PSYCHOLOGY
– The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those functions affecting behaviour in a given context
SCIENCE
– The means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation
– The aim is to discover general laws and cause and effect
WUNDT
– Opened the first lab dedicated to psychology in Germany 1897
– This objective was to describe the nature of the human consciousness (the mind) in a carefully controlled and scientific environment – a lab
– This is known as introspection
– Involved Wundt and his co-workers recording their own conscious thoughts, with the aim of breaking these down into their constituent parts
– Isolating the structure of consciousness is known as structuralism
INTROSPECTION
– The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts images and sensations
CONTROLLED METHODS
– Although Wundt’s early attempt to study the mind would have been seen as naive today, Wundt used methods that might be considered scientific today
– All introspectives were recorded under strictly controlled conditions
– E.g. they used the same stimulus every time
– The same standardised instructions were given to all participants
– This allowed the procedures to be repeated
– For instance, participants were given a ticking metronome (to pace their responses) and they would report their thoughts, images and sensations, which were then recorded.
EMPIRICISM
– The belief that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience.
– It is generally characterised by the use of the scientific method in psychology
EMERGENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY AS A SCIENCE
BEHAVIOURIST
– The beginning of the 20th-century people were questioning the value of introspection
– John B. Watson argued that introspection:
– Was too subjective
– Varies from person to person
– Is difficult to establish general laws
– Focuses too much on private mental processes
– He said that scientific psychology should only study phenomena that can be observed and measured.
SCIENTIFIC APPROACH – Behaviourist
– Thus, the behaviourist approach was born and psychology emerged as a science
– Watson and Skinner brought the language and rigour of the natural sciences into psychology.
– The behaviourists focus on learning, and the use of carefully controlled lab studies would be the focus of psychology for the next few decades.
– Many psychologists still use experimental methods today but the scope has broadened significantly since then
COGNITIVE
– Following the cognitive revolution of the 1960s, the study of mental processes was seen as legitimate within psychology.
– Although mental processes remain ‘private’, cognitive psychologists are able to make inferences about how these work on the basis of tests conducted in a controlled environment
– Biological psychologists have taken advantage of recent advances in technology
– Including recording brain activity, using scanning techniques such as fMRI and EEG, and advanced genetic research.
TIMELINE
17th – 19th Century
– Psychology is a branch of the broader discipline of philosophy
– Best known as experimental psychology
1879
– Wundt opened the first experimental psychology lab in Germany
– Psychology emerges as a distinct discipline in its own right
1900s – Psychodynamic
– The first force in psychology
– Freud establishes the psychodynamic approach
– Emphasises the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour
– Person-centered therapy: psychoanalysis emerges
1913 – Behaviourist
– The second force in psychology
– Watson – writes the book “Psychology as the behaviourist views it”
– Skinner – Establishes the behaviourist approach
– The psychodynamic and behaviourist approaches dominate psychology for the next 50 years
1950s – Humanistic
– Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow develop the Humanistic approach
– The third force in psychology
– Reject psychodynamic and behaviourist approaches
– See them as too deterministic
– Emphasises self-determinism and free will
1960 – Cognitive
– Established the cognitive approach with the introduction of the digital computer
– Gave psychologists a metaphor of the operations of the human mind
– Reintroduces the study of mental process to psychology but more scientific than Wudnt
1960s – Social Learning Theory
– Bandura proposes social learning theory
– Emphasizes the role of cognitive factors in learning
– Brings together cognitive and behaviourist ideas
1980s – Biological
– Biological approach is established
– This is due to advances in technology that have led to an increased understanding of the brain
21st Century – Cognitive Neuroscience
– Cognitive neuroscience emerges as a distinct principle
– Brings together the cognitive and biological processes
– Built on earlier computer models and investigates how biological structures influence mental states
EVALUATION OF PSYCHOLOGY
STRENGTHS
Some of Wundt Methods Are Scientific
– For example, he recorded the introspections within a controlled lab environment.
– He also standardised his procedures so that all participants received the same information and were tested in the same way.
– For this reason, Wundt’s research can be considered a forerunner to the later scientific approaches in psychology that were to come.
Modern Psychology is Scientific
– Psychology has the same aims as natural sciences – to describe, understand, predict and control our world.
– The kerning approaches, cognitive approach and biological approach all rely on the use of scientific methods – for example, lab studies to investigate theories in a controlled and unbiased way.
– Throughout the 20th century and beyond, psychology has established itself as a scientific discipline.
LIMITATIONS
Some Aspects of the Research Aren’t Scientific
– Wundt relied on participants reporting their ‘private’ mental processes using the self-report method
– Such data is subjective and participants may not have wanted to reveal some of the thoughts they were having.
– Participants would also not have had exactly the same thoughts every time, so establishing general principles wouldn’t have been possible.
– General laws are useful to predict future behaviour, one of the aims of science.
– Wundt’s early efforts to study the mind were naive and wouldn’t meet the criteria of scientific enquiry.
Not All Approaches Use Objective Methods
– The humanistic approach is anti-scientific and doesn’t attempt to formulate general laws of behaviour.
– It is concerned only with documenting unique subjective experiences. The psychodynamic approach makes use of the case study method.
– This is based on interviews techniques that are open to bias, and no attempt is made to gather a representative sample of the population.
– For this reason, many claims that a scientific approach to the study of human thought and experience isn’t possible, nor is it desirable, as there are important differences between the subject matter of psychology and the natural sciences.