Origins of psychology

The emergence of psychology as a science:

• Watson and the early behaviourist-
• Watson's main probem with introapection was that it produces subjective data, therefore information obtained could vary from person to person, so it became very difficult to establish general principles. He was also really critical of introspection's focus on the private mental processes and proposed that a truly scientific psychology should restrict itself only to study phenomena that could be observed and measured.
• Later Skinner brought the language, rigour (thoughtness) and methods of natural sciences into psychology. The behaviourists focused on the scientific processes involved in learning, alongside the use of carefully lab experiments.

THE BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH:

ASSUMPTIONS

Psychology should be seen as a science to be studied in a scientific matter, they are interested in studying behvaiour that can  be observed and measured.

Watson rejected introspection because it invlived too many concepts that were vague (unclear) and difficult to meausre. as an result behaviourists tried to maintain more control and objectivity within their research and relied on lab experiments.

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