Structuralism, considered the first school of psychology, sought to analyze the adult mind in terms of the simplest definable components of experience using controlled introspection. Wilhelm Wundt pioneered its experimental methods at Leipzig from 1879, but it was his student Edward B. Titchener who named structuralism as a distinct system, identifying sensations, images and affections as its basic mental elements. It later drew criticism from functionalism and behaviorism for its reliance on subjective introspection.
Facts
Disputed
Founded Year1879 is Wilhelm Wundt's founding of the Leipzig laboratory. The atlas's own cited source (wikipedia-structural-psychology) credits Wundt's student Edward B. Titchener, not Wundt, as the one who named and founded structuralism as a distinct school, diverging from Wundt's own voluntarism. Sources differ on whether structuralism's own founding date is Wundt's 1879 laboratory or Titchener's later, separate systematization. Central QuestionWhat are the simplest definable components of conscious experience, and how do they combine to form the adult mind? 1 Connections
Rejected Here
Watson's 1913 behaviorist manifesto rejected introspection and the analysis of consciousness into elementary mental constituents that structuralism had made its method and subject matter, redefining psychology as a purely objective science of behavior.
Source Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It (Watson, 1913)
Held Differently
Source Wikipedia: Functionalism (psychology)
Gestalt psychology arose as a direct reaction against structuralism, offering a different account of how perception is organized (as wholes) rather than structuralism's decomposition into elemental sensations.
Source Wikipedia: Gestalt psychology
Founded By
Why this is disputed. Wundt is recorded here as founder for his 1879 Leipzig laboratory, the institutional origin structuralism grew from. The atlas's own cited source states plainly that his student Edward B. Titchener, not Wundt, is credited for the theory of structuralism, since Titchener named the school and departed from Wundt's own voluntarism. Titchener does not yet have an entry in this atlas, so the alternate founder cannot be linked as its own edge; it is recorded here and as a dissent instead.
Source Wikipedia: Structural psychology
Additional Source SimplyPsychology: Structuralismn/a
In Branch
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Structural psychology
Wikimedia Foundationlead
Structuralists seek to analyze the adult mind...in terms of the simplest definable components of experience
Lead section
Structuralism in psychology (also structural psychology) is a theory of consciousness developed by Edward Bradford Titchener
Titchener section
Edward B. Titchener is credited for the theory of structuralism. It is considered to be the first "school" of psychology.
SimplyPsychology: Structuralism
Simply Psychologyn/aQuote, n/a
Wundt pioneered controlled introspection at Leipzig in 1879
Wikipedia: Gestalt psychology
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Gestalt Psychology, History/Overview sectionQuote, Associated With: Gestalt Psychology, History/Overview section
psychological phenomena as organized, structured wholes
Wikipedia: Functionalism (psychology)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Functionalism, History sectionQuote, Associated With: Functionalism, History section
Structural psychology was concerned with mental contents while functionalism is concerned with mental operations
Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It (Watson, 1913)
Classics in the History of Psychology (York University)Associated With: Behaviorism, Opening paragraphsQuote, Associated With: Behaviorism, Opening paragraphs
Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness.
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Founded By: Wilhelm Wundt
The atlas records Wilhelm Wundt as structuralism's founder, dated 1879. Wundt founded the Leipzig laboratory that year, but the atlas's own cited source, Wikipedia's article on structural psychology, states plainly that it is Wundt's student Edward B. Titchener who is credited for the theory of structuralism, since Titchener named the school and diverged from Wundt's own voluntarism (Titchener rejected Wundt's notions of apperception and creative synthesis). Titchener is not yet a minted psychologist entity in this atlas; recorded here as a dissent, with both the founded-by edge and the founded-year fact marked debated, rather than presenting Wundt/1879 as a settled account of structuralism's own founding.
A dissenting reading, from an independent laneWikipedia: Structural psychology, Wikimedia Foundation
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