Key Takeaways
- Introspection is an old method in scientific psychology
- It was introduced by Wilhelm Wundt in late 1800s
- This method focuses on objectively looking at our internal thoughts and emotions
- Introspection in psychology led to other theories in experimental psychology
- It has been heavily criticized as an unverifiable, biased form of understanding the human mind
Introspection in psychology is an inward-looking exercise. This formal process is a structured research tool that helps many people in their therapeutic journeys.
Many psychologists and researchers like Wilhelm Wundt advocate for introspection in psychology.
It goes by the basic notion that you know yourself the best. Hence, through introspection, you can find the best answers to your personal questions.
Introspection in psychology means carefully and closely looking at our own thoughts, feelings, emotions, and memories.
The following sections look more closely at the process, method, and examples of introspection.
Introspection in Psychology Infographics
Introspection In Psychology
SUMMARY
Introspection in psychology is a structured way of looking at our mental state. Wilhelm Wundt proposed it and took it forward as an experimental research tool. Later, his students and then other experts developed the technique and criticized it as well.
Introspection in psychology has been an interesting journey. It started as a research tool and progressed to be a therapeutic tool as well.
Along the way, introspection also lost a lot of its credibility in the social sciences and study of psychology.
As you will see in the explanation below, when it started it was a first-of-its-kind way of doing experimental research in psychology.
Then, it became the basis of an important school of thought in psychology, called structuralism.
Lastly, it is now used in a variety of formats, in structured and unstructured ways. It is heavily criticized yet also regarded as an important stepping stone in understanding human consciousness.
History of introspection in psychology
Wilhelm Wundt proposed a formal way of introspection so he could study the structure of our human mind.
He founded the first Experimental Psychology Institute in the world. However, he was a physician by training.
He introduced his scientific knowledge into the field of experimental research in psychology.
Through his career, he trained many psychologists who then went on to do even more research in the human mind, such as Edward Titchener.
Often known as the father of psychology, Wundt tried to study cognitive processes. Simply said, this means his interests were in our thought and thought processes.
According to him, our whole brain could be broken down into basic elements. He believed in a reductionist philosophy.
When we break down our conscious state into many parts, we can re-work them individually to come to a theory about the whole.
Titchener and other experts tried to systematically study introspection as well. There was also a divide between British and German understanding of introspection.
Eventually, introspection became an umbrella term for different forms of self-reflection.
The Introspective method of Wundt
Wundt’s psychological science was based on experiments. He would expose his subjects to various kinds of sensory stimuli, like ticking a metronome.
Then, trusting his subjects, he would record their reaction to it, like their thoughts and emotions.
He wanted to use their observations to come to a theory about conscious thoughts. These self-examinations, or introspective evidence, were his way of understanding our cognitive processes and our conscious experience.
He tried to account for the personal biases of the subjects as well. However, his training was based mainly on his own self-examinations.
His efforts to develop a study on conscious thought were dependent entirely on individual reactions to external stimuli.
This method was widely criticized because there were too many biases he could not control. Eventually, the gaps in his theory were better filled by other theories and theorists entirely.
Therefore, his particular introspective experiments were not much developed after the 1920s. Other schools of thoughts and methods of introspection gained popularity.
However, Wundt’s introspective method set the base for experimental psychology.
This method made people realize that our thoughts could be observed and recorded in controlled settings.
Until then, nobody had tried to conduct such experiments to further any kind of psychological study.
This research technique thus paved the way for other experimental techniques in psychology.
Titchener’s method of introspection in psychology
Titchener was Wundt’s student, however, he had a different idea of introspection in psychology.
He taught his students that Wundt’s method allowed us to come to a qualitative theory about our minds and thought.
In reality, Wundt believed that through introspection, he could quantitatively assess our conscious thoughts. This misrepresentation even led to more criticism of Wundt’s theory.
On his part, Titchener also believed introspection was the base and appropriate method of studying the human mind.
He focused on the individual parts of our brain which determine our experiences.
