HISTORY OF
PSYCHOLOGY
12 FEBRUARY 2025
STRUCTURALISM
- Wandt: sensory experience
- Structure of the brain - which part
functions for which purpose
- A school of thought that analysed
consciousness and its basic elements,
investigating how these elements are
related, focused on the structure of
consciousness
- Structuralists relied on
introspection - self-observation regarding one’s own conscious experience
FUNCTIONALISM
- James: The purpose of consciousness
- A school of thought that believed psychology should investigate the purpose of
consciousness
- Functionalists were interested in how people adapt their behaviour to their
environment and the demands placed on them.
STRUCTURALISM AND FUNCTIONALISM
- Emerged as ways of finding answers to questions:
1. What is human nature?
2. How are the mind and body related?
3. Is behaviour learned or inherited?
4. How do we acquire knowledge?
5. What is abnormality?
6. Both approaches help us understand humans today: the how and why of
human nature.
GREEK PHILOSOPHERS
- Plato - spoke about the rational psyche and the irrational psyche
- Aristotle - wrote about human memory
- Meniscus - elements of the human mind
- Democritus - mental states
- Hippocrates - mental and physical pathologies are a result of natural causes.
WEIRD
- Westernised
- Educated
PSYCHOLOGY
12 FEBRUARY 2025
STRUCTURALISM
- Wandt: sensory experience
- Structure of the brain - which part
functions for which purpose
- A school of thought that analysed
consciousness and its basic elements,
investigating how these elements are
related, focused on the structure of
consciousness
- Structuralists relied on
introspection - self-observation regarding one’s own conscious experience
FUNCTIONALISM
- James: The purpose of consciousness
- A school of thought that believed psychology should investigate the purpose of
consciousness
- Functionalists were interested in how people adapt their behaviour to their
environment and the demands placed on them.
STRUCTURALISM AND FUNCTIONALISM
- Emerged as ways of finding answers to questions:
1. What is human nature?
2. How are the mind and body related?
3. Is behaviour learned or inherited?
4. How do we acquire knowledge?
5. What is abnormality?
6. Both approaches help us understand humans today: the how and why of
human nature.
GREEK PHILOSOPHERS
- Plato - spoke about the rational psyche and the irrational psyche
- Aristotle - wrote about human memory
- Meniscus - elements of the human mind
- Democritus - mental states
- Hippocrates - mental and physical pathologies are a result of natural causes.
WEIRD
- Westernised
- Educated
