Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Approaches- The Origins of Psychology - Coggle Diagram
Approaches- The Origins of Psychology
Key Terms
Psychology: The scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those functions affecting behaviour in a given context.
Science: A means of acquiring knowledge through systematic and objective investigation. Aim is to discover general laws.
Introspection: first systematic experimental attempt to study the mind by breaking up conscious awareness into basic structures of thoughts, images and sensations.
Wundt and introspection
Wundt's lab
First lab dedicated to psychological enquiry.
In Germany, 1879.
Wundt's objective was to document and describe the nature of human consciousness.
Isolating the structure of consciousness in this way is called structuralism.
Invented introspection.
Controlled methods
Some of Wundt's methods and techniques would be recognised as 'scientific' today.
e.g. all introspections recorded under strictly controlled conditions using the same stimulus (ticking metronone), same standardised instructions were issued to all participants, and this allowed procedures to be replicated.
So, Wundt's work was significant as marked the separation of modern scientific psychology from its broader philosophical roots
Psychology's early philosophical roots
Descartes (1596-1650)
French philosopher.
Suggested that mind and body are independent from each other- 'Cartesian dualism'.
'I think therefore I am'
View has been challenged, however it suggested that the mind could be an object of study in its own right.
Locke (1632-1704
Proposed 'empiricism'- idea that all experience can be obtained through the sense, and that humans inherit neither knowledge nor instincts.
This view would form basis of behaviourist approach- that the world can be understood by investigating external events that are observed and measured.
Darwin (1809-1882)
Central to Darwin's evolutionary theory is the notion that all behaviour has changed over generations- so individuals with stronger, more adaptive genes survive and reproduce, and individuals with weaker genes do not survive and reproduce- survival of the fittest.
The assumption that many human behaviours, e.g. social behaviour, have evolved due to their adaptive value is rooted in many areas of psychology (e.g. biological approach).
The emergence of psychology as a science
Watson and the early behaviourists
By beginning of 20th century, the scientific status and value of introspection was being questioned by many, including John Watson (1913).
Watson's main problem with introspection was that it produced data that was subjective, so it became very difficult to establish general principles.
Watson critical of introspection's focus on 'private' mental processes and proposed that a truly scientific psychology should restrict itself inly to study phenomena that could be observed and measured.
So, behaviourist approach was born and emergence of psychology as a science.
Scientific approach
Watson (1913) and Skinner (1953), brought the language, rigour and methods of natural sciences into psychology.
Behaviourist focuses on scientific processes involved in learning, alongside the use of carefully controlled lab experiments, would dominate the discipline for the next five decades.
Many modern psychologists continue to rely on experimental method as part of research and practices- however, scope of this research broadened considerably since the behaviourists first studied learning in labs.
After the cognitive revolution of 1960's, the study of mental processes is seen as a legitimate and highly scientific area within psychology.
Biological approach also uses experimental data- researchers have taken advantage of recent advances in technology to investigate physiological processes as they happen, including live activity in brain using fMRI and EEG techniques.
Timeline
17th-19th century: psychology is a branch of broader discipline of philosophy. If psychology has a definition during this time it is best understood as experimental philosophy.
1879: Wilhelm Wundt opened first psychology lab in German and psychology emerges as a distinct discipline in its own right.
1900s: Freud publishes 'The Interpretation of Dreams', and psychodynamic approach is established. Freud emphasised influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour, alongside development of his person-centred therapy: psychoanalysis. Argued physical problems could be explained in terms of conflicts within the mind.
1913: Watson writes 'Psychology as the Behaviourist views it' and BF Skinner establishes the behaviourist approach. The psychodynamic and behaviourist approaches dominate psychology.
1950s: Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow develop humanistic approach- the 'third force' in psychology, rejecting the views favoured by behaviourism and the psychodynamic approach that human behaviour was not determined by the individual. Emphasise the importance of self-determination and free will.
1960s:
Cognitive revolution came with introduction of the digital computer. Gave psychologists a metaphor for operations of human mid. Reintroduces the study of mental processes to psychology but in a more scientific way than Wundt.
Additionally, Bandura proposed the social learning theory which draws attention to role of cognitive factors in learning, providing bridge between newly established cognitive approach and traditional behaviourism.
1980s onwards: biological approach becomes dominant scientific perspective in psychology. Due to advances in technology that have led to increased understanding of the brain and the biological processes.
Eve of 21st century: cognitive neuroscience emerges as a distinct discipline bringing together cognitive and biological approaches. Cognitive neuroscience is built on earlier computer models and investigates how biological structures influence mental states.