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The Development of Psychology
The Development of Psychology
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The Development of PsychologyWhat is Psychology?
The scientific study of the mind and its functions: What people do, Why
they do it, Scientific Theories and Conclusions.
Wilhelm Wundt
Wilhelm Wundt, often referred to as the ‘Father of Psychology’, is where
Psychology all started. In 1879, Wundt set up the first psych lab, where he
went on to separate Psychology from its two parent subjects, biology and
philosophy.
Wundt also founded the Introspection Method. This is where stimulus
exposure, internal examination and analysis took place. In other words, it
was where a test subject was exposed to any kind of interesting stimuli.
They then were asked to examine their own thoughts, emotions and
sensations and report them back to the experimenter. The psychologists
then analyse various results to think of explanations and hypotheses. The
introspection method is very subjective due to the analysis stage.
Is Psychology a Science?
There is A LOT of controversy around whether or not psychology is a
science or not. There are five features for something to be considered a
science: Control, Hypothesis Testing, Objectivity, Predictability and
Replicability (can be remembered as CHOPR).
Allport (1947) was in favour of the idea that Psychology is a science. He
suggested that psychology was characterised by predictability,
hypothesis testing and control. He also said that other psychologists use
loads of scientific procedures to test hypothesis and investigate theories
in a controlled and unbiased way.
However, some approaches use less objective methods: i.e. interview
, techniques, that can be biased and interpreted differently. Because of
psychology’s philosophical origins, there’s always going to be an element
of subjectivity: i.e. the subjectivity of Wundt’s introspection method.
Cognitive & Learning Approaches
The Cognitive Approach and The Learning Approach are two direct
opposites of one another. The learning approach focuses on observable,
external behaviour; the cognitive approach focuses on how the internal
mind works to influence behaviour. Cognitive psychologists have come up
with three main assumptions about the inner workings of our minds.
● Firstly, we have the Limited Capacity assumption, suggesting that our
minds can only process a fixed amount of information at once - that
information can be spread over multiple tasks.
● Secondly, there is the Control Mechanism assumption. Psychologists
believe that there is an area of the mind that has superior processing
power. It can control activity in other areas of the brain.
● Lastly, there is the Two-Way Flow assumption. This suggests that the
mind takes info from the environment (the input flow), and once it has
been processed, it produces a behavioural reaction (the output flow)…
similar to that of a computer.
Study Methods
There are three main study methods:
● Laboratory Experiments are structured experiments which allow for a
tight control of variables. Confounding variables are excluded.
Cognitive psychologists have found a scientific and valid way to study
the mind.
● Secondly, Case Studies. They often focus on rare occurrences such
as brain damage or trauma. Some case studies give us an insight into
the working of some mental processes. However, because conditions
are rare, the samples tend to be small. The results of the case studies
can therefore be less generalisable and reliable.
● Lastly, Brain Imaging. This is one of the more recent cognitive
methods. fMRI or PET machines map out the different areas of the
brain, and this is a very fast evolving area of psychology.
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