Titchener’s theoretical position eventually led to a school of thought called structuralism.
This is the method where using introspection and the most basic components of our brain, we can understand our consciousness.
Current state of Introspection in psychology
Some psychologists and researchers argued that introspection is too full of cognitive biases. This means that no matter how hard we try, we cannot have an entirely accurate record of our thoughts and reflections.
Skinner, a prominent researcher, valued the techniques behind introspection in psychology, However, he argued that introspection in itself was too subjective and hence, only direct observable behavior is reliable in experiments.
However, an article published in 1953, in the Psychological Bulletin suggests that introspection still exists in a large manner.
Merely the terms used to describe it have changed. For example, what we recognize as ‘verbal reports’, are also essentially introspective reports.
In this manner, we realize that introspection is not just about our conscious thoughts and experience. It is an important therapeutic and research tool as well.
All psychological research is a study of our mind in some way. Very often, the best way to study our mind is by asking ourselves questions about it.
When researchers do this, it is a form of introspective inquiry.
In therapy, we share our deepest thoughts and feelings with our therapist. However, it is not that these thoughts just exist in our minds at all times. We do so by engaging in introspection and reflection.
Thus, in the current times as well, introspection plays a huge role in psychology. Mainly the terms to describe it has changed and evolved over time.
Conditions of Introspection
Introspection is thus an old scientific method in psychology.
Initially introduced by Wilhelm Wundt, it is the process of objectively looking at our own minds and thoughts. It is a mental process that requires our time and effort.
In the broad definition, it includes taking account of your own internal thoughts. However, we are all complex people with complicated minds.
Therefore, even our thoughts are not always simple to follow.
At any given moment, our mind has our thoughts, our feelings, emotions, and even our memories.
It has information collected over the years which decides how we feel, what we like, how we think about certain situations.
Thus, how do we understand what counts as introspection and what doesn’t? According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, there are three necessary conditions of introspection. They are as follows.
1. Mentality condition
Firstly, for an exercise to be called introspection, it needs to be related to your mental state.
Your self-reflections should be out of your internal thoughts only. For example, what are you thinking, or how you are feeling.
If you have thoughts about where you are sitting, it is not introspection. This is because you do not have to look inward to get this information.
However, if you reflect on where you wish you were currently sitting, it is introspective.
There needs to be a clear and distinct line between your mental thoughts and physical state.
Only the reflections and analysis that are mental is actually counted as introspection.
2. First person condition
Next, introspection happens in the first person. This means that your thoughts and reflections start with an “I.”
Your reflections are for your mind and body only. If you start having thoughts about others, it is not introspective.
For example, thinking about how you feel on family vacations is introspection. However, thinking about your family vacation, in general, is not introspection.
This is because when you introspect, your focus should only be on you.
3. Current time condition
Lastly, introspection is related to your current thoughts and feelings. It is about where you are at this moment.
Sometimes it also includes the thoughts you have experienced in your recent past.
There are different models of introspection which allow thoughts from different points of your life. However, you mainly focus on what your thoughts mean for you in the present time.
You may feel that sometimes you introspect about things after they happen. Additionally, you may even introspectively try to reflect on how you may feel about something in your future.
These are both true and valid suggestions. However, the reality is that when you try to evaluate your thoughts about past or future events, you are still doing a bit of guesswork.
You are thinking, to the best of your introspective abilities, what you may have thought or are most likely to think. The most exact form of introspection is the one you do in real-time and space.
Other than this, there are also three more conditions that many mental health professionals look at before declaring a process as introspective.
4. Direct condition
Your introspection and reflection should be a direct account. This means that it should not be based on any other external situation.
For example, ‘I feel like eating cake’ is a direct thought about your mental state.
However, if you think of a cake around you and then think, “thinking of cake makes me want to have a cake,” it is not a direct experience.
This distinction can stop a process from being introspective, according to some professionals.
A direct and immediate thought about your internal mental state, along with the three conditions mentioned above, is definitely introspective.
