Structuralism School of Thought

Structuralism School of Thought

Wilhelm Wundt is the founder of Structuralism. In 1879 Wilhelm Wundt established the first laboratory in the field of psychology at the University of Leipzig. He focuses on studding the building blocks of mind after that defined psychology as a science of conscious experience.

Edward Bradford Titchener (1879-1927):

E.B Titchener agreed with Wundt that psychology should study the consciousness. He defined consciousness is the bit of whole mental experience at given moment. He said mind is accumulated experiences of life time.

Fundamental Tasks:

Structuralism worked on elements that form the foundation of thinking, mental elements or content, their mechanical linking through the process of association, emotions and other kind of mental states and activities.

Method:

Structuralist used a method to understand how sensations are combined into our awareness of world called Introspection. 

Introspection is a method to study the mind structure. Using Introspection Wundt present his trained subject with a stimulus and asked them to describe in their own words what they were experienced as they were exposed it. He said psychologist could understand the structure of mind through the reports that the trained subject made of their reaction.

Elements of Consciousness

The structuralist concluded after many experiment that conscious process consist of three elements.

Sensation:  Are elements of perception

Images : Are elements of ideas

Feelings: Are elements of emotions.

Criticism

Psychologist became dissatisfied that introspection could unlock the elements of mind

Consciousness could not be analyzed in mental units.

Self-examine (Introspection) was not a truly scientific Method. 
Structuralism excluded several developments that were important like study of animal behavior.