Five Major Schools of Psychology: History and Modern Practice

Introduction: The Evolution of Psychological Schools

There are five major schools of psychology: structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, Gestalt psychology, and psychoanalysis. Contemporary psychologists draw ideas from more than one school of thought, a significant departure from historical practice. Psychologists in the past would rely on ideas from only a single school, limiting the scope and applicability of their research. Modern psychologists have learned that it is important to integrate ideas from multiple schools to broaden their understanding and strengthen their studies. Each of the five main schools of thought was created and developed by more than one scientist, making them collaborative intellectual achievements rather than individual inventions.

Structuralism and Gestalt Psychology

The first school of thought to emerge was structuralism. This school focused on mental processes and how consciousness breaks down into its simplest elements. According to early psychology scholarship, "During the first two or three decades of psychology, structural psychology was the psychology" (Schools of Thought, n.d., p. xx). Structuralism was the dominant school of psychology from 1890 to 1920 in Germany and the United States and was led by Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Bradford Titchener. Titchener served as a student and assistant to Wundt before moving to the United States to teach at Cornell University. Wundt invented experimental psychology in his laboratory in Leipzig. In 1881, Wundt published foundational research on psychology. Wundt is known for identifying three main tasks of psychology: first, to analyze conscious processes into basic elements; second, to discover how these elements become connected; and finally, to determine the laws of connection.

In contrast, Gestalt psychology states that an object should be viewed as a whole rather than as the sum of its parts. Christian von Ehrenfels founded this school of thought. Many associate Gestalt psychology with the famous optical illusion of two vases and a face in profile—a visual representation of how perception organizes separate elements into unified forms.

Functionalism: A Practical Alternative

Functionalism emerged as a direct reaction to structuralism. This school of thought was known for disapproving of structuralism's emphasis on breaking consciousness into component parts. While structuralists studied the different elements of consciousness, functionalism took a more practical approach, focusing on commonsense problems and real-world applications. The fundamental disagreement between the two schools centered on methodology. "Structuralists said that mental functions were not subject to introspective analysis—it was the makeup of the mind that could be analyzed. Functionalists disagreed, saying they could study mental function if correct methods were used" (Schools of Thought, n.d., p. xx).

John Dewey was the primary architect of functionalism; he was both a psychologist and a philosopher. In 1896, he introduced the concept of "The Reflex Arc," which explained how organisms respond to stimuli through integrated neural and behavioral processes. James Rowland Angell was a student of Dewey and later became an influential functionalist in his own right. Angell received two master's degrees in psychology and believed that the body and mind worked together as an integrated system to enable behavior. Harvey Carr, who studied under Angell, focused on learning and developed the concept of the "adaptive act." He believed that once a person had satisfied their basic survival needs, they could then engage in learning. This adaptive act process occurred in three stages: first, a motivating stimulus would persist until an action satisfied it; second, a sensory stimulus would mark the goal; and lastly, an activity would continue until the motivating stimulus was satisfied (Schools of Thought, n.d., p. xx).

Mary Calkins was another important figure in functionalism, though her contributions were often overlooked. Fascinated with learning about short-term memory, Calkins faced significant obstacles because few women were involved in psychology at that time in history. Despite not being formally welcomed in academic spaces, she persisted in attending professional events and eventually expanded her research into personality theory, making lasting contributions to the field.

Behaviorism and Classical Conditioning

In the 1950s, behaviorism became a dominant school of psychological thought. Behaviorism states that a person's surroundings and environment affect their behavior more than internal forces or mental states. The theories within behaviorism include classical conditioning and operant conditioning, and the main purpose of the school is the prediction and control of behavior. In this framework, behaviorists study animal behavior and compare it to human behavior, seeking universal principles of learning.

Pavlov and Watson studied behaviorism through systematic trial and error experiments. Charles Darwin was very interested in animals and their behavior in different environments, particularly in behaviors that survived across generations and those that did not. Sigmund Freud, despite his primary association with psychoanalysis, was interested in learning how behavior could be predicted. B. F. Skinner became the most influential behaviorist of the modern era. He believed that rewarding a person's good behavior would influence that person to behave in a positive manner. He also believed that punishment would have a negative effect on a person's behavior and would teach them not to repeat that behavior. These principles of reinforcement and punishment became the foundation of operant conditioning.