Origins of Psychology
Wundt and introspection Emergence of psychology as a science
Wundt opened the first ever psychology lab in 1979 in Lezpig, Germany. 1900s behaviourists
This marked the beginning of scientific psychology separating it from philosophy. Watson and Skinner
His aim was to analyse the nature of the human consciousness then representing Questions the value of introspection as it produces subjective data rather than objective.
the first systematic attempt to study the mind in control conditions.
Believe a truly scientific psychology would only study phenomena that could be observed
Introspection objectively and measured.
The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking conscious Behaviourists focus on behaviours they could see for this reason.
awareness into basic structures of thoughts images and sensations.
1950s Cognitive Approach
• This is still used today to gain access to cognitive process is.
Cognitive psychologists likened the mind to a computer and tested their predictions about
• Griffiths 1994 used the process is of introspection to study the cognitive memory and attention using experiments.
processes of fruit machine gamblers. He asked them to think aloud whilst
playing a fruit machine into a microphone on their lapel. They found that The cognitive approach ensured that the study of the mind was a legitimate and highly
gamblers used more irrational verbalisations. scientific aspect of the discipline.
1980s Biological Approach
Evaluation
Researchers within this area have taken advantage of advances in technology to investigate
+ Some of his methods were systematic and well controlled. physiological processes as they happen. An example of this is the use o fMRI and EEG
scans to study the live activity in the brain. New methods of genetic testing have also
All introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of the lab, ensuring allowed us to better understand the relationship between genes and behaviour.
all possible extraneous variables were not a factor. Procedures and instructions
were carefully standardised, so all participants received the same information and Evaluation
were tested in the same way. This suggests that Wundt’s research can be
considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology, such as the + Research in modern psychology can claim to be scientific.
behaviourist approach.
Psychology has the same aims as the natural sciences to describe, understand, predict, and
- Other aspects of Wundt’s research would be considered unscientific today control behaviour. The learning approaches, cognitive and biological approaches, all rely on
the use of scientific methods, for example, lab studies to investigate theories in a controlled
Wundt relied on participants self-reporting their mental processes. This data is an unbiased way. This suggests that throughout the 20th century and beyond, psychology
subjective as it is influenced by personal perspective and participants may have has established itself as a scientific discipline.
hidden some of their thoughts due to demand characteristics or social desirability.
This means it is difficult to establish meaningful laws of behaviour from this data - Not all approaches use objective methods.
however, general laws are useful to predict future behaviour. This suggests that The humanistic approach rejects the scientific approach, preferring to focus on individual
some of his early efforts to study the mind were flawed and would not meet the experiences and subjective experience. The psychodynamic approach makes use of the
criteria of scientific study today. case study method which does not use representative samples. Finally, the subject of study,
human beings, are active participants in research responding to demand characteristics and
social desirability biases. Therefore, a scientific approach to the study of human thought and
experience may not always be desirable or possible.
, The Learning approach - Behaviourism
Key assumptions Evaluation (A03)
• Behaviourist approach will only study behaviour that can be OBSERVED + Well controlled research
AND MEASURED.
• An early behaviourist, John B Watson rejected INTROSPECTION as he Behaviourists focused on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled
said it was difficult to measure and it was too vague. lab settings. By breaking down behaviour into stimulus response units, all of the possible
• Behaviourists want to use SCIENTIFIC methods, which are objective and extraneous variables were removed allowing a cause-and-effect relationship to be established.
controlled through LAB EXPERIMENTS. For example, Skinner was able to clearly demonstrate how reinforcement influenced animals’
behaviour. This suggests the behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility.
• Behaviourists state that all species learn the same, through CLASSICAL
AND OPERANT CONDITIONING. Counterpoint
Classical Conditioning The problem with this is that behaviourists may have oversimplified the learning process. By
reducing behaviour to such simple components, behaviourists may have ignored an important
Pavlov 1927 researched classical conditioning which is learning through association.
influence on learning – that of human thought. Other approaches such as the social learning
He showed how dogs were conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell. When theory and the cognitive approach have drawn attention to the mental processes involved in
the sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as they were given food, learning. This suggests that learning is more complex than observable behaviour alone and
they learnt to associate the sound with getting fed. that private mental processes are also essential.
Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus (the bell) can elicit a newly learnt + Real world application
response (conditioned response of salivation) through association.
Operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems that have been used successfully
Operant Conditioning in institutions such as prisons and psychiatric wards. These work by rewarding appropriate
behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges. For an example of how classical
Skinner 1953 showed learning is an active process where people operate on their conditioning has been achieved this can be applied to the treatment of phobias. This
environment. increases the value of the behaviourist approach because it has widespread application.
In operant conditioning, behaviour is shaped by consequences. - Environmental determinism
Positive reinforcement – receiving a reward when a certain behaviour performed, A limitation of the behaviourist approach is that it sees all behaviour as conditioned by past
e.g., praise from a teacher when you have completed a piece of work on time. conditioning experiences. Skinner suggested that everything we do is the sum total of our
reinforcement history. When something happens, we may think ‘I made the decision to do
Negative reinforcement – occurs when someone avoids something unpleasant. The
that’ but according to Skinner, our past conditioning history determined the outcome. This
outcome is a positive experience. E.g., a pupil hands in their homework on time,
ignores any possible influence that free will may have on our behaviour as Skinner believes
so they don’t get told off. In the skinner box, the rat pressed the lever to avoid
that free will is an illusion. This is an extreme position and ignores the influence of conscious
the electric shock. The avoidance of the unpleasant thing is the negative
decision-making process is on behaviour as suggested by the cognitive approach.
reinforcement.
Ethical issues
Punishment – an unpleasant consequence of behaviour. E.g., being shouted at.
Although procedures such as Skinner allowed behaviourists to maintain a high degree of
Positive and negative reinforcement can increase the likelihood the behaviour will control over their experimental subjects many have questioned the ethics of conducting such
be repeated. Punishment decreases he likelihood behaviour will be repeated. investigations. Animals were housed in harsh cramped conditions and deliberately kept below
their natural weight, so they were always hungry. This is very unethical.
Wundt and introspection Emergence of psychology as a science
Wundt opened the first ever psychology lab in 1979 in Lezpig, Germany. 1900s behaviourists
This marked the beginning of scientific psychology separating it from philosophy. Watson and Skinner
His aim was to analyse the nature of the human consciousness then representing Questions the value of introspection as it produces subjective data rather than objective.
the first systematic attempt to study the mind in control conditions.
Believe a truly scientific psychology would only study phenomena that could be observed
Introspection objectively and measured.
The first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking conscious Behaviourists focus on behaviours they could see for this reason.
awareness into basic structures of thoughts images and sensations.
1950s Cognitive Approach
• This is still used today to gain access to cognitive process is.
Cognitive psychologists likened the mind to a computer and tested their predictions about
• Griffiths 1994 used the process is of introspection to study the cognitive memory and attention using experiments.
processes of fruit machine gamblers. He asked them to think aloud whilst
playing a fruit machine into a microphone on their lapel. They found that The cognitive approach ensured that the study of the mind was a legitimate and highly
gamblers used more irrational verbalisations. scientific aspect of the discipline.
1980s Biological Approach
Evaluation
Researchers within this area have taken advantage of advances in technology to investigate
+ Some of his methods were systematic and well controlled. physiological processes as they happen. An example of this is the use o fMRI and EEG
scans to study the live activity in the brain. New methods of genetic testing have also
All introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of the lab, ensuring allowed us to better understand the relationship between genes and behaviour.
all possible extraneous variables were not a factor. Procedures and instructions
were carefully standardised, so all participants received the same information and Evaluation
were tested in the same way. This suggests that Wundt’s research can be
considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology, such as the + Research in modern psychology can claim to be scientific.
behaviourist approach.
Psychology has the same aims as the natural sciences to describe, understand, predict, and
- Other aspects of Wundt’s research would be considered unscientific today control behaviour. The learning approaches, cognitive and biological approaches, all rely on
the use of scientific methods, for example, lab studies to investigate theories in a controlled
Wundt relied on participants self-reporting their mental processes. This data is an unbiased way. This suggests that throughout the 20th century and beyond, psychology
subjective as it is influenced by personal perspective and participants may have has established itself as a scientific discipline.
hidden some of their thoughts due to demand characteristics or social desirability.
