Comparative Analysis Of Structuralism And Functionalism
Significant contributions to the field of American academic psychology appeared nearing the end of the nineteenth century transitioning into the next. In academia, psychology was beginning to be established as its’ own discipline. Edward Titchener, focused on mental structures at Cornell University creating the ideology of structuralism. This was considered as the first organized defined school of psychology. As a protest movement against Titchener’s structuralism, functionalism was developed and became a wide-ranging, all-encompassing school of psychology. Furthermore, functionalism reached further than the realm of academic psychology as it influenced areas of applied psychology, and the psychology of work-training and education. It is ideal to study these opposing approaches of functionalism and structuralism to improve our understanding of the development of psychology. As this provides us insight into psychology’s development into the scientific discipline it is today.
Structuralism developed from Titchener’s agreement with Wundt’s idea of studying immediate experience such as consciousness. It focuses on the structure of the mind, which further examines what specifically is the mind made of. As opposed to Wundt, who pursued to explain conscious experience with regard to cognitive processes, Titchener pursued to only describe mental experiences. This stimulated Titchener’s interest in examining the adult mind in terms of its’ components and how they all fit together in various forms. This led to structuralism’s focus on the structural components of the mind. It was proposed by Titchener, that in order to understand how something functions or what it does, its’ structural components must first be understood. An example of this would be how one could not study the interactions of cells if you do not know the structure of the cell. Thus developed Titchener’s goal with regard to structuralism, that in order to figure out what something is, we must examine what it is for.
Titchener’s use of introspection aided the exploration of the structure of human consciousness in structuralism. Introspection was a method of analysis to reduce perceptions, ideas and emotions to their characteristic elements. In which he encouraged his subjects to explore the elemental makeup of their experiences by describing their experience while perceiving a stimulus. Titchener wanted his subjects to describe the stimulus rather than naming it. Throughout these studies, he concluded that consciousness consisted of sensations, images and affections. Deeming the thought process to be the occurrence of sensations of the present experience and feelings emerging from a past experience.
With the definition of structuralism being very specific without much room for movement, this led to more developing opposing theories. Allowing one to argue that Titchener’s greatest contribution was how structuralism led to more diverse theories. Structuralism excluded many important aspects of psychology to study such as; human behaviour, abnormal psychology, personality and more. Consequently, leading others to create major break throughs in these areas, one of them being the school of functionalism. Functionalism addressed important areas within an evolutionary context and used more reliable research techniques than structuralism. However, its’ main focus was on what the mind’s function is rather than what the mind is.
Functionalism represented a set of principles, functions and methodologies that can be generally applied. As opposed to structuralism, functionalism was not a well-organized of a school of psychology and was more open to alternative viewpoints. Functionalism emerged from the criticism of Titchener’s claims on psychology. Later psychologists were critical of Titchener’s experimental language of introspection, which was believed to be unreliable and inaccurate. Therefore, they sought to look at other methods that would create better solutions to fit specific problems adapting various methods.
Majority of functionalists were influenced by William James due to his open-minded attitude towards psychology. However, James approached functionalism from an evolutionary perspective in which the function of consciousness was adaptive. The mind is able to promote various functions in different situations for survival. Furthermore, James proposed an ideology in which all reported aspects of human experience are worth of study influencing other functionalists to explore the function of consciousness. John Dewey argues that the stimulus and response determine each other and its’ function is the distinction between them. With regard to functionalism, the function is allowing the organism to reach its’ goals when responding to the stimulus. James Angell on the other hand, proposed that consciousness should be known for its’ function and accommodative processes that adjusts to changes in the environment. Rather that the mental processes and psychological functions are more resilient than what was proposed by Titchener.
Although structuralism and functionalism do not currently exist as they did when they were first proposed. Their historical significance still represents and influences the greater field of Psychology. Structuralism was developed as the first school of American Psychology. In which Titchener’s affirmation of representing psychology as an experimental discipline has influenced the empiricism of psychology today. This can be seen in the field of Cognitive Neuroscience. Although functionalism never became an established school of psychology, evolutionary psychology emerged as a result of functionalism. Both evolutionary psychology and cognitive neuroscience are able to use contrasting methods to better understand the mental processes and behaviour of humans.
In cognitive neuroscience, mental processes are examined in relation to its’ respective brain regions which can be associated with a structuralist approach. Cognitive neuroscience claims that the configuration of our brains determines the various functions of our mind. Such as, if we had a different genetic makeup for olfactory receptors, the odours we would smell would be perceived differently. Understanding the molecular functions altogether contributes to our knowledge of the human mind and how it functions overall. Hence the approximations for various behaviours which can be attributed to understanding the structure of the brain. Therefore, structuralism provides insight of how the structure of our minds creates mental processes that contribute to various experiences of consciousness.
Evolutionary psychology can be seen to adapt various functionalism practices and perspectives. This would also be due to how functionalism was greatly influenced by Darwin and his evolutionary theory. Such as how functionalism aims to understand mental processes and its’ adaptive nature in various environments and situations. Evolutionary psychology focuses on the use of natural selection and evolution that has programmed individuals to behave a certain way. Which further accepts how the mind can perform adaptive functions. However, evolutionary psychology spans further than adaptive mental processes. As its’ goals focus upon encompassing various aspects of psychology to develop a holistic view of the psychological experience.
The approaches we may choose does influence the conclusions we draw with regard to the functions of our minds and brain. Structuralism and functionalism are just two out of the diverse ways to study our consciousness and mental processes. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the approach we take when studying any given topic. As this will lead to biasing the methodologies we may use to explore the human consciousness and the various conclusions we come up with. However, it is still important to appreciate these schools of thought to help develop more theories to further enhance our understanding of the topic at hand. This allows us to apply our various conclusions through the schools of psychology to comprehend the various and complex human processes.
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