Structuralism
and timbre ( fullness of tone ) . A taste
structuralism was the first major school of
thought in psychology.Its goal was to
understand the mind by analysing its
elements , such as particular sensations or
thoughts. According to critic Robert schools -
/ C.R. schools Structuralism is a reaction to
modernist attention & despair.
According to Oxford University Press - "
Structuralism is a method of interpretation &
analysis of aspects of human cognition ,
behavior , culture & experience which focuses
on relationships of contrast between
elements in a conceptual system.
A Difference between Wandt & titener=
Wilhelm Wundt was the founder of
structuralism. Titchner is student of wundt
established the schools of thought known as
structuralison of analysis. 1)Psychology's
Goals: According to wundt , Psychology's goal
is to understand both simple and complex
conscious phenomena .For the former
experimentation could be used ; for the latter
it could not Psychology was to be based on
immediate experience. Titchener agreed with
Wundt that psychology should study
immediate experience that is consciousness .
He defined consciousness as the sum total of
mental experience at any given moment and
mind as the experiences of a lifetime .
Tetchner set as goals of psychology the
determination of the ( what ) how,and why of
mental life .And the what was to be learned
through careful introspection .The how was to
be an answer to the question of how the
elements combine and why was to involve a
search for the neurological correlates of
mental events. (2)Elements of Thought=
According to Wundt , there are two basic
types of mental experience -
(1)Sensations:Sensation occurs whenever a
sense organ is stimulated and the resulting
impulse reaches the brain . Sensations can be
described in terms of modality (visual ,
auditory , taste ) and intensity (such as how
loud an auditory stimulus is) For example , a
visual sensation can be described in terms of
hue (colour) and saturation.An auditory
sensation can be described in terms of pitch
sensation can be described in terms of its
degree of saltiness,sourness or sweetness .
(2)Feelings: All sensations are accompanied
by feelings .Wundt formulated his
tridimensional theory of feeling,according to
which any feelings can be described in terms
of the degree to which they possess three
attributes;pleasantness-
unpleasantness,excitement- calm and strain-
relaxation.
According to Titchener , there are three types
of mental element - (1)Sensations( elements
of perception ) (2)Images ( elements of ideas )
. (3)Feelings (elements of emotions )
Titchener did not accept Wundt’s
tridimentional theory of feeling. Titchener
argued that fillings occurred along only one
dimension not three, as Wundt had
maintained. According to Titchener, feelings
can be described only in terms of Wundt's
pleasantness- unpleasantness dimension. He
argued that the other two dimension Wundt
had suggested (tension- relaxation and
excitement- calm) were really combinations of
sensations and true feelings ( Pleasantness-
unpleasantness ). The What of psychology
then, included the sensations and images that
were described in terms of quality, intensity,
duration, clearness and extensity as well as
the feelings that varied in terms of
pleasantness. (3)Basic concepts Sensations
and feelings are the elements of
consciousness. (1)Perception : According to
wundt , perception is passive process
governed by (a) Physical stimulation present
..(b) the anatomical makeup of the individual ,
(c)the individual's past experiences.
These three influences interact and determine
an individuals perceptual field at any given
time . (2)Aperception : It is active and
voluntary . In other words , aperception is
under the individual's control . It was
primarily because wundt believed so strongly
that individuals could divert their attention by
exercising their will that he reffered to his
approach to psychology as voluntarism . lifetime of the organism . James called these
(3)Creative Synthesis : when elements are learned patterns of behavior habits. James
attended to , they can be arranged and offered five maxims to follow in order to
rearranged according to the individual's will , develop good habit and eliminate bad ones.
and thus arrangements never actually (1)Place yourself in circumstances that
experienced before can result. Wundt called encourage good habits and discourage bad
this phenomenon creative synthesis ones .(2) Do not allow yourself to act opposite
According to Titchener, he rejected Wundt's to a new habit that you are attempting to
notions of aperception and creative synthesis develop . (3) Do not attempt so slowly
in favor of traditional associationism . the just develop a good habit or eliminate a bad one.
accept the perception Engage is positive habits completely to begin
with and abstain completely from bad ones.
Functionalism was the first truly American
(4) It is not the intention to engage in good
system of psychology. William James began its
habits and avoid had ones that is important: it
development . According to
is the actual doing so. (5)Force yourself to act
Woodworth(1944)" A psychology that
in ways that are beneficial to you, even if
attempts to give an accurate and systematic
doing so at first is distasteful and requires
answer to the question ,what do men do ?
considerable effort.★The self: James divided
and why do they do ? is called a functional
the empirical self into three components.
psychology." According to Marx & Hillix (
(1)The material self consists of everything
1973 ) –A functionalist is characteristically
material that a person could call his or her
concerned with the functions of the
own, such as his or her own body, family , and
organism's behavior and consciousness in
property. (2)The social self is the self as
adaptation to its environment. William James
known by others. (3)The spiritual self consists
★Stream of consciousness -with his concept
of person's states of consciousness. It is
of stream of consciousness opposed those
everything we think as we think of ourselves
who were busy searching for the elements of
as thnkers. (a)self knower: The empirical self (
thought . Characteristic of consciousness-
the me ) is the person as known by himself or
*Consciousness is personal * Consciousness is
herself but there is also an aspect of self that
continuous and cannot be divided up for
does the knowing the( I ). Thus for James , the
analysis . *Consciousness is constantly
self is " partly known and partly knower ,
changing *Consciousness is selective *
partly object and partly subject . James
Consciousness is functional
admitted that dealing with the me is much
#Habit and Instincts . James believed that
easier than dealing with the "I". (b)Self -
much nonhuman and human behaviour
esteem : James was among the first to
governed by instinct . James did no believed
examine the circumstances under which
that instinctive behavior is blind and
people feel good or bad about themselves .
