A failure to agree on what was being observed, was a fatal issue with what psychological theory (or approach)?
options:
opponent process theory
introspection
Gestalt
voluntarism
The correct answer and explanation is:
The correct answer is introspection.
Introspection refers to the method of self-observation, where individuals report their own conscious thoughts and feelings. It was a central technique in early psychology, particularly in structuralism, which was promoted by Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener. However, introspection as a method faced significant criticism, primarily due to the issue of lack of agreement on what was being observed. Since introspection relied on subjective reports, individuals’ internal experiences could vary greatly, making it difficult to achieve consistency or objectivity in observations.
The fatal flaw with introspection was that it lacked a standard for comparison. One person might describe an experience in one way, while another person might interpret the same experience very differently, making it hard to agree on the nature of what was being observed. This variability led to difficulties in replicating results, which is a key component of scientific validity. Psychologists like John B. Watson, who later became a leading figure in behaviorism, argued that introspection was unreliable and subjective because it could not be consistently measured or tested.
In contrast, other psychological approaches, like Gestalt psychology, emphasized understanding mental processes as a whole rather than breaking them down into individual components. Similarly, opponent process theory and voluntarism did not rely on the same subjective, personal reports that introspection did.
As psychology evolved, researchers shifted toward more objective methods of observation and measurement, particularly through behaviorism and later cognitive psychology. These approaches sought to minimize the subjectivity of introspection by focusing on observable behavior or more quantifiable mental processes.