Functionalism Grow Out of Structuralism

Functionalism and Structuralism

Psychology is one of the youngest sciences and emerged as a separate discipline only in the late 19th century; it has its roots in the philosophy of ancient times. As a matter of fact every development in virtually all fields of human activity is in some way related to its past stages of development. Without these 'building blocks' of development, the present phenomenon of accelerating human progress would simply not be possible and we would forever be stuck in a process of 're-inventing the wheel' without making any material headway.

In a similar vein, psychology -- the scientific study of behavior and mind -- has progressed due to this phenomenon. At the same time, each school of psychology was formed largely as a reaction to the previous school, e.g., Functionalism grew out of Structuralism and so on. This is the subject of my essay.

Ancient Greek philosophers' exploration of psychological topics such as epistemology, ethics and mental illness; the 17th century French Philosopher Rene Descartes and his theory of dualism; Thomas Hobbes and John Locke's theories which later became known as monism, and the field of physiology have all contributed significantly to the emergence of psychology as a separate science.

The 'birth' of psychology, however, is often traced to 1879 when Wilhelm Wundt began the first psychological laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, which also signaled the start of the school of psychology known as structuralism. Compared to earlier philosophers, Wundt's approach to the study of mind was much more scientific. It was based on systematic and rigorous observation -- his primary method of research being introspection. Wundt and his students like the American psychologist Titchener believed that the task of psychology is to identify the basic elements of consciousness just as physicists break down the basic particles of matter. The 'structuralists' believed that any given conscious experience must be described in its most basic terms, e.g., an object such as an apple could be described in terms of the basic perceptions such as "cold," "crisp'" and "sweet." In reaction to this school of psychology, William James (1842-1909) promoted a school of psychology known as functionalism-- the belief that the real task of psychology is to investigate the 'function,' or 'purpose,' of consciousness rather than its 'structure.' James was greatly influenced by Darwin's evolutionary theory about 'survival of the fittest' and functionalism in some ways is a natural outgrowth of interest in Darwin's theories at the time. Functionalism introduced techniques such as human intelligence tests and controlled experiments to test the ability of humans to learn and solve problems and enjoyed its period of greatest influence from 1890 to 1910. It is considered to be a precursor of behaviorism in some ways and has influence modern psychology in fields such as intelligence and aptitude testing.