5. Detective condition
Often, we do things that put us in a particular form of mental state. This means that we are capable of reaching a desired mental state if we want to think about it.
For example, we go to a dark room with old photographs if we want to go down a memory lane.
This, however, does not count as introspection according to some philosophers. Introspection is when we detect the mental state you are in, rather than create one for yourself.
Hence, if you say you are thinking a lot about writing a journal, that is introspective. It means that your mind is in a state of wanting to journal, which could have many reasons that you can introspect about.
However, if you go out and buy a journal, sit down at your desk with it, and think that you want to journal, then it does not count as an introspective process.
6. Effort condition
Like many other experimental processes in psychology, introspection is not easy. It is also not automatic or a default condition in our brain. Introspection requires effort and direct motivation.
For example, the other five conditions can be met for some types of reflections. Our brains are always busy and we may have self-reflective thoughts all the time.
We can randomly detect a thought of cake, direct and in real-time, in the first person, based on an internal mood.
However, for it to count as introspection, it needs to be based on effort. We need to actually put our mind and time towards the act.
In essence, it needs to be a conscious effort to introspect for the process to be counted as legitimate.
NOTE
This condition is not universally expected by all philosophers.
Introspection Examples
Now that you have seen the history of the term and how it is now understood in psychology, let us look at some examples.
This psychological process, or mental process, is often difficult to recognize.
This is because it is a cognitive process. We cannot see it, observe it or know exactly how to do it.
Even others can guide you through their own introspective process, but cannot tell you exactly how yours will go.
From the following examples, you can make notes on how to realize what is an introspective report.
You can also understand the mental states it includes, what are the pre-existing thoughts that lead to it, or the cognitive biases that influence it.
1. Introspection in counseling psychology
One of the most consistent uses of introspection is in counseling psychology. This means the introspection you do when you are in therapy.
A good therapeutic relationship is dependent upon the work you do for yourself. A therapist is there to guide you and help you gain a deeper understanding.
However, the base material still comes from your own mind.
Introspection in therapy is not a new idea. For years now, psychologists have used introspection as a part of their therapeutic technique.
Introspection and the purpose of therapy share some common features. These features help both the therapist and the client work through life changes and difficulties.
Following are the shared features.
- Self motivation
- Soul searching
- Self examination
- Awareness of body and mind
- Analyzing one’s thoughts and feelings
These aspects of introspection and therapy go hand in hand. For example, if you have recently gone through a breakup or a big life change.
A large part of moving forward is to examine how you actually feel about what happened.
The therapist cannot answer these questions for you. Hence, they ask you questions about it which makes you look inward. When you begin this self-examination, you are essentially introspecting.
NOTE
You do not necessarily have to be in therapy to introspect about your life.
2. Introspection in art
While introspection in psychology is a structured and controlled effort, introspection is also present in other forms.
For example, artists are known to put out introspective pieces of art. Whether it is famous singers, poets, or painters, introspection is often visible in their work.
When artists look within themselves to create a piece of art, they are being self-reflective. Some artists adopt introspection as a part of their daily routine as well.
Writers often write in the first person. In some cases, they train themselves to introspect before or after they write, to further enrich their work.
It is said that introspective writers do not just think and write. They write like they are in conversation with themselves.
Artists often feel free after they write or create an introspective piece. This is because they have been successful in expressing the inner musings of their brain.
However, this is not an indication that every piece of art is introspective in nature.
3. Introspection in psychology experiments
Self-report measures are often found in psychology experiments. Some researchers rely on observable behaviors and such checklists. Some just prefer to ask their participants what they are thinking and feeling.
For example, experiments that measure your response to particular smells or tastes. Or experiments that try to measure your perception of something.
Often, research methods include questionnaires that will bring out this information.
However, believers of Wundt’s techniques, or those that believe in the accuracy of introspection, will use an introspective technique.
The reports they get from their subjects become introspective evidence in their study.
A researcher may expose their subjects to a reptile creature. A behavioral focused researcher will himself observe how the person responds to it.
