Introspection

[Bio-Hazard]

I've been having trouble understanding what introspection is exactly.

I can't really tell what it is in psychology.

 

Is it about feeling out how your body senses something, while tracing the inflicted part to the brain?

 

I don't quite understand.

 

Does anyone know a descriptive site, other than wiki/google, that tells me about introspection in detail?

[bascule]

I would say it's about finding previously undiscovered connections in your existing knowledge structure.

 

Note that introspection as a method of studying the operation of consciousness, which Dennett termed "autophenomenology," is considered by cognitive scientists to be unscientific and largely fruitless.

[Bio-Hazard]

I'm wondering more about the system Wilhelm Wundt created and developed.

I don't understand the system of introspection he created.

 

Would an example of it be tapping into a part of your brain by doing an event and hoping that you will encounter a new behavior that is beyond rational for the current situation/event you are doing?

 

edit

 

perhaps it has to do with how different parts of the body perceive something.

 

Such as, what emotion and behavior does my soul/body convert to as I see the light? As I feel the light? As I breath the light?

 

EDIT 2

 

Or could it perhaps be how you see yourself in reality. How you see yourself as a person and describing outloud what you think of your actions and what you think of your life. Somewhat like how a person is asking, "how do you feel?" And when the person replies, they go into depth about their emotion and sense of reality at the time.

[Bio-Hazard]

Can no one else build on this?

I still have no freaking clue as to what introspection is.

[solidsquid]

Introspection is an old practice and is defined as:

 

Examination and analysis of one's own conscious experience

 

Source - Lundin, R. (1996). Theories and systems of psychology. (5th ed.). Lexington: D. C. Heath.

 

Some more from Lundin:

 

The systems of structuralism, Gestalt psychology, and existential psychology have depended strongly on a subjective approach. The method usually used is called introspection, a looking into oneself and describing the experiences one has. Historically, the method is very old, dating back to St. Augustine in the fourth century (11).

 

A bit more detail:

 

Introspection had had a long history. Plotinus and St. Augustine had introduced it as a soul-searching process, and it was the main method of the later philosophers. Descartes had thought of it as a kind of contemplative meditation, while the British empiricists were more content to introspect on the elementary experiences.

 

For Wundt [Wilhelm Wundt- founder of the first psychological laboratory], introspection took on a new meaning. This was not a naive process which anybody could perform. It had to exercised by the trained introspectionist, and there were certain rules that had to be followed. These rules were:

 

1. The introspectionist must be able to determine when the process was to be introduced.

 

2. The introspectionist must maintain a state of "strained attention."

 

3. The observation must be capable of repetition.

 

4. The conditions must be such that variations might be allowed - that is, the introduction or elimination of certain stimuli or variations in the strength or quality of the stimuli. Thus, the introspectionist must be capable of isolating the mental process at any moment. (79)

 

This was a major item in the late 1800's in psychology, so much so that the structuralism system was often called Introspectionism. It was also seen in later systems and found in other's work like Tichener and James. With the behaviorism, introspection and subjective appraisals were rejected. However, Gestalt psychologists wishing to take into account the whole person, not simply stimulus-response focal points, utilized introspection heavily. It can also be seen in psychoanalysis too.

 

The wikipedia article on introspection- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introspection

 

PubMed search for 'introspection':

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed

[Edelweiss]

I've been having trouble understanding what introspection is exactly.

I can't really tell what it is in psychology.

 

Is it about feeling out how your body senses something' date=' while tracing the inflicted part to the brain?

 

I don't quite understand.

 

Does anyone know a descriptive site, other than wiki/google, that tells me about introspection in detail?[/quote']

 

http://introspectives.org/

[mimefan599]

Introspection, as I've always understood it, is reflective meditation.