Introspection

AO1: what did Wilhelm Wundt do?

• established first psychology lab

• 1897, aimed to describe nature of human consciousness

• Done in carefully controlled and scientific environment

AO1: define Introspection and its procedure

• The examination or observation of ones own mental and emotional processes

• Same standardise instructions given to all ppts and stimuli presented in same order

• Given ticking metronome and report on/record their thoughts, images and sensations

AO1: Behaviourist views on introspection

• Watson - introspection was subjective, influenced by personal perspective

• Behaviourists - scientific psychology should only study phenomena that can be observed or measured

AO1: Structuralism

• introspection led to identifying the structure of consciousness by braking it into the basic structures:

  • Thoughts, images and sensations

• Marked the beginning of scientific psychology

AO3: strengths of Introspection and Wundt (2)

• ✓ - aspects of his work were scientific

  • Recorded introspections in controlled lab environment. Standardised procedure.

  • Suggests - important as considered a forerunner. Psychological researcher would not be where it is without.

• ✓ - Wundts contribution

  • First academic journal for psychological research, wrote first textbook. Research set foundation for approaches (e.g behaviourist)

  • Suggests - despite flaws, made significant contributions to psychology.

AO3: limitations of introspection and Wundt (1)

• ✘ - aspects of his work are subjective

  • Ppts self-reported ‘private’ mental processes, subjective data, ptts may have hidden thoughts. Difficult to make meaningful ‘laws of behaviour’

  • Suggests - study of mind was naive, doesn’t meet criteria for scientific enquiry.