However, if they are using the introspective technique, they will ask the subject to recount the experience.
This example of introspection is observed less frequently in experiments now. While self-report measures are still practiced, researchers rarely rely on just introspective evidence if they want valid and reliable results.
4. Introspective questioning
When we look at introspection examples, let us also look at introspective questions. Here, it is important to remember that not all introspective questions lead to introspection.
However, these questions do decide whether or not we are being introspective.
For example, “What am I doing with my life” is a very basic introspective question. It is a broad question, which leads to many other questions.
“Do I like the degree I am studying for” or “Am I being passive in my relationships?” are some examples.
Introspection, especially in modern times is related to such questions of life, love, career, interests, etc. Following are some examples of introspective questioning.
- Who am I?
- What do I like?
- Are these my life beliefs?
- What are my values?
- Who matters to me most in my life?
- What are the things I want to do next?
- Who do I really want to keep in my life?
Introspection Method In Psychology
Wundt’s technique focused on exploring our conscious thoughts to understand our minds. This was different from what a lot of experts before his time practiced.
Even though Wundt’s technique is heavily criticized, it still gave a scientific model to the world.
As is true for all scientific theories, their criticism brings forward a new, sometimes improved way of thinking.
The introspective method in psychology has also led to some interesting trends in cognitive sciences.
Let us look at the method in detail to understand our current understanding of introspection.
1. Exploring our consciousness
This method starts with the premise that we have a distinct conscious experience of the world around us.
In the 1800s, when Wundt was practicing, a lot of importance was given to our unconscious experience.
Psychology was largely related to our involuntary responses to the world around us. It focused on the underlying factors that are at play in our brain.
Wundt helped the narrative that we have a conscious brain that understands the physical world around us.
He trained his students to observe others’ experiences to sensory experiences. Whether it is light, sound, or touch, we go through a conscious experience when we are exposed to them.
He trained his students to focus on the precise thoughts that go through a subject’s mind when exposed to such things.
This means that they would ask pre-decided, systematic questions to the subjects and record their answers.
To fully gain an unbiased understanding of others’ sensory experiences, he tried to control every other outside influence.
He wanted to systematically look at the thoughts and emotions regarding each sensory experience.
There are many negatives to consider about this kind of introspective method. Firstly, he worked on the assumption that his subjects were free of distractions and influences.
In reality, we rarely are that unbiased.
Next, no matter how direct the line of questioning, there is always human error in reporting something internal.
For example, we may internally know what we are feeling. However, if we don’t have the right words to describe it, we cannot accurately report it.
2. Self Reflection
This is a good space to understand why we introspect. In essence, this method allows us to engage deeply with our own minds. It is a form of self-reflection.
We live in a fast world, where everything passes quickly. This means that we may not always find the time to reflect on where we are going and how we feel about it.
The introspective method in psychology is such that it promotes self-reflection.
When we engage in introspection, we also automatically engage in self-reflection. It means that we finally give ourselves some time and energy.
This does not have to be with a superior goal in mind. Often, it is just to fulfill the purpose of self-reflection.
Now, we will look at the different ways to incorporate the introspection method in our daily life.
3. Stages of introspection in psychology
As much as introspection is an internal process, in psychology, there are ways to observe the stages it entails.
These are three main stages, which are internal, however have been studied by researchers so far.
First, a person is triggered by an external event or stimulus.
This means that something happens in the person’s immediate surroundings which triggers introspective thought. For example, in Wundt’s method, he intentionally introduced a trigger around them.
Next, the person starts introspective questioning. Unlike Wundt’s method, some methods include letting the person decide their own questions.
This includes questions related to their life and their internal thoughts and mental space.
It is important to remember that often a person questions his own motives and likes and dislikes.
These are not easily answered questions. A person may spend a lot of time answering every single one, even if he is answering only to himself.
Sometimes, in experimental settings, this requirement may change. A person may have to introspect about particular things at a particular time and answer it, timely.
