A History of Psychology Chapter 5: Structuralism

A History of Psychology

Chapter 5: Structuralism

Introduction Wundt:

(experimental psychology) 1. organization of elements 2. through Apperception 3. Mind has the power to

organize mental elements voluntarily

Titchener: (structuralism)

1. focused on elements 2. through Association 3. Analyze

consciousness into its component parts and determine its structure.

Structuralism---- Edward Bradford Titchener(1867-1927)

A. His life: 1. Born in England 2. Attended at Oxford U.

a. philosophy and the classics b. research assistant in physiology c. interested in Wundt’s

psychology


2. 1892, studied with Wundt and earned Ph.D at Leipzig

3. Back to Oxford U. and wished to become the English pioneer of Wundt’s psychology.

4. However, his colleagues were skeptical of scientific approach to philosophical issues. Thus, he left England to Cornell U.


5. Cornell University (1893-1927) a. 1893-1900 established lab, did research, and

wrote articles.

b. supervised more than 50 doctoral candidates

c. directed students’ research topics

d. built his system of structuralism

e. translated Wundt’s books such as Principles of Physiological Psychology


B. His work 1. His books

a. 1896: An Outline of Psychology b. 1898: Primer of Psychology c. 1901-1905: Experimental Psychology: A Manual of Lab

Practice 1) stimulated growth of lab work in US 2) influenced a generation of experimental psychology 3) popular text, translated in to 5 languages

Structuralism---- Edward Bradford Titchener(1867-1927) 2. 1904: Titchener Experimentalists organized; men only.

3. Accepted women in psychology graduate programs a. one-third of his doctoral students were women b. Margaret F. Washburn

1) first woman Ph.D in psychology 2) wrote important book on comparative

psychology (The Animal Mind, 1908) 3) first woman psychologist elected to National

Academy of Sciences 4) president of the APA


C. the content of conscious experience

1. Subject matter of psychology a. conscious experience b. as that experience is dependent on the person

who is actually experiencing it.

2. Dependent on the experiencing individual Other sciences: independent of experiencing

persons (e.g., temperature)


3. Consider phenomena in terms of how human observe and experience these phenomena, e.g., light and sound.

4. Stimulus error: Confusing the mental process with the object we are

observing. See an apple and describe that object as an apple

instead of reporting the elements of color, brightness, and shape they are experiencing.


5. Immediate versus mediate experience Color, brightness, or shape (immediate

experience)

Other than color, brightness, or shape (mediate experience: interpreting the object)


6. Consciousness: the sum of our experiences as they exist at a given time

7. Mind: the sum of our experiences accumulated over a lifetime


8. Pure science a. only legitimate purpose: to discover the

facts (structure) of the mind b. no applied aspects c. only normal adult humans


D. Introspection 1. Self-observation

2. Relied on trained observers reporting the elements of their conscious state

3. Adopted Kulpe’s label, “systematic experimental introspection” Used detailed, qualitative, subjective report of mental activities

during the act of introspecting


4. Opposed Wundt’s approach Wundt: synthesis (Whole) Titchener: component parts (Parts)

5. Goal: analysis; to discover the atoms of the mind


6. Mechanist: subjects were “reagents” and were like

mechanical recording instruments

7. Proposed an experimental approach to introspective observation in psychology: an experiment is an observations that can be

repeated, isolated, and varied


E. Elements of consciousness 1. Defined three essential problems for psychology

a. reduce conscious processes to simplest components

b. determine laws by which elements were associated

c. connect the elements with their physiological conditions


2. Aims: the same as those of the natural sciences

3. Proposed three elementary states of consciousness a. sensations

basic element of perception, e.g., sound or smell b. images

the element of idea, e.g., memory of past experiences c. affective states

the element of emotion, e.g., love, hate, and sadness


4. Discovered 44,500 basic elements of sensation a. each is conscious b. each is distinct from all others c. each could combine with others to form

perceptions and ideas

Structuralism---- Edward Bradford Titchener(1867-1927) 5. characteristics of mental elements

A. quality B. intensity C. duration D. clearness

6. Rejected Wundt’s tridimensional theory, suggested only pleasure/displeasure


7. 1918: a. dropped concept of mental elements b. suggested study of dimensions instead of basic elements

8. Early 1920s a. questioned term structural psychology b. called his approach as “existential psychology” c. considered replacement of introspection with

phenomenological approach (i.e., examining experience just as it occurs, without trying to break it down into elements)


III. Criticisms of Structuralism A. Introspection 1. Method of introspection

If the mind were capable of observing its own activities, it needs to have two parts.

2. Definition of introspection Difficulty defining exactly what he meant


3. Definition of psychology Animal psychology and child psychology (not

psychology)

4. Precise task of trained observer is unclear/unknown a. unreliability within and between subjects b. special vocabulary


5. Introspection is retrospection Artificial

6. Could not explore the unconscious mind

Structuralism---- Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927)

IV. Contributions of Structuralism 1. Subject matter clearly defined

2. Research methods: good science Observation, experimentation, or measurement The most appropriate method for studying

conscious experience was self-observation

Structuralism---- Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927)

3. Introspection method is still used in many areas of psychology Clinical reports from patients on personality tests are

introspective in nature 4. Impact on cognitive psychology

Introspective reports involving cognitive processes such as reasoning

5. Strong base against which others could rebel

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A History of Psychology Chapter 5: Structuralism