Introspection: what is it and how is it used in psychology?

Despite the widespread belief that all progress in our life depends on us turning outward assuming projects and initiatives, the truth is that looking inward is necessary for development personal.

Every human being is composed of thoughts and emotions that harbor an intimate nature, and whose discovery requires courage to dive behind the scenes of the theater of appearances.

Thus, introspection has been the object of study since the very birth of Psychology, at the impose itself as an unavoidable method for accessing the internal processes that govern affections and conduct.

In this article we will define the concept of introspection in Psychology, tracing a description of its historical path and the therapeutic benefits derived from its use.

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Introspection in Psychology

The etymological breakdown of the term "introspection", which comes from the Latin, suggests an observation that departs from the external course of events to settle on the way they are perceived, as well as on the subtle nuances of emotion that emerge as a result of all this process. It involves a deliberate pause in the natural flow of what happens outside, in order to strengthen awareness of internal events that often go unnoticed.

As a method of analysis of the human act, is indivisible from the process through which Psychology emancipated itself from Philosophy, which is based on the careful reflection of reality in order to subtract the truth that lies behind she. Thus, the first steps of this discipline were debated making their way into the inner darkness through the light of subjectivity. It was assumed, therefore, that the person constituted both the end and the method of his domain of knowledge.

The arrival of positive currents in science was a huge turning point, assuming that natural and human disciplines had to accommodate the objectivity of physics or chemistry, if they intended to form a corpus of knowledge worthy of being incorporated into the scientific. In this epistemological context, Psychology needed to retrace the path and go forward on the path of the tangible.

In this same sense, the first half of the 20th century was dominated by behaviorism as a paradigm almost unique, focusing the object of study on the acts that the human being displayed in their environment natural. Manifest behavior became the basic unit of knowledge, and all efforts were directed to exploring those factors that promoted its beginning or its maintenance, as well as the contingencies on the subject that could derive from it.

After many decades of solid empiricism, the second half of the 20th century witnessed the birth of cognitive psychology. This claimed the relevance of thoughts and emotions as phenomena worthy of study, complementing with its inclusion the mechanistic equation proposed by the original behaviorism (and which is far from the current conceptions of this same line of thought).

In this historical context, introspection was once again considered as a resource for work clinical and research, articulating a succession of structured methodologies through the which every individual could take on the role of active observer of his own internal processes, capturing realities whose idiosyncrasies were not fully resolved under the protection of objective analyzes of behavior.

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History of scientific introspection

The first uses of introspection as a method in the field of Psychology took place in the city of Leipzig (in East Germany), and more specifically in the hands of Wilhelm Wundt and his Laboratory of Experimental Psychology. The purpose of this author, at the end of the 19th century, lay in the study of immediate experience (conscious internal processes of being human reaction to the environment), as opposed to the mediate (which would consist of the objective measurement of stimuli, dependent on the physical).

In this sense, introspection was the only valid tool for the study of the phenomena that depended on Psychology. Even with everything, this was enriched with the use of the technologies of the time, through which the reaction time or the lexical association was evaluated and imposed some control to the presentation of the experimental stimulus, including electrophysiological measures from which to infer (in the most objective way possible) the processes internal

Another fundamental author, who made use of the introspective method from phenomenology, was Franz brentano. He would have a particular interest in studying the thought of the human being, so he would opt for the analysis of the internal processes that are triggered when solving a problem. According to Brentano, what would differentiate psychological phenomena from purely physical ones would be the intentionality of the former.

Like Wundt, he would separate Physics from Psychology by alluding to the nuance of human perception. Most of the activity of the phenomenological current would be carried out in the Würzburg school (Bavaria, Germany), specifically through the method of retrospective introspection. In this, the experimental subject had to remember a posteriori what higher order processes he needed to solve a complex, highly structured and replicable situation.

Introspection in the Psychology of our days

Introspection continues to be an object of interest in modern Psychology. Thus, there are therapeutic approaches that make use of it (directly or indirectly) as a method of evaluation and / or intervention; Some examples are mentalization-based therapy, mindfulness (mindful or conscious attention) and cognitive restructuring.

From now on we will assess the use they make of introspection in each of these cases, considering that in some of them it is usually complemented with the use of other more objective methods analysis.

Mentalization-based therapy

Mentalization-based Therapy is a psychodynamic court procedure, which was originally conceived to address serious mental health problems, such as borderline personality disorder (BPD) or schizophrenia. Despite its extension in many areas of the world, it is not a strategy that has spread in Spanish-speaking countries, so the original manuals on the matter (published at the beginning of the century) have not been translated into this idiom.

Therapy based on Mentalization involves emphasizing the importance of all internal processes when explaining behavior. Through the technique it is sought that the person interprets all foreign acts according to processes such as thought and emotions, which allows predict the reactions of others and attribute a lower burden of blame to interpersonal situations in which a perceived grievance.

The model understands that, in order to control the symptoms associated with these disorders; the person must strengthen their self-awareness (or himself) to identify, manage and express affections in a more appropriate way; since it would be possible that the metacognition on these would be diluted in moments of high relational tension. Therefore, it supposes a self-awareness aimed at understanding what happens inside to improve what happens outside.

The original authors of this procedure (Bateman and Fonagy) locate the internal difficulties of these patients in the development of a insecure attachment during childhood, which would hinder the acquisition of basic competencies for the management of emotion and conduct. Despite this, they consider that they can develop in adult life through a deliberate and intentional effort, aimed at understanding the springs of experience.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a form of meditation that comes from Buddhist traditions. It was stripped of its religious overtones for its adaptation to the Western context, first as a therapy for pain control (formulated by Jon Kabat-Zinn). Today, however, it has many different therapeutic applications.

Among his premises, mindfulness stands out not only to the situations that surround us, but also to the internal processes themselves. In this sense, he deliberately seeks out what has come to be known as the "witness mind," through which he assumes a deep awareness of internal speech in a way that the individual detaches himself from any attempt to identify with the. Thus, the person would not be an emotion or a thought, but a sentient and conscious being that thinks and gets excited.

Cognitive restructuring

The cognitive restructuring pursues a series of objectives that involve the resource of introspection.

In the first place, it wants the patient to understand the key role of what he thinks about what he feels and does. Second, look for the detection of maladaptive schemas and cognitive distortions that are associated with the experience of discomfort. Finally, it pursues the implantation of a critical attitude aimed at modifying the thought for a more objective and rational one.

The development of this whole process implies the use of self-records on paper, with spaces that are reserved for the relevant variables (situation, thought, emotion and behavior), and which are completed after an event that triggers emotional distress (sadness, fear, etc.). It is a form of retrospective introspection, through which the level of awareness about internal processes subject to a high degree of automation increases.

The practice of cognitive restructuring strategies provides the ideal context for self-knowledge, as well as for the discovery of the causes of our discomfort, beyond the situations that correspond to us to live. Therefore, it supposes an approach to the domain of the cognitive, a form of introspection that allows acquire control of emotional life through the process of interpreting the things that we occur.

Bibliographic references:

• Danziger, K. (2001). Introspection History of the Concept. International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, 12, 702-704.
• Sánchez, S. and de la Vega, I. (2013). Introduction to Mentalization-based Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder. Psychological Action, 10 (1), 21-32.