These materials are the intellectual property of Lotus Mohammad and are for personal use only. Any reproduction,
distribution, or sharing without explicit written permission is strictly prohibited.
Detailed 16 marker plans for Approaches (Paper 2)
Describe and evaluate Wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science (16)
AO1
P- Wundt is regarded as the first psychologist to attempt to study psychology as a science.
E- For instance, he opened the first ever laboratory dedicated to psychological inquiry in 1879,
which was in Germany.
om
E- This laboratory’s main objective, as set by Wundt, was to document and describe the nature
of human consciousness. This was done in this controlled laboratory setting adhering to a
standard scientific method.
L- Thus, Wundt is seen to be a pioneer of establishing psychology as a scientific discipline.
l.c
AO1
ai
P- Wundt’s method of studying behaviour and thought was based on isolating the structure of
consciousness; this was called structuralism.
E- For example, structuralism is applied in introspection, a method of studying thinking and
gm
feelings pioneered by Wundt
E- Introspection involves training participants to objectively report their responses, thoughts, and
feelings in response to specific stimuli. Here, they would record their own conscious thoughts,
with the aim of breaking these down into their constituent parts.
@
L- Thus, this use of standardised procedure caused Wundt to believe he was studying
psychology scientifically. This was significant in that it marked the separation of modern
scientific psychology from its broader philosophical roots.
72
AO3
ct
P- One weakness of this is that it was rejected by behaviourists and deemed unscientific.
E- For instance, Watson, a behavioural psychologist, criticised introspection due to its subjective
nature making it very difficult to establish general principles.
so
E- This means that introspection would not be generalisable or valid in explaining internal
processes as the results vary greatly and the method was in fact not scientific.
tu
L- Thus, Wundt ultimately did not succeed in studying psychologically empirically nor
scientifically due to the methodological flaws of introspection
lo
AO3
P- Another weakness of Wundt’s introspection is that it has weak validity
E- For instance, it was initially introduced as a method for investigating human behaviours and
experience however, complex topics such as learning, development, mental disorders, and
personality could not be investigated with this method.
E- This is because it is subjective - only an individual can report his/her own mental processes,
and these reports are often not representative of these mental processes and phenomena in
,
These materials are the intellectual property of Lotus Mohammad and are for personal use only. Any reproduction,
distribution, or sharing without explicit written permission is strictly prohibited.
wider populations, making studies which use introspection highly ungeneralisable as the results
of its studies are often inaccurate
L- Therefore, introspection further loses usefulness as the validity and generalisability of studies
using introspection are often very low, making it less useful as a method of studying psychology
empirically.
AO3
P- Further, a weakness of introspection is that it could not be used to study a number of different
om
aspects of human behaviour.
E- For instance, children (limited vocabulary and inability to express thoughts and/or feelings)
and animals (inability to express thoughts and/or feelings), as well as higher mental processes,
such as emotion cannot be effectively studied using introspection
l.c
E- This weakens the study as it limits its real life applications in psychological inquiry and the
development of psychological knowledge, for its results are ultimately not easily replicable.
ai
L- Therefore, it is conceivable that introspection is limited in terms of who can be studied and
what aspects of psychology can be investigated, decreasing the overall usefulness of Wundt’s
structuralism.
gm
AO3
P- One strength of introspection is that it somewhat has real life application.
E- For instance, Griffiths used Introspection to study the irrational thoughts and perception of
@
regular gamblers, asking them to think aloud whilst gambling and say everything that came into
their mind.
E- Here, Introspection provided useful insights into the behaviours of said gamblers, and so it is
72
proven that psychologists often use introspection alongside other more scientific methods to
investigate people's thought processes, so the methodology of introspection has its advantages.
ct
L- Therefore, Wundt’s contributions to the emergence of psychology as a science are useful in
psychological research today.
so
Describe and evaluate the behaviourist approach to psychology. Refer to both Pavlov’s
and Skinner’s research in your answer. (16 marks)
tu
AO1
P- The behaviourist approach refers to the idea that learning causes behaviour.
E- For instance, one form of learning is classical conditioning - learning by association - which
lo
was introduced by psychologist Pavlov in 1897, where he conditioned dogs to salivate at the
sound of a bell.
E- Classical conditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus, in this case, a bell, becomes
associated with an unconditioned stimulus, food, which produces an unconditioned response of
salivation. Through repeated conditioning, the dogs begin associating a bell with food, cousin
the bell to biome a conditioned stimulus which produces salivation, a conditioned response.
