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Structuralism & Functionalism

Wilhelm Wundt is considered the founder of modern psychology, establishing the first psychology laboratory in 1879. Wundt's work focused on systematically studying mental processes through introspection. This led to the development of structuralism, championed by Wundt's student Edward Titchener. Structuralism aimed to analyze consciousness into basic sensations and perceptions. However, it was criticized for relying too heavily on unreliable introspection. This paved the way for functionalism, proposed by William James, which shifted focus to how the mind functions to help organisms adapt to their environments. While neither structuralism nor functionalism used controlled experiments, they both made important early contributions to establishing psychology as a science.

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420 views

Structuralism & Functionalism

Wilhelm Wundt is considered the founder of modern psychology, establishing the first psychology laboratory in 1879. Wundt's work focused on systematically studying mental processes through introspection. This led to the development of structuralism, championed by Wundt's student Edward Titchener. Structuralism aimed to analyze consciousness into basic sensations and perceptions. However, it was criticized for relying too heavily on unreliable introspection. This paved the way for functionalism, proposed by William James, which shifted focus to how the mind functions to help organisms adapt to their environments. While neither structuralism nor functionalism used controlled experiments, they both made important early contributions to establishing psychology as a science.

Uploaded by

Maheer
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DAWN OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY

The renaissance (literal meaning “rebirth”) was a period in


European history, starting from 14th century after medieval times (dark ages) and lasting up till 17th
century. The renaissance spread through Europe and eventually heralded the era of modern science,
where the approaches became more human-centered than God centered. Dominating approaches
included humanism, existentialism, romanticism, etc. However, psychology emerged as a modern
science in 19th century when Wilhelm Wundt opened the first “Experimental psychology
laboratory” in Leipzig, Germany (1879).

Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) is credited with making psychology an independent science,


separating it from philosophy. Wundt’s original training was in medicine, but he became deeply
interested in psychology. In his laboratory, Wundt investigated how sensations, images, and
feelings combine to make up personal experience. Over the years, he studied vision, hearing, taste,
touch, time perception and many other areas. By insisting on systematic observation and
measurement, he asked critical questions and gave modern psychology a good start. His work, later
on, became the basis for neuropsychology and psychophysiology. Wundt’s methods were used by
others to study attention, memory and even emotions. Wundt and his followers believed that human
mind and behavior, like chemical compounds, can be broken down into basic elements for better
understanding. Wundt’s work laid out groundwork for various perspectives in modern psychology,
the first being “Structuralism”.

STRUCTURALISM

Wundt’s ideas were carried to the United States by Edward Titchener (TICH-in-er).
Titchener called Wundt’s ideas, “Structuralism” and tried to analyze the structure of mental life
into basic “elements” or “building blocks.” One might ask, “How could he do that? You can’t
analyze experience like a chemical compound, can you?” Perhaps not, but the structuralists tried,
mostly by using introspection. For instance, an observer might heft an apple and decide that she
had experienced the elements “hue” (color), “roundness,” and “weight.” Another example of a
question that might have interested a structuralist is, what basic tastes mix together to create
complex flavors as different as broccoli, lime, bacon, and strawberry cheesecake?

Structuralism, the first school of psychology, is a theory of consciousness developed by


Wilhelm Wundt’s protégé, Edward Bradford Titchener. It sought to analyze the most basic
elements, primarily sensations and perceptions, that make up our conscious mental experiences.
Just as you might assemble hundreds of pieces of a jigsaw puzzle into a completed picture,
structuralists tried to combine hundreds of sensations into a complete conscious experience.
Titchener believed that only observable events constituted that science and that any speculation
concerning unobservable events have no place in society. Structuralists relied on “Introspection”
as a tool to analyze human mind. Introspection was a method of exploring conscious mental
processes by asking subjects to look inward and report their sensations and perceptions.

Titchener's theory began with the question of what each element of the mind is. He
concluded from his research that there were three types of mental elements constituting conscious
experience: Sensations (elements of perceptions), Images (elements of ideas), and affections
(elements of emotions). Therefore, by following this train of thinking, all thoughts were images,
which being constructed from elementary sensations, meant that all complex reasoning and thought
could eventually be broken down into just the sensations, which he could get through introspection.

Criticism

Introspection proved to be a poor way to answer most questions, Why? Because no matter
how systematic the observations, the structuralists frequently disagreed. And when they did, there
was no way to settle differences. Think about it. If you and a friend both introspect on your
perceptions of an apple and end up listing different basic elements, who would be right? Hence,
the main critique of structuralism was its focus on introspection as the method by which to gain an
understanding of conscious experience. Critics argue that self-analysis was not feasible, since
introspective students cannot appreciate the processes or mechanisms of their own mental
processes. Introspection, therefore, yielded different results depending on who was using it and
what they were seeking. Some critics also pointed out that introspective techniques resulted in
retrospection – the memory of a sensation rather than the sensation itself.

Besides theoretical attacks, structuralism was criticized for excluding and ignoring
important developments happening outside of structuralism. For instance, structuralism did not
concern itself with the study of covert behavior, and personality.

Titchener himself was criticized for not using his psychology to help answer practical
problems. Instead, Titchener was interested in seeking pure knowledge that to him was more
important than commonplace human issues.

FUNCTIONALISM

Although widely criticized, structuralism


paved way for many others, “Functionalism” being one of them. William James is widely credited
as the founder of Functionalist school of thought. Functionalism, which was the study of the
function rather than the structure of consciousness, was interested in how our minds adapt to our
changing environment. Functionalism arose in the U.S. in the late 19th century as an alternative to
structuralism. While functionalism never became a formal school, it built on structuralism's
concern for the anatomy of the mind and led to greater concern over the functions of the mind, and
later to behaviorism. Functionalists regarded consciousness as an ever-changing stream or flow of
images and sensations — not a set of lifeless building blocks, as the structuralists claimed.
Jame’s functionalism was largely inspired by Charles Darwin’s work on evolution. The
functionalists admired Charles Darwin, who deduced that creatures evolve in ways that favor
survival. According to Darwin’s principle of natural selection, physical features that help animals
adapt to their environments are retained in evolution. Similarly, the functionalists wanted to find
out how the mind, perception, habits, and emotions help us adapt and survive.

Criticism

Functionalism was widely refuted because it was not based on controlled experiments and
its theories provided little predictive ability. However, it made important contributions to modern
psychology. Functionalism brought the study of animals into psychology. It also promoted
educational psychology (the study of learning, teaching, classroom dynamics, and related topics).
Learning makes us more adaptable, so the functionalists tried to find ways to improve education.
For similar reasons, functionalism gave rise to industrial psychology, the study of people at work.

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