Atlas Trail
The Founding Rivalries of Psychology
Psychology grew through its disagreements as much as its discoveries. This trail follows two of them: the earliest rivalry between structuralism and functionalism over what the young science should even study, and the modern reassessment of one of its most famous and most contested experiments.
Stop 1 of 8.
Schools and Movements
Wilhelm Wundt's structuralism was the first attempt to make psychology an experimental science, breaking consciousness into its basic elements.
Stop 2 of 8.
Schools and Movements
William James answered structuralism with a different question: not what is the mind made of, but what does it do for the organism.
Stop 3 of 8.
Psychologists
The American philosopher and psychologist whose Principles of Psychology helped found functionalism.
Stop 4 of 8.
Studies and Experiments
A century later, another famous study raised its own foundational question, this time about method rather than subject matter.
Stop 5 of 8.
Psychologists
Zimbardo's 1971 study became one of psychology's most cited findings, and one of its most contested.
Stop 6 of 8.
Open Questions
Archival research decades later asked whether the study's famous conclusion reflected a genuine effect or a scripted one.
Stop 7 of 8.
Theories and Concepts
Not every debate is about method. Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance reframed how psychology understands belief and self-justification.
Stop 8 of 8.
Psychologists
The social psychologist whose 1957 theory remains one of the field's most durable ideas.
Create an account to keep this trail. Saving copies its stops into a collection of your own, which you can add to, reorder and share.
Where you have got to in this trail is kept by your own browser and is never sent to us. Clearing your browser data clears it. All trails.