L- Therefore, behaviourism proposes that learning through association can be the cause and
explanation of our behaviour.
distribution, or sharing without explicit written permission is strictly prohibited.
Detailed 16 marker plans for Approaches (Paper 2)
Describe and evaluate Wundt’s role in the emergence of psychology as a science (16)
AO1
P- Wundt is regarded as the first psychologist to attempt to study psychology as a science.
E- For instance, he opened the first ever laboratory dedicated to psychological inquiry in 1879,
which was in Germany.
om
E- This laboratory’s main objective, as set by Wundt, was to document and describe the nature
of human consciousness. This was done in this controlled laboratory setting adhering to a
standard scientific method.
L- Thus, Wundt is seen to be a pioneer of establishing psychology as a scientific discipline.
l.c
AO1
ai
P- Wundt’s method of studying behaviour and thought was based on isolating the structure of
consciousness; this was called structuralism.
E- For example, structuralism is applied in introspection, a method of studying thinking and
gm
feelings pioneered by Wundt
E- Introspection involves training participants to objectively report their responses, thoughts, and
feelings in response to specific stimuli. Here, they would record their own conscious thoughts,
with the aim of breaking these down into their constituent parts.
@
L- Thus, this use of standardised procedure caused Wundt to believe he was studying
psychology scientifically. This was significant in that it marked the separation of modern
scientific psychology from its broader philosophical roots.
72
AO3
ct
P- One weakness of this is that it was rejected by behaviourists and deemed unscientific.
E- For instance, Watson, a behavioural psychologist, criticised introspection due to its subjective
nature making it very difficult to establish general principles.
so
E- This means that introspection would not be generalisable or valid in explaining internal
processes as the results vary greatly and the method was in fact not scientific.
tu
L- Thus, Wundt ultimately did not succeed in studying psychologically empirically nor
scientifically due to the methodological flaws of introspection
lo
AO3
P- Another weakness of Wundt’s introspection is that it has weak validity
E- For instance, it was initially introduced as a method for investigating human behaviours and
experience however, complex topics such as learning, development, mental disorders, and
personality could not be investigated with this method.
E- This is because it is subjective - only an individual can report his/her own mental processes,
and these reports are often not representative of these mental processes and phenomena in
,
These materials are the intellectual property of Lotus Mohammad and are for personal use only. Any reproduction,
distribution, or sharing without explicit written permission is strictly prohibited.
wider populations, making studies which use introspection highly ungeneralisable as the results
of its studies are often inaccurate
L- Therefore, introspection further loses usefulness as the validity and generalisability of studies
using introspection are often very low, making it less useful as a method of studying psychology
empirically.
AO3
P- Further, a weakness of introspection is that it could not be used to study a number of different
om
aspects of human behaviour.
E- For instance, children (limited vocabulary and inability to express thoughts and/or feelings)
and animals (inability to express thoughts and/or feelings), as well as higher mental processes,
such as emotion cannot be effectively studied using introspection
l.c
E- This weakens the study as it limits its real life applications in psychological inquiry and the
development of psychological knowledge, for its results are ultimately not easily replicable.
ai
L- Therefore, it is conceivable that introspection is limited in terms of who can be studied and
what aspects of psychology can be investigated, decreasing the overall usefulness of Wundt’s
structuralism.
gm
AO3
P- One strength of introspection is that it somewhat has real life application.
E- For instance, Griffiths used Introspection to study the irrational thoughts and perception of
@
regular gamblers, asking them to think aloud whilst gambling and say everything that came into
their mind.
E- Here, Introspection provided useful insights into the behaviours of said gamblers, and so it is
72
proven that psychologists often use introspection alongside other more scientific methods to
investigate people's thought processes, so the methodology of introspection has its advantages.
ct
L- Therefore, Wundt’s contributions to the emergence of psychology as a science are useful in
psychological research today.
so
Describe and evaluate the behaviourist approach to psychology. Refer to both Pavlov’s
and Skinner’s research in your answer. (16 marks)
tu
AO1
P- The behaviourist approach refers to the idea that learning causes behaviour.
E- For instance, one form of learning is classical conditioning - learning by association - which
lo
was introduced by psychologist Pavlov in 1897, where he conditioned dogs to salivate at the
sound of a bell.
E- Classical conditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus, in this case, a bell, becomes
associated with an unconditioned stimulus, food, which produces an unconditioned response of
salivation. Through repeated conditioning, the dogs begin associating a bell with food, cousin
the bell to biome a conditioned stimulus which produces salivation, a conditioned response.
L- Therefore, behaviourism proposes that learning through association can be the cause and
explanation of our behaviour.
