Wundt introspections

father of psychology

The nickname provided for Wundt due to his contributions to the development of psychology.

what is psychology

the scientific study of the mind behaviour and experience

Wundt’s labority

• In 1879 wundt opened his first lab in leipzig in Germany

• wundt work is significant as it marked the start of the scientific approach to psychology

• he used intorspection to gain a further

explain wundts investigation

1. Participants were presented with a stimulus (e.g. the sound of a metronome or the turning on of a light)

2. Participants were then asked to inspect their own thoughts, emotions & sensations

3. Conclusions were made (i.e. answers from the participants were compared to see what was similar or different)

introspection

A technique for examining people’s own conscious thoughts, feelings and sensations as developed by Wundt. (a process of looking inward at our own thought)

what are the limitations of wundts introspection

1. subjective

2. reductionist not an approach so whilst a limitation not written about

3. inference easiest to write about

4. lacks objectivity most write about

what does subjective mean

An approach to investigation that is based upon opinions, thoughts and ideas of a personal perspective rather than scientific evidence.

why is research being subjective a limitation

introspection relied on individuals' abilities to self-report their thoughts, feelings, and mental processes but in reality, this is highly subjective as it depends on personal interpretation and communication skills making it challenging to establish a standardised and objective methodology.

Lack replicability making it less reliable

what is reductionism/reductionist

The process of breaking down behaviours into smaller component parts e.g. Wundt breaking down conscious thoughts using introspection methods.

why is this a limiation

It over simplifies and breaks down complex human behaviours

what does objective mean

A scientific approach to research which focuses upon observable data.

lacks objective

• is based on inner metal processes cant see cant measure

• for example wunts work on introspection with the metronome used self reporting method to collect data this means there could be bias miss interpretation or influenced by demand characteristics

• therefore lack scientific credibility

what is inference

Inference is the process of drawing conclusions about general patterns of behaviour from specific observations.

why is inference a limitation

• we can not directly measure inner mental processes

• skinner pointed out this problem and argued that we can only measure thing you can see

• eg pendulum swing where participants were asked to predict its movements. when answers take a long time it inferred the more mental processes are needed

• this means that wunt’s work on introspection lack reliability of approaches like the behaviourist approach

what are the strengths of introspection

1. leader helped develop psychology

2. determinism application

what is determinism

A concept within psychology as a science. It is the idea that behaviours are the result of internal or external forces over which we have no control.

Helped develop determinism

• had a positive impact on developing it

• still relevant in non observable emotional states and inner mental processes

• this helps us gain incite into thoughts feelings and sensations

• important for biological treatments and mental health and interventions for criminal behaviour

beginnings so scientific research

• All introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of a lab, ensuring that possible extraneous variables were not a factor

• Procedures and instructions were carefully standardised so that all participants received the same information and were tested in the same way

leader helped develop psychology

• he helped develop the first ever laboratory for phycology to do more objective research

• eg pendulium exeperiment not perfect but an improvent

• not perfect but allowed for the development of behaviourism

what is structuralism

The analysis of basic element that constitute ( make up) the mind

how did people self report wunts introspection

Systemically they broke it down into parts eh sensations and emotional reactions

1. Explain Wundt’s contribution to the development of psychology (3 marks)

1. development of the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig

2. Wundt made the first attempts to move psychology away from moral discussion and towards more objective experimentation and analysis. for example introspection was more objective and research was carried out in a more scientific way

3. Whilst his methods were not completely objective, they resulted in new scientific approaches to psychological study such as behaviourism, hence why he became known as the “father of psychology”.

emergence

1.Psychology first emerged as a science when Wundt moved it away from philosophical and physiological discussion by developing the first psychology laboratory in Leipzig, Germany in 1879.

2. This was more scientific as it was an attempt to move psychology towards experimental psychology using techniques such as introspection and structuralism which attempted to analyse the structures of conscious thought and measure cognitive thoughts, feelings and images when exposed to an everyday stimulus such as a metronome.

3.Wundt’s work also laid the foundations for more objective methods as behaviourism developed as a response to the subjective approach used by Wundt, meaning that psychology developed towards even stricter experimental techniques.

1. Briefly discuss one strength of the scientific approach in psychology (4 marks)

 

1.One strength of the scientific approach in psychology is that it is more objective. This is an advantage because it is based upon quantitative data which is fact based as opposed to subjective opinion.

2.However, a problem with this approach is that scientific approaches tend to use the laboratory experimental method which consists of more artificial settings. This is a disadvantage as it lowers the ecological validity of research findings