Approaches
Origins of psychology
Wundt
He set up the first psychology laboratory in Germany in the 1870s
- Before him the only people who talked about the mind was philosophers
He wanted to investigate the mind
- He started making observations in a controlled environment to understand cause
and effect so he was using the scientific method
- He applied the scientific method to psychology for the first time
- He believed that he could apply reductionism to the human mind
In Wundt's own research was called structuralism to define the mind in terms of its
simplest definable components
- After he identified the separate components of the mind he tried to explain how
they fit together as an attempt to uncover the hidden structure of the mind
- The method he used in this research was called introspection
Introspection
He wanted to study the mind by presenting participants with a stimulus, a ticking
metronome, to see how the mind responded
1. Participants are trained to report conscious experiences as objectively as possible
2. They were then asked to focus on a sensory object, often a ticking metronome
3. Participants would systematically report their experience of the object by breaking
their thoughts into separate elements; participants would focus inward and report
sensations, feelings and images
➔ These thoughts and feelings are mental processes, what the mind does
when presented with a stimulus
4. He was able to record patterns of behaviour which developed general theories of
mental processes
When someone describes their mental processes it is called introspection
- Introspection is not direct observation of mental processes, he made inferences
however inferences may be wrong because they are educational guesses
,Wundt was the first person to apply the scientific method to psychology. As Wundt
brought participants into his lab he was able to have high control over situational
variables so he had a standardised environment. Wundt wrote down the methods of his
studies which makes them replicable. His emphasis on scientific methodology was a
significant inspiration for scientific psychologist, including behaviours
Wundt’s use of inferences influenced cognitive psychologist, these researchers ask
participants to complete tasks under experimental conditions and the participants ability
to complete these tasks is used to make inferences about the structure of internal mental
processes like memory, attention and perception
Wundt’s methods lacked reliability. When Wundt replicated his studies he would never get
consistent results. Furthermore, because Wundt collected his results through introspection
he was not directly observing anything, this means that his studies did not have any
empirical evidence. This is a limitation because it makes it less scientific
Wundt’s use of inferences to identify internal mental states has been criticised; inferences
are assumptions so they could be mistaken. Behaviourist psychologists rejected the study
of the internal mental states, seeing the mind as a “black box”, they only studied fully
observable stimulus response mechanisms because these behaviourist findings were more
reliable and behaviourism is seen as a approach more in line with scientific principles
Psychodynamic approach
The psychodynamic approach was developed by Freud
Conscious and Preconscious Mind
When we think about something it is in our conscious mind
Everything that we are not thinking about but we can easily access is in our preconscious
mind
The unconscious mind
Freud believed that there is another part of our mind which we can never access called the
unconscious mind
, - He thought that dreams were the only time that we could fully experience the
unconscious mind so he had patients describe their dreams so he could interpret
them to understand the content of their unconscious mind
- He used the image of the iceberg to describe the mind, above the water is the
conscious mind, just below the surface is the preconscious mind, deep below the
surface represents the unconscious mind
Because most of the mind is unconscious, most behaviour is caused by the unconscious
mind
- This is the key assumption of the psychodynamic approach
The tripartite structure of personality
Everyone's personality is separated into three parts, it is tripartite
- According to Freud the three parts of personality is called the Id, Super-ego and
Ego
Structure of Personality: Id
The Id wants instant gratification all of the time
- The Id is responsible for our urges impulses
- For a newborn infant, the psyche consists solely of the id, a selfish aspect of the
mind focused on satisfying personal needs and desires
- According to Freud the urges and impulses from the Id come from the unconscious
mind. This means the Id is responsible for most of our behaviour
Structure of Personality: Super-ego
The Super-ego wants to follow rules and morals
- It wants to do what it morally right
- Sometimes it can be conscious but sometimes it can be unconscious and
preconscious
- By three a child develops the superego
- This morality principle emerges as the child internalises the values and norms of
their parents and society; it influences behaviour by inducing guilt when individuals
actions conflict with its strict standards, moderating behaviour according to moral
and societal expectations