The point is to understand a person’s immediate, real-time thoughts about the question or the stimulus.
Lastly, the person consolidates all that he has understood in introspection.
For example, if he was questioning whether he likes his current home. Most likely, he will think of multiple pros and cons about the home.
A good introspective session ends with him realizing what he feels about his home. This includes expressing in words, either to himself or others, what he has thought.
These words become a piece of knowledge about his emotions towards the house.
4. Characteristics of introspective method
As a scientific method in psychology, introspection has certain defining characteristics.
These are the way through which you can identify whether or not your reflections are actually introspective.
The first characteristic of the method is to look internally in your own mind for answers and knowledge.
When you are introspective, you are trying to get knowledge from your mind. This could be for things happening in your immediate surroundings and in real-time.
The distinctive feature of introspection is that it is knowledge. It is not mere thoughts that randomly pop into your mind.
This knowledge is intuitive in nature, and when you voice it out, it becomes knowledge of your mind for the outside world.
The second most distinctive feature is that it is objective knowledge. A person engaging in guesswork is not introspective, he is speculative.
Thus, to introspect, you have to look inward to find the exact answer to a question.
For example, when trying to answer whether you like your house, you cannot guess how you feel about it.
An introspective method is when you actually pinpoint your exact thoughts about the house, or aspects of the house.
The result of this introspection must be direct and objective for a third person to analyze. If it makes sense only to you, it does not count as an introspective session.
5.Advantages of introspection
Introspection has often been heavily criticized by people. However, it has certain advantages that make it a good method in psychology. Particularly, in counseling psychology.
Introspection in psychology is a cost-effective method, which can be done anytime, anywhere.
It does not require any particular room or equipment. In most cases, a person can also introspect on their own, without external help.
Introspection is also a direct source of information from our minds. Here, if there is an expert involved, they do not have to rely on guesswork or observation.
They rely on the person for knowledge about their mind.
Introspection is also an easy method in psychology. The characteristics and conditions to identify it are external factors that do not actually affect the process.
A person can introspect without having deep knowledge of the method itself.
Introspection has also allowed other experimental research to take place. When experts started criticizing the introspective method, they came up with better versions of it.
It also led to people understanding the value of behavioral observation more than introspection.
Lastly, on an individual level, introspection leads to self-awareness. This method takes away the distractions and the unimportant thoughts that stop us from truly introspecting.
It allows a person to focus solely on their own mind and thoughts.
For people who are on a therapeutic journey or who are part of an experiment about the human mind, introspection can provide valuable inputs.
Whether or not it serves the purpose of the study, it definitely helps a person know and express himself better.
6. Limitations of the introspective method
Along with the advantages of introspection, there are also definite limitations in this method. It is one of the oldest methods in psychology, as it started even before the twentieth century.
This method looks at a person as the expert narrator of his or her own thoughts. In reality, people sometimes do not have a clear view of what they think. Hence, their introspective reports could be inaccurate.
There is also no way to verify whether that was actually what a person was thinking. For example, when you prick someone. The common understanding is that it leads to a small but sharp pain.
However, it is possible for some people to enjoy being pricked. Since this is not a very popular opinion, they may lie and say they thought the prick was unpleasant.
There would be no way for a third person to verify this. Often, a person may change how they think and feel.
This is a concern because there comes a lack of consistency in their answers.
Such a lack of consistency makes the information received through introspection less reliable.
Introspection is also a very personal act. It is not always comfortable for people to voice what they are thinking or feeling.
Hence, it may help a person gain clarity, however, it may not always help anyone else apart from them.
Those who have low IQ or emotional understanding, have language barriers, or do not understand the purpose, may not be able to follow the introspective method.
It is beyond their scope of abilities.
Hence, other than being highly subjective, unverifiable, and personal, it is also not appropriate for all populations.
In fact, these limitations often lead to people diversifying what introspection even means.
Now let us move to the ways in which we can practice the introspection method. This includes introspection for ourselves as well as for the purpose of a scientific study.
