Origins

• Outline Wundt's role in the emergence of psychology as a science

  Wilhelm Wundt founded the institute of experimental psychology (the first lab dedicated to psychology) in 1879. this was the first time it was acknowledged as a seperate science. he is considered to be fundamental in establishing psychology as a science though his use of the scientific method. he used 185 highly trained assistants to report how a stimulus (e.g. a metronome) made them feel and think to an observer.
• What are the strengths of Wundts research?

  the method was operationalised by using the same stimus, physical sunoundings, and instructions with each person. from this wundt was able to break down consciousness into the basic components of thoughts and sensations, thus developing the theory of concious thought.

  
  

  in some significant ways, Wundts role was critical in establishing psychorogy as a science through his dedication to use the scientific method
• What are the weaknesses of Wundts research

  even the most highly trained assistants were not consistent in their responses and different assistants often provided very different responses to the same stimus. additionally, the use of self report can encourage lying or bias from the participants. furthermore, introspection was of imited use in the sense that it is difficult to use that technique to study more complex things like laming. thus critics argued that Wundts introspection was not as important in the emergence of psycholagy as a science as the theories that came after it.
• timeline of psychology

  1879 - wundt

  1900 - psychodynamic

  1913 - behaviourism

  1950 - humanism

  1960 - cognitive

  1960 - SLT

  1980 - biological

  21st century - cognitive neuroscience