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HS-07-StructuralismFunctionalism1week6.pptxContemporary Issues: Historical Framework of Contemporary Psychology
Unit 7
Structuralism & Functionalism
Structuralism E.B. Titchener’s Psychology
Brought Wundt’s Psych to America
E. B. Titchener (1867-1927)
English, educated at Oxford
1892 PhD from Wundt at Leipzig
1892 Cornell
The Postulates of a Structural Psychology (1898)
Analogy to biology
Structuralism is to functionalism as anatomy is to physiology
Hence, understanding structure precedes understanding function
Structuralism
Structural Psychology:
describe the components of consciousness in terms of basic elements
describe the combinations of basic elements
explain the connections of the elements of consciousness to the nervous system
Consciousness: "immediate experience”
Probed by introspection
Structures of the Mind (only these 2)
Sensation
Thought
Structuralism (continued)
Analysis of immediate conscious experience
Systematic experimental introspection
Required extensive training an “introspective habit”
Designed to reduce bias (in principle)
Elements of human conscious experience
Sensations basic elements of perception
attributes quality, intensity, duration, clearness
Images basic elements of ideas
attributes quality, intensity, duration, but less clearness
Affective states basic elements of emotions
Only 2 qualities pleasant, unpleasant
Experimental Psychology at Cornell
Structuralism did not gain much popularity OUTSIDE of Cornell
Caught between Behaviorist and Gestalt Psychology
Ended with Titchner
Note: E.G. Boring (Hx of Exp Psych) was Tichner’s Student
“Titchener’s Manuals” transcended theory dispute
textbooks for experimental psychology “drill courses”
student and instructor’s manuals (teachers were often new to the methods and concepts of experimental psychology)
1901 Qualitative Experiments
Experiencing and introspecting to various sensory, perceptual, and affective experiences
1905 Quantitative Experiments
Psychophysics, Reaction Time
Titchener’s Experimentalists
APA too “eclectic” for Titchener
Not sufficiently “experimental”
Dropped membership 1899
Informal annual spring meetings (promote Exper. Psych
Old Boys Club - No women
“…women could not tolerate such masculine activities as smoking …”
But Christine Ladd-Franklin (1914)
"Have your smokers separated if you like (tho I for one always smoke when I am in fashionable society), but a scientific meeting is a public affair, and it is not open to you to leave out a class of fellow workers without extreme discourtesy"
Christine Ladd-Franklin
Early exposure to suffragettes via Mother.
Vassar College (Math, 1869) - taught 2nd school
1878, entered JHU on fellowship – when JHU realized she was a woman, tried to revoke but math prof (Sylvester) covered her – though didn’t get title.
1882, completed PhD (1st woman) – JHU would not grant degree till 44 years later. Married JHU mathematics professor, Fabian Franklin.
1891-92 Germany (w/ husband’s sabbatical)
Worked with Müller and von Helmholtz.
Color Vision; evolution
Tried for JHU position (married women typically not hired)
finally in 1904, taught 1 course at JHU (unpaid, renewed annually-common for women)
Worked with Müller & Helmholtz
Theory of Color Vision
evolution
Evaluating Structuralism
Study of “generalized adult mind”
Only adults could be trained to introspect properly
could not include children, the insane, or animals
Interesting topics, but not “psychology”
Hence, structuralism became isolated
Problems with introspection
Fundamentally subjective and biased
Debate: Wundt vs Oswald Külpe (PhD & assistant)
EBT said all thought involved an image; Imageless thought could be broken down to basic sensory images (support Wundt)
Imageless thought: objective significance not associated with specific words, symbols or signs.
Titchener’s lasting contribution
Vigorous advocate for basic laboratory research
Functionalism
how consciousness helps environmental adapt
vs Wundt & Titchner – structure of consciousness
Psychology - science of mental content, not of structure
1900 Joseph Jastrow APA Pres
Consistent with Darwinian thinking and American pragmatism
James: mind and consciousness would not exist if it did not serve some practical, adaptive purpose. It has evolved because it presented advantages
purpose of human consciousness is to enable mankind to consider its past, adjust to the present, and plan the future
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903): Social Darwinism
Issue: reconcile the objective, scientific nature of psychology with its focus on consciousness, which by its nature is not directly observable
The Chicago Functionalists (& some at Columbia)
John Dewey (1859-1952)
PhD from Hall @ JHU in 1884; U Michigan (–94)
1894 joined the new U Chicago (1894–1904)
After Chicago went to Columbia (1905-1930)
A Founder of N.S.S.R. (1919) – community ed
Emphasize social influence on mind & behavior
The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology (1896)
Opposed analysis into components
Better seen as an integrated, coordinated whole that serves to adapt the individual to the environment
stimulus, sensation, & response exist but not as separate, juxtaposed events.
Rather: coordination -> stim enriched by the results of previous experiences & response is modulated by sensorial experience.
Dewey’s importance for history of education
Progressive education model
Relevant curriculum; Learning by Doing; Participatory Democracy
James R. Angell (1869-1949)
Masters with Dewey @Michigan; MS Psych @ Harvard
German doctoral studies, but never finished final edits
1894-1911: Psychology Program at Chicago
Mind/Body single functioning unit
Note: supervised John Watson
APA Presidential address 1905
Structuralism: what is mind?
Functionalism: what is mind for?
Rejected Titchener’s analogy to biology
The Province of Functional Psychology 1907
1921 Presidency of Yale
Harvey Carr (1873-1954)
Important maze learning research Under Watson
1925 Psychology: A Study of Mental Activity
Popular text of functionalist ideas
The Columbia Functionalists
James McKeen Cattell (1860-1944)
PhD with Wundt (1886)
Studied with Galton
statistics & quantification of research
individual differences
eugenics movement
1890 article on “mental tests” (coins the term)
Wissler study: mental tests of Columbia students
RT, sensory, etc
Clark Wissler:
Tests not corr with academic success or each other
Cattell abandoned testing
Editorial work (e.g., Science, Psychological Review)
founded the Psychological Corporation after leaving Columbia 1917 (political/anti war)
Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)
Started with James
Comparative Psychology
Maze learning
Cattell brought to Columbia (Ph.D. 1898)
Switched to cats and dogs in "puzzled boxes.”
Trial and error learning (“trial and accidental success”)
Ruled out reasoning and imitation
Controversy with Mills over the issue of whether animal behavior should be studied in the lab or in a “natural” environment
"Law of Effect”
the immediate consequence of a mental connection can work back upon it to strengthen it.
Robert S. Woodworth (1869-1962)
Like many, attracted by James’s Principles
PhD with Cattell at Columbia in 1899
Transfer of Training work with Thorndike
Questioned value of “formal discipline” education
James & others: brain can be exercised SO disciplines like Latin taught for discipline NOT content
Amount of transfer proportional to task similarity
Note: no control group
Emphasis on organism motivation
S-O-R to replace S-R
Psychometrics ( Greek: mental & measurement)
“Columbia Bible” – Experimental Psychology 1938
Produced modern definition of experiment
Manipulate independent variable
Hold all else constant
Measure dependent variable
Exper. research different from correlational research
Causality issue
