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6 Structuralism and functionalism
The Birth of Functionalism
The Birth of Functionalism: William James
Prioritized the functional over the exclusively theoretical and academic. Combination of sociological factors and the intellectual drive of William James.
Sociological Factors which led to Structuralism and functionalism
Transfer of psychology to the United States → collateral consequence of the two World Wars, and transfer of psychology to the US (Nazism regime affected Gestalt psychology → how people perceive experience things as whole patterns or configurations).
The American mindset → Americans were more pragmatic and looked for the purpose. psychology as a useful science → structuralism was less appealing to them than functionalism.
Evolutionism and the influence of Spencer (1820-1903 → great influnce from Spencer → he generalized a social version of evolutionism. His
adaptation and struggle for life or the survival of the fittest as a way of explaining the social structure (settlers) → which were largely absent in Structuralism and central to Functionalism.
The pragmatism of William James (1842-1910)
Brother of novelist Henry James
Along with Peirce and Dewey, he is one of the three major figures of pragmatism or utilitarianism, and as a psychologist.
Founder of psychology in the United States (James' Functionalism vs.
Wundt's Structuralism).
Author of "Principles of Psychology" , revolutionised psychology, gave it
scientific weight and has been a reference manual for generations.
he was the one who gave scientific consistency—through the
Principles—to the functionalist orientation in contrast to Wundt and the structuralist trend.
Hugo Münsterberg (1863-1916)
Hugo Münsterberg (1863-1916) succeeded James, and shared similar ideas → he was the first to develop research in forensic psychology and industrial psychology.
William James (1842-1910) main contributions:
Division of the Object of Psychology: James established a division of the object of study in psychology that became classic and is useful for generally interpreting different psychologies.
According to James → psychology can be divided into these three themes:
1. Afferences-sensation (E): antecedent processes and organic conditions: stimuli,
2. Efferences or movements (R): consecutive processes, responses,
3. Central processes-reflection (M): mediation between sensations and responses, which can be represented schematically as follows: Scheme: E - M - R
The Flow of Consciousness: He interpreted consciousness as a flow that cannot be broken down into simpler units, so it is more important to investigate its "vital function," its utility, than its structure.
he considered consciousness as flow, as it is ordinarily conceived, does not exist, just as matter does not exist, to which Berkeley dealt the final blow.
The Self: He was the first to outline a theory of personality by developing a psychological theory of the self based on empirical observations.
empirical self that distinction between the self that possesses (subject)
and the me that is possessed (object), which has three levels:
1. Material self (body, family, home).
2. Social self (recognition, fame, honor).
3. Spiritual self (projects, sense of activity).
He also described self-esteem as a ratio of successes to aspirations.
Instincts and Habits: suggesting that it is beneficial for humans to develop habits so that, by automating certain activities like driving or riding a bicycle, they can free up energy to dedicate to other tasks → which reflects his pragmatic viewpoint.
Emotions: James-Lange Theory: collaborated with Lange when regarding the proportial of emotion.
Summarised in the famous statement: "We do not cry because we are sad, but we are sad because we cry."
James understood that situations produce somatic reactions, and in the feeling or experience of those reactions lies the core of the emotion.
SITUATION → PHYSIOLOGICAL REACTION → EMOTION.
It is true that controlling reactions can modulate emotions (counting to 10 while angry), but emotions are more
than somatic reactions; and not all physiological reactions have an associated emotion (one may be pale with
fear or anger)
Be noted that he emphasised—contrary to previous tradition—the importance of the bodily dimension in affectivity.
Freedom: he adopted a pragmatic attitude. He believed that freedom was necessary and explained it somewhat deterministic and was based on conceiving ideas as drivers of behaviour.
Freedom allows for a reasonable social order. What is mentally chosen
is what is done (attention and reflection are important)
Pragmatism: his functionalism is linked to his philosophical pragmatism, which consists of defining the truth not in essential terms, but through its functionality and utility → something is true if it is provided in practice → the truth changes and evolves.
The Institutionalisation of Psychology: Stanley Hall (1844-1924), and the Founding of the APA
Institutionalisation of Psychology
Hall was a psychologist with original ideas, but his fundamental contribution to psychology came not through those ideas but through his organisational ability, which he dedicated to establishing psychology as a science.
Hall´s contribution to psychology:
He created the first experimental psychology laboratory in the USA (1883) at Johns Hopkins University.
He directed a large part of the first psychology PhDs. in the USA.
He founded the first psychology journal in the USA in (American Journal of Psychology ) in 1887, as well as numerous journals.
He founded the APA in 1892, the most important psychology association
in the world.
He introduced Freud to the USA by organising a series of lectures.
Theoretical foundation of a Sencerian biological evolutionist psychology, which he called genetic psychology.