This means it is difficult to establish meaningful laws of behaviour from this data - Not all approaches use objective methods.
however, general laws are useful to predict future behaviour. This suggests that The humanistic approach rejects the scientific approach, preferring to focus on individual
some of his early efforts to study the mind were flawed and would not meet the experiences and subjective experience. The psychodynamic approach makes use of the
criteria of scientific study today. case study method which does not use representative samples. Finally, the subject of study,
human beings, are active participants in research responding to demand characteristics and
social desirability biases. Therefore, a scientific approach to the study of human thought and
experience may not always be desirable or possible.
, The Learning approach - Behaviourism
Key assumptions Evaluation (A03)
• Behaviourist approach will only study behaviour that can be OBSERVED + Well controlled research
AND MEASURED.
• An early behaviourist, John B Watson rejected INTROSPECTION as he Behaviourists focused on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled
said it was difficult to measure and it was too vague. lab settings. By breaking down behaviour into stimulus response units, all of the possible
• Behaviourists want to use SCIENTIFIC methods, which are objective and extraneous variables were removed allowing a cause-and-effect relationship to be established.
controlled through LAB EXPERIMENTS. For example, Skinner was able to clearly demonstrate how reinforcement influenced animals’
behaviour. This suggests the behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility.
• Behaviourists state that all species learn the same, through CLASSICAL
AND OPERANT CONDITIONING. Counterpoint
Classical Conditioning The problem with this is that behaviourists may have oversimplified the learning process. By
reducing behaviour to such simple components, behaviourists may have ignored an important
Pavlov 1927 researched classical conditioning which is learning through association.
influence on learning – that of human thought. Other approaches such as the social learning
He showed how dogs were conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell. When theory and the cognitive approach have drawn attention to the mental processes involved in
the sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as they were given food, learning. This suggests that learning is more complex than observable behaviour alone and
they learnt to associate the sound with getting fed. that private mental processes are also essential.
Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus (the bell) can elicit a newly learnt + Real world application
response (conditioned response of salivation) through association.
Operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems that have been used successfully
Operant Conditioning in institutions such as prisons and psychiatric wards. These work by rewarding appropriate
behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges. For an example of how classical
Skinner 1953 showed learning is an active process where people operate on their conditioning has been achieved this can be applied to the treatment of phobias. This
environment. increases the value of the behaviourist approach because it has widespread application.
In operant conditioning, behaviour is shaped by consequences. - Environmental determinism
Positive reinforcement – receiving a reward when a certain behaviour performed, A limitation of the behaviourist approach is that it sees all behaviour as conditioned by past
e.g., praise from a teacher when you have completed a piece of work on time. conditioning experiences. Skinner suggested that everything we do is the sum total of our
reinforcement history. When something happens, we may think ‘I made the decision to do
Negative reinforcement – occurs when someone avoids something unpleasant. The
that’ but according to Skinner, our past conditioning history determined the outcome. This
outcome is a positive experience. E.g., a pupil hands in their homework on time,
ignores any possible influence that free will may have on our behaviour as Skinner believes
so they don’t get told off. In the skinner box, the rat pressed the lever to avoid
that free will is an illusion. This is an extreme position and ignores the influence of conscious
the electric shock. The avoidance of the unpleasant thing is the negative
decision-making process is on behaviour as suggested by the cognitive approach.
reinforcement.
Ethical issues
Punishment – an unpleasant consequence of behaviour. E.g., being shouted at.
Although procedures such as Skinner allowed behaviourists to maintain a high degree of
Positive and negative reinforcement can increase the likelihood the behaviour will control over their experimental subjects many have questioned the ethics of conducting such
be repeated. Punishment decreases he likelihood behaviour will be repeated. investigations. Animals were housed in harsh cramped conditions and deliberately kept below
their natural weight, so they were always hungry. This is very unethical.