7. Setting the right environment
Introspection as we have seen so far requires considerable personal effort. It cannot be done in loud, crowded spaces.
At least, it won’t be done well, as there will be too many distractions for the person. A good way to get into introspection is by creating an ideal environment.
If you are doing it for personal reasons, you can start with finding a quiet spot in your home or elsewhere. It could be any space you are comfortable with without distractions.
If you are setting up an experiment, try to create an environment that is as free from distractions as possible.
Limit all noise, people, or movement around the person. You can even try to control the light and temperature in the room to be stable.
This may sound like an extremely controlled environment. However, it is necessary for the introspection method, as these disturbances in noise, light, sound or even temperature can affect our mood.
For example, a splash of cold water is an external stimulus. We may react to it differently in a cold versus a hot room.
Similarly, our bodily needs influence our thoughts and emotions. Hence, it is ideal to control as much of this as you can.
Lastly, if you are practicing the method over a certain number of days, or daily, it is better to have a routine for it.
For example, you could practice introspection every night before you go to bed. It is up to you to set that routine.
8. Journaling
While journaling is an external activity, it invariably promotes introspective thinking. This is because we often find that journaling requires some level of self-reflection.
If you are trying to practice the introspective method, journaling can be a way to achieve that.
Your journal can have your notes on what you think, how you feel, how your day went, etc.
It does not need to be done at the exact moment that things happen, however it can be later in the same day.
For example, you can practice the introspection method by following some journal prompts.
You can try to answer these prompts every day and make your answers as detailed and precise as possible.
This increases your accountability as well as helps you stay on track. When you journal or use introspective questions as prompts, you can also treat it as a serious task, rather than a simple hobby.
The different kinds of prompts you can use, or the things you journal about, are up to you. Essentially, the first question is to know the purpose of your introspection.
If you are introspecting with a particular goal in mind, your prompts must be related to that.
For people practicing daily introspection, journaling is a good way to store all their thoughts.
There is no way to return to an exact thought if you don’t remember it in the future. Journaling helps you see your thoughts on paper.
Lastly, it even helps the experts who are trying to evaluate your brain over time.
For example, if they are trying to study your thoughts about a new regime, your journal notes help them keep a record of the data they receive from you.
9. Using particular words
The introspection method is different from self-reflection or random thoughts because it follows a particular thought process.
Here, we must remember that we actually experience emotions, we are not the emotion itself.
For example, if you are presented with a beautiful cake for your birthday. A normal thought about yourself could be “I feel happy.”
However, in introspective thought, you have to objectively talk about what you are experiencing.
Hence, in the introspective method, you may report it as, “I am experiencing happiness.”
This leaves room for further questions as objective qualifications as well. This gives us a third-person view of our own brain, too.
The introspective method makes this distinction between us being an emotion versus experiencing an emotion.
In common language, we often, unintentionally, mix the two. However, in a scientific method, it is important to remember the distinction.
10. Make a good list of questions
Often people think that introspection can be randomly performed at any time. However, the introspective method focuses on ways to make the process more and more scientific.
This means that our questions cannot be based on anything.
Introspective reports or introspective evidence can only be as good as the prompts that led to it.
If a person is practicing the method for the first few times, he or she may need objectively good questions to answer.
Even for the people who are introspecting for their personal or therapeutic reasons, an empowering question can lead to a lot more knowledge.
For example, a question such as, “How was your day?” is vague and can lead to too many answers that do not matter. A more refined question is, “What did you accomplish today?.”
Those who are on a personal journey with the introspection method can also use empowering questions that are open to deeper inputs.
For example, if you ask “Why do I like cake so much?” you will have limited input.
However, you can ask, “What do I notice about myself when I am around the cake?” or “What does cake make me feel?”
These questions make you analyze your cognitive as well as physical reactions to the cake.
Compassion is an important trait we must remember. For example, when we ask “why?” we may actually come up short for answers.
Often, people feel attacked with a ‘why’ question, and find themselves unable to answer. “Why did you throw the vase?” may not get you an answer.