Genetic psychology → biological recapitulation (in our
maturation we go through the stages of evolution). From this point
on, psychology went from having biology (vs. Physiology) as a
point of reference.
Main contribution: pioneering studies on development and the
various life phases. Specifically, adolescence and old age
Alongside, Dewey, he encouraged natural curiosity in the child's learning and
relaxation of discipline.
American Structuralism
American structuralism was led by the Englishman Edward Titchener (1867-1927) - disiciple of Wundt.
Titchener is (alongside with Wundt) the main representative of structural psychology.
His main works include Experimental Psychology and a widely used manual: A Textbook of Psychology (1909).
Characteristics of Structural Psychology - Titchener
Following Wundt´s line, Titchener was interested in a psychology that
focused solely or fundamentally on acquiring pure (non-practical) knowledge about the being or the structures of the human mind.
He was particularly concerned with the normal or general mind of the adult, which excluded comparative and developmental psychology, as well as the treatment of mental illnesses.
The human mind works from sensations grouped by laws of association.
The goal of structuralism psychology was to look for elementary sensations (like a periodic table). Do not theorise about them, because what is scientific is the facts and not the theories, which means emphasizes the importance of focusing on empirical evidence (the facts) rather than abstract or speculative theories in scientific work.
His investigations consisted of meticulous experiments using introspection - similar to Skinners perspective.
He opposed (disagreed) with Külpe, because of his interpretation of intelligence → were no higher faculties; everything was reduced to sensations ( Strong opposition to Külpe: there are no higher faculties, only sensations; Understanding is a context that surrounds sensations by association).
Comparison of structuralism with anatomy and functionalism with physiology. They must be integrated and not excluded, but with the primacy of structuralism; which made functionalism stronger.
Titchener established a significant group of researchers who actively worked on the investigation and dissemination of structuralism → This group conducted an enormous amount of experimental work but had little interaction with other psychologists and was highly dependent on Titchener's personal leadership → As a result, upon his death, the
group dissolved rapidly because there was no leader to replace him. Their experimental work relied heavily on introspection, which was increasingly discredited, leading psychology to shift towards functionalism and application—essentially the opposite mindset of structuralism.
The Victory of Functionalism
functionalism resonated much more with the practical American mindset than structuralism did.
it allowed for greater development of psychology by both permitting and actively promoting the application of psychological principles to real life.
The Chicago Group
Functionalism was a school of thought that focused on the functions or purposes of the mind and behavior,
John Dewey (1859-1952)
James R. Angell (1869-1949)
John Dewey (1859-1952)
John Dewey (1859-1952)
American philosopher of a pragmatist line.
often considered a founder of functionalism.
interested in social change
Chicago group
The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology" (1896)
Key influences that Dewey and Angell had on on psychology
Analysis of the reflex act: formal beginning of the functionalist school. Although the Bell-Magendie law indicates that sensory and motor stimuli follow different paths in the nerves, since it cannot be detected subjectively, it is not useful. Thus, they meant we must analyze the process as a whole as behavior and its adaptive utility (e.g. child who burns himself with a flame).
In education, He rejected rote learning. Insistence on interaction with the environment and pioneer with Hall in emphazing manipulative learning.
James R. Angell (1869-1949)
James R. Angell (1869-1949)
Disseminating and consolidating functionalism
Titchener's attacks on structuralism forced him to define his position as a functionalist → structuralism ended up strengthening the opposing functionalist positions.
in his article “the Province of Functional Psychology”, he states that functionalism was initially more of a collection of ideas than a defined movement, and it had to self-define in response to Titchener’s opposition.
He was president of the APA.
He created theoretical bases of functionalism from empiricism and evolutionism (Aristotle, Spencer and Darwin).
He strengthened functionalism, and created bridges towards behaviourism.
Methodologically he insisted on direct observation, the description of processes over introspection and the beginning of work with mazes.
His disciples were Harvey Carr (1873-1954) and John Watson.
The Columbia Group
The Columbia Group
Thorndike (1874-1949), Robert. S. Woodworth (1869-1962), Cattell belongs to the Colombian group.
The Psychology of the Colombian group was less theoretical and more practical than that of Chicago.
Woodworth emphasize importance of mediational processes between stimulus and response, opting for an E-M-R (Stimulus-Mediator-Response) framework instead of the more reductive E-R (Stimulus-Response) model.
Insistence on motivational aspects (drive or impulse action).
Woodworth believed that in the same situation, a person or an animal could react differently depending on which internal drive (impulse) was present .
Conducted also research on transfer in learning: demonstrating that it was influenced by common elements among learned tasks rather than merely by absolute learning capabilities → for instance, learning by calculating the area of a circle would make it easier to calculate another area, but learning Greek would not necessarily facilitate learning history afterward.
His work Experimental Psychology (1938) → standard textbook for 20 years.
