origins of psychology

**Define science**

Means of acquiring knowledge through **systematic /objective investigation**, aims to discover general laws

**Define introspection** 

process by which a person gains **knowledge about his/her mental emotion/emotional state** as a result of  the **examination/observation of their conscious thoughts/feelings.**

**Define psychology** 

Scientific study of the mind and its functions affecting behaviour

**Explain how Wundt and introspection contribution to the emergence of psychology as a science**

* Set up **first lab dedicated to psychological** investigations in **Leipzig Germany 1879**
* Published one of the **first books on psychology**, help **establishing** as an **independent branch of science**
* Wanted to **separate psychology from philosophy**
* Used **introspection** to study the mind in a more **structured/scientific way** e.g lab exp

**Explain the Wundt's steps of introspection**

* Involves **analysing your own thoughts/feelings internally**
* Wundt encouraged Ps to focus on thoughts/images/sensations in response to different stimuli e.g metronome
* Ps had to **self-report** what they were experiencing
* They were seen as **scientific** due to being: **recorded in controlled conditions, standardised**
* **Aim:** analyse the mind by breaking it down to basic elements, then piercing it back together to understand how they form complex experiences - **Structuralism**
* Wundt then created **general theories** about human mental process

**Evaluate introspection: research was not really scientific**

behaviourists have **criticised** Wundt’s approach

* Behaviourists said private experiences  e.g thoughts and feelings that were self-reported during introspection are **not observable, therefore difficult to measure.**
* Experience reported were **subjective**
* Behaviourists believe **measuring observable behaviour is more objective/scientific**

\n **Weakness, undermines Wundt’s work**   

**Evaluate introspection: lack of reliability**

Wundt’s approach failed due to **lack of reliability of his methods**

* E.g **when replicated, Ps would not have the same exact thoughts during introspection**
* Other psychologists failed to get similar results

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* **Weakness, meant Wundt could not establish general theories, no consistency in his methods**

**Evaluate introspection: contribution to other psychological approaches**

Wundt's methods seen as the **start of cognitive psychology**

* E.g cognitive psychology is a **modern approach,** does attempt to measure happenings of the mind with scientific methods
* Without wundt, some question if cognitive psychology would exist today

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* **Strength,  wundt's methods have been incredibly influential to cognitive psychologists**

**Explain the emergence of psychology as a science: behaviourists**

* **1900s early behaviourists rejected introspection**
* Watson & Skinner  argued introspection was subjective, behaviourist approach believed ‘scientific’ psychology should only study phenomena that can be observed/measures

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* E.g scientific method should be: objective, replicable, controlled, predictable 

**Explain the emergence of psychology as a science: cognitive psychologists**

* **Emerged in 1950s** during **digital revolution**
* See study of mental processes as highlight scientific, likens mind to a computer
* Mental processes can’t be observed, cognitive psychologist able to make inferences on how these work via scientific lab exp on Ps

**Explain the emergence of psychology as a science: biological approach**

* **Introduced technological advances**
* Taken scientific psychology to new levels
* Researchers in this area taken advantage of technology to investigate physiological processes as they happen e.g brain scanning, genetic research

**Evaluate the emergence of psychology as a science: modern psychology is scientific**

modern psych can claim to be scientific

* E.g psych has same aims as natural sciences: to describe, understand, predict & control behaviour
* All approaches rely on scientific methods e.g lab exp to investigate theories in a controlled/unbiased way

\n **Strength,**  suggest throughout 20th cent+ psych has become an established scientific  discipline.

**Evaluate the emergence of psychology as a science: Subjective Data when Studying Psychology** 

not all approaches use objective measures

* E.g humanists approach rejects science, focuses on individual/subjective experience
* Studying human, increases DC (not objective)

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* **Weakness,  scientific approach to studying human thought/experiences may not always be possible/desirable**