ipl-logo

Structuralism Vs Functional Psychology

1537 Words7 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Basics of structuralism and functionalism in psychology

Psychology is the study of human mind and its functions that affects behavior. ()Studying human is a complicated process as human behavior has many variations, motivations and expectations. Over years, field of psychology has developed different approaches that reflects this diversity. Different approaches can yield different results and to begin to understand these possible outcomes, we take a closer look at three common approaches: structuralism, functionalism and behaviorism and then compare and contrast them.
Structuralism Psychology
Structuralism is the first school of psychology and began back in 1879 from the pioneering work of Wildhem Wundt who is also considered the father of modern (expereimental) psychology. His ideas were adopted …show more content…

Structuralism is the study of the parts and elements that make up the mind while; the key difference between structuralisms and functionalism was in the fundamentally different questions that they asked. Structuralisms asked, what are the elementary contents, the structures, of the human mind? Functional psychology was concerned with mind in use, what the mind does for us. Nevertheless; functionalists asked – what do people do; and also why do they do it? Just as the structuralisms were concerned with the structure of mental life, the functionalisms were concerned with the functions of mental processes and structures. Another way of viewing the difference between structuralism and functionalism is that structuralists believed that sensations are the basis elements of consciousness; study sensations through methods of inspection “looking within” (Wundt & Titchene); nonetheless, functionalism inspired by William James, believed that psychology should focus on the purpose and adaptive function of consciousness and also believed in practical results of the mental processes. Structuralism focused all of psychology on the experience of an observer. That is, structuralism was based on the notion that the task of psychology is to analyze consciousness into its basic elements and investigate how these elements are related (Hilgard, 1987; Thorne & Henley, 1997). Just as physicists were studying how matter is made up of basis particles, the structuralists wanted to identify and examine the fundamental components of conscious experience, for instance sensations, ideas, and images. Whereas; functionalism, was based on the belief that psychology should investigate the function or purpose of consciousness (the “whys”), rather that its structure (the “whats”). Influenced by Darwin’s evolutionary theory-stressed the

Show More
Related
463 Words | 2 Pages

Author and First Amendment Lawyer Greg Lukianoff, in his book, Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship The End of American Debate, explores deeply into some of the most compelling college and university controversies in which freedom of speech, a right every person in the United States has, is taken away. The author mentions the way students, through debate, become less aware on what their rights are in terms of defending themselves from harsh administrative rule. Author Lukianoff explicitly states his point that what is currently happening to students in modern educational institutions is affecting and will affect them badly later down the road. The author made several arguments that completely made me agree with him.

Read More
1869 Words | 8 Pages

It is also to highlight why functionalism becomes the dominant ideology when it comes to the structures in society. However, the word functionalism here is to be used in the Mertonian

Read More
604 Words | 3 Pages

Finally, the three sociological perspectives can be seen. Functionalist can be observed in the way

Read More
1812 Words | 8 Pages

A functionalist reply to the Inverted Spectrum Argument Jingshu Meng Since the mid to late 20th century, functionalism gained enormous traction as a newly emerging theory of mind. Before functionalism, the two main competing theories are the dualist and materialist accounts of the mind. Dualism contends the mind is a nonphysical substance. Materialism, on the other hand, claims all mental states are in principle physical states. Both theories face various difficulties.

Read More
1005 Words | 5 Pages

There are three different forms of functionalism such as the analytic functionalism, physchofuctionalism and machine-state functionalism. Analytic functionalism is the most common of them all, it describes the function of a job description of mental states. The second from is physchofunctionalism in which opposes to the idea of behaviorism and saying no to the physical aspect of the mind. The last form of functionalism is the machine-state functionalism in which was founded by Hillary Putnam. Putnam was an American philosopher whose ideas were based on the apologies of mind.

Read More
778 Words | 4 Pages

We look are homelessness and functionalism and  how on a macro leave how it affects homeless. We also look at the programs that available for people.        Explanations using sociology theory    The functionalist perspective, also called functionalism, is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology.   Edward Durkheim, was the regional person who was greatly interested in seeing how social order is possible or how society remains relatively stable.

