The story of psychology- A Critical Analysis

Psychology can be split into three different eras namely Pre-scientific, Scientific and
contemporary psychology. Prescientific psychology relates to the similarities between
psychology and philosophy, it was not a scientific phenomenon. The most common
misconception is that the father of psychology is Sigmund Freud, however this is wrong as
William Wundt is the father of psychology. He established the very first psychology lab in
Leipzing, Germany in 1879. Wundt’s approach to psychology marked the beginning of the
scientific era by focusing more on observation and experimentation rather than philosophical
theories.

Wundt attempted to break down the components of our mind just as scientists break down the
elements of the periodic table. He experimented to test the limits of human beings. I believe
that Wundt’s structuralism is an excellent approach to psychology as it investigates the
conscious experience of humans. It applies scientific study which make the results more
accurate and reliable. However, one of the disadvantages appear when we look at
Introspection as a primary method to explore the mind. This is because introspection is an
unreliable source as it cannot be compared to any other data and it suffers from personal bias
and subjectivity.

The second school of thought is Functionalism proposed by William James. He rejected

structuralism. He wanted to know the functions of the mind. While structuralism attempted at
understanding the mind, functionalism attempts to understand the functions of each part of
the mind. The disadvantages for both schools of thought however remains the same.
Therefore, structuralism and functionalism are the two main components of the scientific era
of psychology.

I believe that both schools of thought need to be interdependent and a good understanding of
psychology and the human mind can be understood only when both its structure and its
functions can be understood.