WUNDT: INTROSPECTION AND THE EMERGENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

WILHELM WUNDT - THE “FATHER” OF PSYCHOLOGY

  • Created the first psychology laboratory in 1879.

  • First person to call themselves a psychologist. Wundt established the belief that all aspects of nature (including the human mind) could be studied scientifically)

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

FEATURES OF SCIENCE

F - Falsifiability

O- Objectivity

R - Replicability

T - Theory Construction and Hypothesis Testing

E - Empirical

P - Paradigms and Paradigm Shifts

  1. FALSIFIABILITY

  • Being able to prove a statement/hypothesis/theory wrong.

  • Only possible if study is replicable and hypothesis is operationalised/testable

  1. OBJECTIVITY

  • Free from bias, based on observable phenomena

  • Empirical and available to other scientists to check ad verify

  1. REPLICABILITY

  • Extent to which a study can be repeated so the reliability of results can be judged

  1. THEORY CONSTRUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS WRITING

  • To make scientific progress it must be possible to test and falsify a theory

  • Theory must be rigid, hypothesis must be clear (operationalised)

  • If a testable theory is created with fully operationalised variables/hypotheses, it can be tested and proven correct/incorrect (falsified)

  1. EMPIRICAL

  • Directly observable evidence.

  • Can be verified through measurements and does not go beyond the boundaries of what can be observed

  1. PARADIGMS AND PARADIGM SHIFTS

  • Paradigm = distinct set of concepts or thought patterns within a specific domain

  • Each psychological approach has its own paradigm

  • Paradigm shifts = when a theory is falsified and a new paradigm is created based on the newly discovered information