Structuralism, Functionalism, Behaviorism, Gestalt Psychology, Psychoanalysis and a Review of Psychology
Unit 9 Project
Kaplan University
PS210
Professor Erica St. Germain
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Structuralism
Structuralism was founded by E.B. Titchener but only lasted two decades because of newer movements in the psychology; however it was still know as the first school of thought. Structuralism is a mode of thinking and a method of analysis practiced in the 20-centruy social sciences and humanities; it focuses on recurring patterns of thought and behavior, it seeks to analyse social relationships in terms of highly abstract relational structures. In other words structuralism is a study based on ones unconsciousness and observation, the things a person does, the way a person acts in his/her society, which is acted out unconsciously. Although there is a dispute between who is actually the founder of structuralism between Wundt and Titchener it is still considered a great contribution to psychology. Psychologist like James Gibson felt that his generation had no intentions of using the theory or method of structuralism. Just like many things in life structuralism was also criticised, “structuralism provided a strong, established orthodoxy against which newly developing movements in psychology could array their forces” (Schultz, 2011). All people think in to terms of opposites so as to classify-meaning we must be able to distinguish between our conscious and unconscious behaviours.
Functionalism
Functionalism is concerned with the functions of the mind and how the organisms adapt to its environment (Schultz, 2011). It is something that we use in our everyday lives. Our minds functions according to what environment we are in, then our bodies react. To help with the understanding of how functionalism works here is an example: take for instance you put some figures into a calculator to be added (15+7). On one level what is happening in the calculator is dependent on the hardware; on the other level the calculator’s calculating the answer. But we
Kaplan University
PS210
Professor Erica St. Germain
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Structuralism
Structuralism was founded by E.B. Titchener but only lasted two decades because of newer movements in the psychology; however it was still know as the first school of thought. Structuralism is a mode of thinking and a method of analysis practiced in the 20-centruy social sciences and humanities; it focuses on recurring patterns of thought and behavior, it seeks to analyse social relationships in terms of highly abstract relational structures. In other words structuralism is a study based on ones unconsciousness and observation, the things a person does, the way a person acts in his/her society, which is acted out unconsciously. Although there is a dispute between who is actually the founder of structuralism between Wundt and Titchener it is still considered a great contribution to psychology. Psychologist like James Gibson felt that his generation had no intentions of using the theory or method of structuralism. Just like many things in life structuralism was also criticised, “structuralism provided a strong, established orthodoxy against which newly developing movements in psychology could array their forces” (Schultz, 2011). All people think in to terms of opposites so as to classify-meaning we must be able to distinguish between our conscious and unconscious behaviours.
Functionalism
Functionalism is concerned with the functions of the mind and how the organisms adapt to its environment (Schultz, 2011). It is something that we use in our everyday lives. Our minds functions according to what environment we are in, then our bodies react. To help with the understanding of how functionalism works here is an example: take for instance you put some figures into a calculator to be added (15+7). On one level what is happening in the calculator is dependent on the hardware; on the other level the calculator’s calculating the answer. But we
References: Schultz, D.P. and Schultz, S.E. (2011). A History of Modern Psychology, Tenth Edition. Belmont, CA. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Boeree, C. G. (2000). Behaviorism. Retrieved January 21, 2012 from URL http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/beh.html. Thornton, S. (December 29, 2010). Freud Sigmund. Retrieved January 23, 2012 from URL http://www.iep.utm.edu/freud/