However, if you ask them “What happened there?” or “What went down in that room?”, they may feel more capable of answering your questions.
11. Focus on the positives
Even if we may not consciously realize this, whether a sentence is positive or negative has a large impact on us.
We remember negative events, headlines, statements, and remarks a lot more vividly than positive ones.
For example, if someone says, “You do not look fat today,” it will have a significant impact on you.
A similar sentence in a positive format such as, “that shirt fits you well” has a lesser impact on our minds.
Hence, the goal during introspection is to keep it positive or neutral. This does not mean that you cannot think of negative interactions in an introspective method.
It merely means that by using positive or neutral words, you maintain more objectivity.
This has a lot to do with our brain chemistry. Our brains are wired to focus on the negatives.
However, by simply using more positive dialogue, we can rewire the patterns of our thoughts.
Why Is Introspection Important In Psychology
Whether you follow Wundt’s methods of introspection in psychology or Titcherner’s; it is undeniable that this method led to significant further research.
Through the criticism and evolution of this method, we found newer ways of collecting data.
A researcher studying our mind, our relationships, or going generational studies on likes and interests, mainly has to rely on people for data.
He or she cannot study the people till the people let them into their minds and thoughts.
Now, this is impossible to achieve physically. Hence, such data needs to be sourced from the people themselves.
Over time, self-report questionnaires, qualitative interviews, etc., were adopted as ways to collect such information.
However, this essentially started with Wundt’s research on introspection in psychology.
This method showed experts that our conscious and awake minds can be studied. It is also possible to deduce a lot about a person’s experiences based on his introspective reports.
For personal journeys
When we look at the importance of introspection in psychology, we focus a lot on the scientific method and research importance.
However, introspection is also a good tool for therapists and people trying to gain self-awareness.
It allows us to objectively assess our thoughts. We cannot even take account of all the negative emotions in our brains.
These cloud our judgment and we lose track of the main points. Introspection forces us to leave that behind and stay objective.
For example, people coming out of a divorce. In essence, it is an emotionally loaded decision, which mostly has a lot of negative associations attached to it.
However, if you want to assess how to do things differently later, you need objectivity.
Introspection in psychology helps people keep aside distractions and focus on the question at hand.
This in turn helps the experts in the situation to trust the client or participant to find their own way forward through self-awareness.
Lastly, introspection is important to maintain a balance in our life. We can very easily be overwhelmed with distractions and external influences.
Introspection makes us carve out time specifically to get away from that and focus on our internal self.
When Is Introspection Not Useful
After evaluating all the positives, merits as well as limitations of introspection, we must also acknowledge the times it is not useful for us.
In experiments where only the most accurate data is required, introspection is not a useful tool.
For example, when assessing the effectiveness of a new medication. Relying purely on introspection may be dangerous as there is no way to verify the information.
Similarly, if the person in question is not very good with verbal expression.
This includes people who speak a different language or are unable to understand the purpose of the study. In these cases, introspective inquiry and evidence will be lacking.
Introspection is also not useful for children, people who have intellectual disabilities, or disorders that do not allow them to process their surroundings.
In these cases, other self-report measures may be used, however, just introspection cannot be enough.
Lastly, introspection is not useful in official police work or investigations.
Here, the interviews must be entirely focused on the external surroundings, witnesses, and concrete evidence. An introspective report does not hold much significance here.
Thus, the best use of introspection in psychology must be deduced based on the needs of the person or expert.
Even with its drawbacks, it still leads to considerable knowledge about a person’s internal thoughts and emotions.
Conclusion
Introspection in psychology is a research tool that helps the subjects as well as experts.
It is a way to look inwards, within ourselves to understand our thoughts. Introspection in psychology is an objective account of our own minds and thoughts.
Article Sources
1. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-introspection-2795252
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introspection
3. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/introspection/
4. https://www.berkeleywellbeing.com/introspection.html
5. https://www.britannica.com/topic/introspection
