Approaches in Psychology
Origins of Psychology...................................................................................................................................2
Timeline...................................................................................................................................................2
Wundt and Introspection: Evaluation......................................................................................................3
The emergence of Psychology as a science: Evaluation...........................................................................4
Approaches..................................................................................................................................................4
Learning approaches................................................................................................................................4
The Behaviourist Approach..................................................................................................................4
Social Learning Theory (SLT)................................................................................................................6
The Cognitive Approach...........................................................................................................................8
The Biological Approach........................................................................................................................10
The Psychodynamic Approach...............................................................................................................12
The Humanistic Approach......................................................................................................................14
Comparison of approaches........................................................................................................................17
,Origins of Psychology
Psychology = the scientific study of the mind, behaviour and experience.
Science = A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation. The
aim is to discover general laws.
Timeline
17th century – 19th century
Psychology is a branch of the broader discipline of philosophy; can be known as "experimental
philosophy”
1879
Wundt opens the first experimental psychology lab in Germany, causing psychology to emerge
as a distinct discipline.
Wundt’s aim was to try to analyse the nature of human consciousness, using “introspection”:
the first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness
into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations.
Used standardised procedures to try and develop theories about mental processes, such as
language and perception.
o He and his co-workers recorded their experiences of various stimuli they were
presented with (e.g., a ticking metronome), such as different objects or sounds. They
would divide their observations into 3 categories: thoughts, images and sensations.
o The stimuli would always be presented in the same order, with the same instructions
issued to all participants.
Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism.
1900s
Freud emphasises the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour, develops his person-
centred therapy “psychoanalysis”, and shows that physical problems can be explained in terms
of conflicts within the mind, hence establishing the psychodynamic approach.
1913
Watson writes ‘Psychology as the Behaviourist views it’ and later establishes the behaviourist
approach alongside Skinner.
Behaviourists criticised the subjective data produced by introspection as it made it difficult to
establish general laws; therefore, they focused on behaviours that they could see and used
carefully controlled experiments to ensure psychology was truly scientific.
The behaviourist dominated scientific psychology for the next 50 years.
, 1950s
Humanistic approach
o Rogers and Maslow develop the humanistic approach, rejecting the behaviourist and
psychodynamic view that behaviour is determined by outside factors and emphasising
the importance of self-determination and free will.
Cognitive approach
o The digital revolution of the 1950s gave psychologists a metaphor for the operations of
the mind. Cognitive psychologists likened the mind to a computer (e.g., multi-store
model) and tested their predictions about memory and attention using experiments.
o Reintroduces the study of mental processes to psychology but in a much more scientific
way than Wundt’s earlier investigations.
1960s
Bandura proposes the social learning theory (SLT), which draws attention to the role of cognitive
factors in learning, providing a bridge between the newly established cognitive approach and
traditional behaviourism.
1980s
Due to advances in technology that have increased understanding of the brain and biological
processes (e.g., scanning techniques, such as fMRI and EEG, and genetic testing), the biological
approach begins to establish itself as the dominant scientific perspective in psychology.
End of 20th century
Cognitive neuroscience emerges as a distinct discipline, bringing together the cognitive and
biological approaches.
Cognitive neuroscience investigates how biological structures influence mental states.
Wundt and Introspection: Evaluation
Some methods were systematic and well-controlled, meaning Wundt’s research can be
considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology.
o All introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of the lab, ensuring that
possible extraneous variables were not a factor.
o Procedures and instructions were carefully standardised so that all participants received
the same info and were tested in the same way.
- Other aspects of Wundt’s research would be considered unscientific today.
o Wundt relied on participants self-reporting their mental processes, which produces
subjective data and may be unreliable as participants may have hidden some of their
thoughts.
o It is difficult, therefore, to establish meaningful laws of behaviour from such data, one of
the aims of science.
Origins of Psychology...................................................................................................................................2
Timeline...................................................................................................................................................2
Wundt and Introspection: Evaluation......................................................................................................3
The emergence of Psychology as a science: Evaluation...........................................................................4
Approaches..................................................................................................................................................4
Learning approaches................................................................................................................................4
The Behaviourist Approach..................................................................................................................4
Social Learning Theory (SLT)................................................................................................................6
The Cognitive Approach...........................................................................................................................8
The Biological Approach........................................................................................................................10
The Psychodynamic Approach...............................................................................................................12
The Humanistic Approach......................................................................................................................14
Comparison of approaches........................................................................................................................17
,Origins of Psychology
Psychology = the scientific study of the mind, behaviour and experience.
Science = A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation. The
aim is to discover general laws.
Timeline
17th century – 19th century
Psychology is a branch of the broader discipline of philosophy; can be known as "experimental
philosophy”
1879
Wundt opens the first experimental psychology lab in Germany, causing psychology to emerge
as a distinct discipline.
Wundt’s aim was to try to analyse the nature of human consciousness, using “introspection”:
the first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness
into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations.
Used standardised procedures to try and develop theories about mental processes, such as
language and perception.
o He and his co-workers recorded their experiences of various stimuli they were
presented with (e.g., a ticking metronome), such as different objects or sounds. They
would divide their observations into 3 categories: thoughts, images and sensations.
o The stimuli would always be presented in the same order, with the same instructions
issued to all participants.
Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism.
1900s
Freud emphasises the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour, develops his person-
centred therapy “psychoanalysis”, and shows that physical problems can be explained in terms
of conflicts within the mind, hence establishing the psychodynamic approach.
1913
Watson writes ‘Psychology as the Behaviourist views it’ and later establishes the behaviourist
approach alongside Skinner.
Behaviourists criticised the subjective data produced by introspection as it made it difficult to
establish general laws; therefore, they focused on behaviours that they could see and used
carefully controlled experiments to ensure psychology was truly scientific.
The behaviourist dominated scientific psychology for the next 50 years.
, 1950s
Humanistic approach
o Rogers and Maslow develop the humanistic approach, rejecting the behaviourist and
psychodynamic view that behaviour is determined by outside factors and emphasising
the importance of self-determination and free will.
Cognitive approach
o The digital revolution of the 1950s gave psychologists a metaphor for the operations of
the mind. Cognitive psychologists likened the mind to a computer (e.g., multi-store
model) and tested their predictions about memory and attention using experiments.
o Reintroduces the study of mental processes to psychology but in a much more scientific
way than Wundt’s earlier investigations.
1960s
Bandura proposes the social learning theory (SLT), which draws attention to the role of cognitive
factors in learning, providing a bridge between the newly established cognitive approach and
traditional behaviourism.
1980s
Due to advances in technology that have increased understanding of the brain and biological
processes (e.g., scanning techniques, such as fMRI and EEG, and genetic testing), the biological
approach begins to establish itself as the dominant scientific perspective in psychology.
End of 20th century
Cognitive neuroscience emerges as a distinct discipline, bringing together the cognitive and
biological approaches.
Cognitive neuroscience investigates how biological structures influence mental states.
Wundt and Introspection: Evaluation
Some methods were systematic and well-controlled, meaning Wundt’s research can be
considered a forerunner to later scientific approaches in psychology.
o All introspections were recorded in the controlled environment of the lab, ensuring that
possible extraneous variables were not a factor.
o Procedures and instructions were carefully standardised so that all participants received
the same info and were tested in the same way.
- Other aspects of Wundt’s research would be considered unscientific today.
o Wundt relied on participants self-reporting their mental processes, which produces
subjective data and may be unreliable as participants may have hidden some of their
thoughts.
o It is difficult, therefore, to establish meaningful laws of behaviour from such data, one of
the aims of science.