Read More
386 Words | 2 Pages

Looking at society as a whole with individual units that work together to make society function efficiently is the structural functionalism concept. Each unit has a part and is describe as institutions such as family, religion, education, politics, economy and inequality. Because structural functionalism looks at social structure and patterns of behavior it is able to create values for society. As well as, distinguish between visible and suppressed problems within the social structures that may need to be addressed. For instance, homelessness is indication of dysfunction in structural functionalism system.

Read More
854 Words | 4 Pages

Structural-functionalism or functionalism, are groups of individuals who advocate, or work according to the principles of functionalism. The show however, portrays behavior that is clearly not functional and could be considered dysfunctional for society. But, there are examples of groups of people or individuals who work together for the well-being of the town. For instance, Quahogs news crew which consist of anchors and reporters work together the provide news for the town. The Quahog Police Department.

Read More
762 Words | 4 Pages

The functionalism theory is a macro-level theory. It sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote equilibrium and stability. These parts may be functional, which means that the society has beneficial consequences. They may also be dysfunctional, which means that society will have negative consequences. Both of these together will create equilibrium among the society, which

Read More
809 Words | 4 Pages

By way of example, all three of the theoretical perspectives notably have idiosyncrasies about one another. As an illustration, structural functionalism is defined as Due to the fact that society consists of vital parts and systems they work in unison with each other to run smoothly. The people in the society contribute in myriad areas of interest in the process of structural functionalism. David Claerbaut states that these areas of interest, incorporate into society with: religion, economics, education, politics and family. On the other hand of living among each other actively working to create a seamless community we have the conflict theory.

Read More
747 Words | 3 Pages

Most fields of science rely on theories to explain centrally important issues, such as social phenomena, that have a wide range of applications. Sociologists attempt to describe human society though their theories, such as the structural-functionalism theory, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionalism. While the three theories attempt to describe how society functions the way it does, all three differ in their views of how humans are related to society and each other. In the structural-functionalism, the dominant view is that if the structures that exist are functional, then those structures should be preserved and maintained. Structure-functionalists tend focus on the interrelatedness to the social structures that make up society.

Read More
1193 Words | 5 Pages

In the mid 1800s, psychology was flourishing. Seemingly each new psychologist would often research mental phenomena with a slightly different perspective. In the 1890s, Edward Titchener brought Wilhelm Wundt’s psychology to the United States of America, establishing what is now known as structuralism. Generally, structuralists believe that everything within conscious experience is merely a combination of mental ingredients, which can be parsed apart via introspection (Hergenhan, 2017). Around the same time, a new school known as functionalism began to develop.

Read More
1013 Words | 5 Pages

Structural Functionalism is a sociological theory that tries to clarify why society functions the way it does by concentrating on the connection between the different social institutions that make up society (e.g., government, law, education, religion, etc.). In Animal Farm the first example of structural functionalism is when the boar thinks the ordinances of their society are ruled by the oppressor humans. The second example is when the traditional structure is arranged to keep the animals in captivity. Lastly, the third example is when the arrangement allows humans to always be on the receiving end.

Read More
817 Words | 4 Pages

Functionalism can be defined as a psychological philosophy, which considers mental life and behavior with regards to active adaptation to the person’s environment. Therefore, it provides people with the general basis on which they can develop psychological theories that are not readable and testable through controlled experiments and applied psychology. The whole idea of functionalism first arose in the United States back in the 19th century. During that time, it was used as an alternative to structuralism (Zhong, 2008).

Read More
784 Words | 4 Pages

From the point of view of Talcott Parsons, structural-functionalism describe a particular stage in the methodological development of social science, rather than specific school of thought. Strengthens and Weaknesses of Structural Functional Theory The strength of this theory is it can be used widely in the society. Structural functional theory can explain most of the social change as a result of changes such as population increasing and increased

Read More

More about Structuralism Vs Functional Psychology

Related Topics

Open Document