Psychology A level:
Approaches in
psychology (including
biopsychology)
,Origins of psychology
Wundt and introspection:
❏ 1879 - Wilhelm Wundt opened the first ever lab dedicated fully to
psychological research in Germany
❏ Wundt’s research is significant as it marked the beginning of scientific
psychology separating it from its philosophical roots
❏ Aim: try to analyse the nature of human consciousness
❏ Wundt’s method became to be known as introspection
,Origins of psychology
Wundt’s procedure
❏ Main objectives: try and develop theories about mental processes e.g language and
perception
❏ Wundt and his co workers recorded their experiences of various stimuli such as objects and
sound
❏ Their observations were divided were into 3 categories: thoughts, images and sensations
❏ Example:
❏ Stimuli = ticking metronome
❏ They would record their thoughts, images and sensations
Structuralism
❏ Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism
❏ Wundt’s and his co workers’ experience with the stimuli were always presented in the same
order and the same instructions were issued to all Pps
,Origins of psychology
Evaluation: P Wundt’s research would be considered
unscientific today
P Some of Wundt’s methods were systematic
and well controlled E Wundt relied on pps self reporting their mental
processes
E All introspections were recorded in a
controlled environment - a lab = subjective data
= Procedures and instructions were all Some Pps may have lied - demand
standardised so Pps were tested in the same characteristics
way
Pps would have hidden some of their thoughts
= Extraneous variables were not a factor
= difficult to establish meaningful laws of behaviour
C Wundt’s research can be considered a
forerunner for later scientific approaches in C Some of Wundt’s early efforts to study the mind
psychology e.g the behaviourist approach were flawed and would not therefore meet the
criteria of scientific enquiry
,Origins of psychology
Psychology as a science
❏ Psychology has 4 goals
❏ Description - tells us what occurred
❏ Explanation - tells us why behaviour or mental process occurred
❏ Prediction - identifies conditions under which a future behaviour or mental process is likely
to occur
❏ Change - applies psychological knowledge to prevent unwanted behaviour and bring about
desired change
,Origins of psychology
The emergence of psychology as a science
1980s Biological
1900s Behaviourists approach
1950s Cognitive
❏ Criticised introspection approach ❏ Advancement of technology
for producing subjective and the biological approach
data and being unable to ❏ Emergence of computers has taken scientific
produce general laws gave psychologists a psychology to the next level
❏ Proposed that Psychology metaphor for the mind ❏ We can now investigate
should only study ❏ Likened the mind to a physiological processes
behaviour that could be computer and tested as they happen
observed objectively and predictions on memory ❏ Sophisticated scanning
measured and attention using techniques such as fMRI
❏ Focussed on observable experiments and EEG allow us to study
behaviours and used ❏ Ensured that the study of activity in the brain as it
experiments the mind was highly happens
❏ Dominated psychology for scientific ❏ Genetic testing has allowed
50+ years us to better understand
behaviour
, Origins of psychology
Evaluation
P Not all approaches in psychology use the
P Modern psychology can make a claim to be scientific method
scientific
E Humanistic approach = rejects scientific
E Follows the same scientific aims as the approach and instead focuses on subjective
natural sciences - describe, understand, predict experiences
and control behaviour
Psychodynamic approach = relies heavily on
Behaviourist, cognitive and biological case studies which does not use
approaches = all rely on scientific methods such representative samples = difficult to create
as experiments to measure behaviour in a general laws from
controlled and unbiased way
C Therefore, the scientific approach to studying
C Suggests throughout the 20th century human thought and behaviour is not always
psychology has established itself as a possible or desirable in psychology
scientific discipline
Approaches in
psychology (including
biopsychology)
,Origins of psychology
Wundt and introspection:
❏ 1879 - Wilhelm Wundt opened the first ever lab dedicated fully to
psychological research in Germany
❏ Wundt’s research is significant as it marked the beginning of scientific
psychology separating it from its philosophical roots
❏ Aim: try to analyse the nature of human consciousness
❏ Wundt’s method became to be known as introspection
,Origins of psychology
Wundt’s procedure
❏ Main objectives: try and develop theories about mental processes e.g language and
perception
❏ Wundt and his co workers recorded their experiences of various stimuli such as objects and
sound
❏ Their observations were divided were into 3 categories: thoughts, images and sensations
❏ Example:
❏ Stimuli = ticking metronome
❏ They would record their thoughts, images and sensations
Structuralism
❏ Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism
❏ Wundt’s and his co workers’ experience with the stimuli were always presented in the same
order and the same instructions were issued to all Pps
,Origins of psychology
Evaluation: P Wundt’s research would be considered
unscientific today
P Some of Wundt’s methods were systematic
and well controlled E Wundt relied on pps self reporting their mental
processes
E All introspections were recorded in a
controlled environment - a lab = subjective data
= Procedures and instructions were all Some Pps may have lied - demand
standardised so Pps were tested in the same characteristics
way
Pps would have hidden some of their thoughts
= Extraneous variables were not a factor
= difficult to establish meaningful laws of behaviour
C Wundt’s research can be considered a
forerunner for later scientific approaches in C Some of Wundt’s early efforts to study the mind
psychology e.g the behaviourist approach were flawed and would not therefore meet the
criteria of scientific enquiry
,Origins of psychology
Psychology as a science
❏ Psychology has 4 goals
❏ Description - tells us what occurred
❏ Explanation - tells us why behaviour or mental process occurred
❏ Prediction - identifies conditions under which a future behaviour or mental process is likely
to occur
❏ Change - applies psychological knowledge to prevent unwanted behaviour and bring about
desired change
,Origins of psychology
The emergence of psychology as a science
1980s Biological
1900s Behaviourists approach
1950s Cognitive
❏ Criticised introspection approach ❏ Advancement of technology
for producing subjective and the biological approach
data and being unable to ❏ Emergence of computers has taken scientific
produce general laws gave psychologists a psychology to the next level
❏ Proposed that Psychology metaphor for the mind ❏ We can now investigate
should only study ❏ Likened the mind to a physiological processes
behaviour that could be computer and tested as they happen
observed objectively and predictions on memory ❏ Sophisticated scanning
measured and attention using techniques such as fMRI
❏ Focussed on observable experiments and EEG allow us to study
behaviours and used ❏ Ensured that the study of activity in the brain as it
experiments the mind was highly happens
❏ Dominated psychology for scientific ❏ Genetic testing has allowed
50+ years us to better understand
behaviour
, Origins of psychology
Evaluation
P Not all approaches in psychology use the
P Modern psychology can make a claim to be scientific method
scientific
E Humanistic approach = rejects scientific
E Follows the same scientific aims as the approach and instead focuses on subjective
natural sciences - describe, understand, predict experiences
and control behaviour
Psychodynamic approach = relies heavily on
Behaviourist, cognitive and biological case studies which does not use
approaches = all rely on scientific methods such representative samples = difficult to create
as experiments to measure behaviour in a general laws from
controlled and unbiased way
C Therefore, the scientific approach to studying
C Suggests throughout the 20th century human thought and behaviour is not always
psychology has established itself as a possible or desirable in psychology
scientific discipline
