Structuralist Thinkers In Psychology

Psychology was first established as a science separate from biology and philosophy, the debate over how to describe and explain the human mind and behavior began. Structuralism emerged as the first school of thought and some of the ideas associated with the structuralist school were advocated by the founder of the first psychology lab, Wilhelm Wundt. One of Wundt 's students, an man named Edward B. Tichener, would later go on to formally establish and name structuralism, although he broke away from many of Wundt 's ideas. Almost immediately other theories surfaced to vie for dominance in psychology. In response to structuralism, an American perspective emerged under the influence of thinkers’.

Structuralism

Structuralism was the first

Major Structuralist Thinkers

• Wilhelm Wundt

• Edward B. Titchner

Criticisms of Structuralism

• By today’s scientific standards, the experimental methods used to study the structures of the mind were too subjective—the use of introspection led to a lack of reliability in results.

• Other critics argue that structuralism was too concerned with internal behavior, which is not directly observable and cannot be accurately measured.

Strengths of Structuralism

• Structuralism is important because it is the first major school of thought in psychology.

• Structuralism also influenced experimental

• Influenced the educational system, especially with regards to John Dewey’s belief that children should learn at the level for which they are developmentally prepared. Behaviorism

Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select -- doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.

--John Watson,

Behavioral psychology, also known as behaviorism, focused on the overt behavior i.e observable behavior. In this theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. According to behaviorism, behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner with no consideration of internal mental states. Criticisms of Behaviorism

• Many critics argue that behaviorism is a one-dimensional approach to behavior and those behavioral theories do not account for free will and internal influences such as moods, thoughts, and