controlled and unbiased way
  • L: suggests throughout the 20th century and beyond, psychology has established itself as a scientific discipline
• evaluation of psychology as a science: subjective data (limitation) -

  • P: not all approaches use objective methods
  • E: humanistic approach rejects the scientific approach - prefers to focus on individual experiences and subjective experience
  • E: psychodynamic approach makes use of the case study method which doesn't use representative samples
  • E: human beings as active participants in research respond to demand characteristics
  • L: therefore scientific approach to the study of human thought and experience may not always be desirable or possible