Exploring Early Schools of Psychology: Structuralism, Functionalism, Gestalt Psychology, Psychoanalysis

1. Chapter 1

2. 1. STRUCTURALISM • Edward B. Titchener established the school of thought known as structuralism • When 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

3. Edward B. Titchener was Wilhem Wundt’s student • “Structuralism was the first school of psychology and focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components. Researchers tried to understand the basic elements of consciousness using a method known as introspection” • structuralism did not last long beyond Titchener's death

4. This theory focused on three things: the individual elements of consciousness, how they organized into more complex experiences, and how these mental phenomena correlated with physical events • Titchener believed that the goal of psychology was to study mind and consciousness. He defined consciousness as the sum total of mental experience at any given moment, and the mind as the accumulated experience of a lifetime

5. 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

6. Strengths of Structuralism • Structuralism is important because it is the first major school of thought in psychology. • Structuralism also influenced experimental psychology.

7. 2. Functional psychology or functionalism • Functional psychology or functionalism refers to a general psychological philosophy that considers mental life and behavior in terms of active adaptation to the person's environment.[1] • Rather than the structures of the mind, functionalism was interested in mental processes and their relation to behavior

8. Darwin’s argued that the environment forces a natural selection upon its inhabitants and favors those inhabitants that have adaptive characteristics. The members within a species who have adaptive characteristics pass on this survival component to their offspring while those members without the adaptive characteristics begin to disappear

9. It can refer to the study of how a mental process operates. This is a major departure from the study of the structure of a mental process, the difference between stopping a train to tear it apart to study its parts (structuralism), and looking at how the systems interact while it is running (functionalism). The term 'function' can also refer to how the mental process functions in the evolution of the species, what adaptive property it provides that would cause it to be selected through evolution

10. 3. Gestalt Psychology • The principle maintains that the human eye sees objects in their entirety before perceiving their individual parts • founded in the 20th century that provided the foundation for the modern study of perception. Gestalt theory emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts. That is, the attributes of the whole are not deducible from analysis of the parts in isolation.

11. …The word Gestalt is used in modern German to mean the way a thing has been “placed,” or “put together.” There is no exact equivalent in English. “Form” and “shape” are the usual translations; in psychology the word is often interpreted as “pattern” or “configuration.”

12. 4. PSYCHOANALYSIS • Psychoanalysis was founded by Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis is both a theory of how the mind works and a treatment • The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e. make the unconscious conscious • Psychoanalysis is commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders

13. Psychoanalysis Assumptions • Psychoanalytic psychologists see psychological problems as rooted in the unconscious mind. • ·Manifest symptoms are caused by latent (hidden) disturbances. • ·Typical causes include unresolved issues during development or repressed trauma. • ·Treatment focuses on bringing the repressed conflict to consciousness, where the client can deal with it