Introspection: Death Of Wundt And Titchener

Abstract

The use of introspection has fell stagnant after the death of Wundt and Titchener. Many believe that the reason for this diminishment is because of the lack of scientific proof, to the credibility, of the procedure. It can be argued that there are many research techniques that incorporate certain introspective mechanisms. The systematic approach into one’s conscious and subconscious thought processes, ultimately leading to ones views of the world they inhabit, is commonly used in the practice of certain forms of meditation. Vipassana meditators, for instance, practice a technique where they perform a body scan. To perform the body scan, the Vipassana meditators pay close attention to different parts of their bodies, while in a meditative trance (Fox, Zakarauskas, Dixon, Ellamil, & Thompson, 2012). Being meditative practitioners, we have decided to perform an introspective examination. Fox et al, (2012) suggest that people who regularly practice meditation may find the practice of introspection attainable and scientifically pertinent.

Introduction

For the purpose of this experiment we have chosen to define introspection as looking into one’s own mind. With renewed interest from the field of cognitive neuroscience and the use of modern brain scanning machines, it has been suggested that the amount of grey matter in the prefrontal cortex can be viewed and traced while a participant is practicing introspection (Fleming, Weil, Nagy, Dolan, & Rees, 2010). Another study suggests that specialized training in the area being introspectively examined can help provide precise and sometimes useful reports (Lutz, Lauchaux, Martinerie, & Varela,