Wundt & introspection

Approaches

Describe Wundt’s role in the development of psychology ( 6 marks )

Known as ‘the father of psychology’ – moved from philosophical roots to controlled research.

Set up the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany in 1870’s.

Promoted the use of introspection as a way of studying mental processes

Introspection – systematic analysis of own conscious experience of a stimulus

An experience was analysed in terms of its component parts e.g. sensations, emotional reaction etc.

His work paved the way for later controlled research and the study of mental processes e.g. by cognitive psychologists.

Outline Wundt’s method of introspection ( 3 marks )

Introspection is the process of observing and examining your own conscious thoughts or emotions

He and his researchers recorded their experiences with various stimuli they were presented with, such as
different objects, sounds

These parts are elements like sensation, emotional reactions

Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is structuralism

People were trained to do this analysis to make the data objective rather than subjective

Main features of introspection

Focus on being objective

Reflection on sensations, feelings and images

Wundt would ask people to focus on an everyday object and look inwards noticing sensations and feelings and images

Breaking thoughts about an object down into separate elements

Systematic reporting of an experience of object

Specific examples eg use of metronome

How did Wundt contribute to the emergence of psychology as a science

He used scientific method, a controlled environment and followed a standardised procedure so his methods could be replicated