Origins of psychology
Wundt
He set up the first psychology laboratory in Germany in the 1870s
- Before him the only people who talked about the mind was philosophers
He wanted to investigate the mind
- He started making observations in a controlled environment to understand cause
and effect so he was using the scientific method
- He applied the scientific method to psychology for the first time
- He believed that he could apply reductionism to the human mind
In Wundt's own research was called structuralism to define the mind in terms of its
simplest definable components
- After he identified the separate components of the mind he tried to explain how
they fit together as an attempt to uncover the hidden structure of the mind
- The method he used in this research was called introspection
Introspection
He wanted to study the mind by presenting participants with a stimulus, a ticking
metronome, to see how the mind responded
1. Participants are trained to report conscious experiences as objectively as possible
2. They were then asked to focus on a sensory object, often a ticking metronome
3. Participants would systematically report their experience of the object by breaking
their thoughts into separate elements; participants would focus inward and report
sensations, feelings and images
➔ These thoughts and feelings are mental processes, what the mind does
when presented with a stimulus
4. He was able to record patterns of behaviour which developed general theories of
mental processes
When someone describes their mental processes it is called introspection
- Introspection is not direct observation of mental processes, he made inferences
however inferences may be wrong because they are educational guesses
,Wundt was the first person to apply the scientific method to psychology. As Wundt
brought participants into his lab he was able to have high control over situational
variables so he had a standardised environment. Wundt wrote down the methods of his
studies which makes them replicable. His emphasis on scientific methodology was a
significant inspiration for scientific psychologist, including behaviours
Wundt’s use of inferences influenced cognitive psychologist, these researchers ask
participants to complete tasks under experimental conditions and the participants ability
to complete these tasks is used to make inferences about the structure of internal mental
processes like memory, attention and perception
Wundt’s methods lacked reliability. When Wundt replicated his studies he would never get
consistent results. Furthermore, because Wundt collected his results through introspection
he was not directly observing anything, this means that his studies did not have any
empirical evidence. This is a limitation because it makes it less scientific
Wundt’s use of inferences to identify internal mental states has been criticised; inferences
are assumptions so they could be mistaken. Behaviourist psychologists rejected the study
of the internal mental states, seeing the mind as a “black box”, they only studied fully
observable stimulus response mechanisms because these behaviourist findings were more
reliable and behaviourism is seen as a approach more in line with scientific principles
Psychodynamic approach
The psychodynamic approach was developed by Freud
Conscious and Preconscious Mind
When we think about something it is in our conscious mind
Everything that we are not thinking about but we can easily access is in our preconscious
mind
The unconscious mind
Freud believed that there is another part of our mind which we can never access called the
unconscious mind
, - He thought that dreams were the only time that we could fully experience the
unconscious mind so he had patients describe their dreams so he could interpret
them to understand the content of their unconscious mind
- He used the image of the iceberg to describe the mind, above the water is the
conscious mind, just below the surface is the preconscious mind, deep below the
surface represents the unconscious mind
Because most of the mind is unconscious, most behaviour is caused by the unconscious
mind
- This is the key assumption of the psychodynamic approach
The tripartite structure of personality
Everyone's personality is separated into three parts, it is tripartite
- According to Freud the three parts of personality is called the Id, Super-ego and
Ego
Structure of Personality: Id
The Id wants instant gratification all of the time
- The Id is responsible for our urges impulses
- For a newborn infant, the psyche consists solely of the id, a selfish aspect of the
mind focused on satisfying personal needs and desires
- According to Freud the urges and impulses from the Id come from the unconscious
mind. This means the Id is responsible for most of our behaviour
Structure of Personality: Super-ego
The Super-ego wants to follow rules and morals
- It wants to do what it morally right
- Sometimes it can be conscious but sometimes it can be unconscious and
preconscious
- By three a child develops the superego
- This morality principle emerges as the child internalises the values and norms of
their parents and society; it influences behaviour by inducing guilt when individuals
actions conflict with its strict standards, moderating behaviour according to moral
and societal expectations
