THE ORIGINS OF PSYCHOLOGY
▪ Wundt: Aimed to study the structure of the mind by breaking down behaviors into
their basic elements
▪ Promoted introspection as a way of studying. (Introspection: systematic analysis
of our own conscience experience of a stimulus)
✓ Recorded under strict conditions with the same stimulus so could be repeated
▪ Empiricism means all knowledge is derived from experience. The scienti c
approach was based on 2 assumptions: all behavior is caused and if all
behaviour is caused it should be possible to predict how humans react in certain
situations.
The techniques used to explore these is known as the scienti c method.
▪ An objective feature in the scienti c method means collecting and analyzing
data without bias or personal opinions, relying only on facts and evidence.
▪ A systematic feature in the scienti c method means conducting research in an
organized, step-by-step way to ensure consistency and reliability.
▪ The reliable feature in the scienti c method means that the results can be
repeated and produce the same ndings when the study is conducted again.
Rene Descartes
• Mostly commonly known for his philosophical statement “I think therefore I am”
• Known as Cartesian dualism (or mind-body dualism), his theory on the
separation between the mind and the body went on to in uence subsequent
Western philosophies.
John Locke
• Believed that people begin life as tabula rasa, or a blank state
fifififi fl fi fi
, • He thought peoples experiences then form the basis for more complex ration
thought
• He claimed nurture is responsible for all behaviour
Charles Darwin
• Behaviour produces bodily change
• Direct criticism to Locke
• Proposed the mechanism of natural selection: minute changes in the body to its
use, if advantageous to producing offspring that inherit those changes, over time
x the changes in a population
• Behaviour is due to evolutionary changes over time.
How did psychology emerge as a science?
Wundt
• Founder of experimental psychology in the 1870’s
• Conducted his rst experiment in laboratory in Germany
• Published a book in 1873, titled “The principles of physiological Psychology”
• Studied the structure of the human mind by breaking down human behaviors into
their basic elements, hence known as structuralism – thoughts, images,
sensations were the 3 structures
• He presented participants with stimuli then asked them to record their thoughts,
feelings and sensations.
• He and his coworkers recorded their experiments
• Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism
fi fi
▪ Wundt: Aimed to study the structure of the mind by breaking down behaviors into
their basic elements
▪ Promoted introspection as a way of studying. (Introspection: systematic analysis
of our own conscience experience of a stimulus)
✓ Recorded under strict conditions with the same stimulus so could be repeated
▪ Empiricism means all knowledge is derived from experience. The scienti c
approach was based on 2 assumptions: all behavior is caused and if all
behaviour is caused it should be possible to predict how humans react in certain
situations.
The techniques used to explore these is known as the scienti c method.
▪ An objective feature in the scienti c method means collecting and analyzing
data without bias or personal opinions, relying only on facts and evidence.
▪ A systematic feature in the scienti c method means conducting research in an
organized, step-by-step way to ensure consistency and reliability.
▪ The reliable feature in the scienti c method means that the results can be
repeated and produce the same ndings when the study is conducted again.
Rene Descartes
• Mostly commonly known for his philosophical statement “I think therefore I am”
• Known as Cartesian dualism (or mind-body dualism), his theory on the
separation between the mind and the body went on to in uence subsequent
Western philosophies.
John Locke
• Believed that people begin life as tabula rasa, or a blank state
fifififi fl fi fi
, • He thought peoples experiences then form the basis for more complex ration
thought
• He claimed nurture is responsible for all behaviour
Charles Darwin
• Behaviour produces bodily change
• Direct criticism to Locke
• Proposed the mechanism of natural selection: minute changes in the body to its
use, if advantageous to producing offspring that inherit those changes, over time
x the changes in a population
• Behaviour is due to evolutionary changes over time.
How did psychology emerge as a science?
Wundt
• Founder of experimental psychology in the 1870’s
• Conducted his rst experiment in laboratory in Germany
• Published a book in 1873, titled “The principles of physiological Psychology”
• Studied the structure of the human mind by breaking down human behaviors into
their basic elements, hence known as structuralism – thoughts, images,
sensations were the 3 structures
• He presented participants with stimuli then asked them to record their thoughts,
feelings and sensations.
• He and his coworkers recorded their experiments
• Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism
fi fi