invariable. Rather he believed that such
According to James , one could increase self-
behavior modifiable by experience.
esteem either by seceding more or
Furthermore, he believed instinct like
attempting less. *Emotions-James reversed
patterns of behavior develop within the
the traditional belief that emotion result from
*Emotions- James reversed the
the perception of an event. According to
traditional belief that emotion result from the
James, if we see a bear we run and then we
perception of an event. According to James, if
are frightened . Perception, according to
we see a bear we run and then we are
James , causes bodily reactions that are then
frightened . Perception, according to James ,
experienced emotions . James theory of
causes bodily reactions that are then
emotion provides still another example of the
experienced emotions . James theory of
importance of the Danish physician Carl
George Lange published virtually the same the nearness of their respective parts. It tend
theory at about the same time . The theory is to form groups if they are spaced together.
now known as the James-Lange theory of For instance, the example of a triangle and a
emotion.*Free Will- James noted that without circle is enough to illustrate this point.
the assumption of determinism , science (c) Law of Closure: The law of closure means
would be impossible . Science , however , was that closed areas are more stable and
not everything and for certain approaches to satisfying than the unclosed ones. Closed
the study of humans , the assumption of free areas more readily form in groups. This law
will might be very fruitful . also means that when the perception of the
situation is incomplete, the individual is not
GESTALT===Max Wertheimer is generally
able to solve the problem. The problem is
considered to be Gestalt psychology’s
solved when he is able to bring the separate
founding father. The other pioneers in this
parts of the situation together into a closed
field are Kohler, Koffka and Wolfgang.
perceptual figure, consisting of the goal, and
‘Gestalt’ is a German word whose equivalents
the means of achieving the goal.
in English are ‘form’ or ‘pattern’ or
(d) Law of Continuity: Makes the individual to
‘configuration’. Max Wertheimer has
grasp things which are joined together in a
explained the term ‘Gestalt’ as, that the
string or along the line which constituting a
whole is greater than the parts. For example,
whole are grasped together than the dis-
a flower is just not a total of sepals, petals,
connected, dis joined or scattered. In other
calyx, corolla, colour, honey and fragrance but
words, experiences which occur together
something more than that. The total of the
either simultaneously or in close succession,
parts is not equal to the whole. This is known
tend towards reviving one another e.g., the
as Gestalt view-point…………………………
perception of a ripe mango suggests the idea
3. Principles of Gestalt Theory: The
of its sweet taste and flavour because they
Gestaltians have mentioned some laws
are perceived together in the past or the idea
involved in the learning. The age at which
of inkpot suggests the idea of pen.
memory begins is determined chiefly by the
(e) Law of Contrast: A perception or an idea
development of a sufficient number of
tends to suggest its contrary opposite. For
association fibres to bring about recall. There
instance, adversity reminds a person of his
are different modes of connection or
days of prosperity. Similarly, the heat of
association among percepts and ideas.
summer suggests the cold of winter. In these
(a) Law of Similarity: Makes the individual to
laws of learning is brought out the Gestalt
grasp things which are similar. They are
point of view that the organizational capacity
picked out as it were from the total context.
of the brain makes to grasp the whole in
Similar ideas and experiences get associated
priority with the parts.
together. An object revives another object
which resembles it e.g., seeing a man and
remembering an intimate friend by some
resemblance in his personal appearance,
though never saw them together in the past.
A photo reminds us of the person when it
represents.
(b) Law of Proximity: Makes proximate or
near together things to be picked up first
learned as to how many these are among the
more distant things. In other words,
perceptual groups are favoured according to
Associationism== Introduction The principle
of associationism suggests that mental
processes operate by the association of one
mental state with the other that succeeds it.
The oldest perspectives in psychology a major
idea of associationism is that come from the
“complex ideas association of simpler ideas
“.It is regarded to be more of a principle
rather than being a proper school of
psychology Associationistic ideas have been
said to have taken over all the major schools
of psychology . Even the first school of
psychology Structuralism - was majorly
influenced by associationistic ideas. The
British empiricists majorly used
associationistic principles in explaining mental
activity After the British empiricists using
associationism is explaining mental activity ,
the associationistic concepts played a central
role in many of the learning theories . Among
them Hermann Ebbinghaus , Ivan Pavlov , and
Edward Lee Thorndike standout.
History of Associationism The study of
associationism was first initiated by Aristotle
in 350 B.C.E Influenced more by British (2) The
law of Frequency The more often two things
or events are linked , the more powerful will
be that association.Empiricism Base to
development of Psychological thought
Contribute to many of the learning theories.
Exponents of Associationism : Thomas
Hobbes, John Locke ,George Berkeley, David
Hume, David Hartley, James Mill, John Stuart
Mill, Alexander Bain.
Associationism - Main Assumptions A major
idea of associationism is that " complex ideas
come from the association of simpler ideas "
The British empiricists majorly used
associasionistic principles in explaining mental
activity . The associationistic concepts played
a central role in many of the learning theories.
Empiricism is the philosophy that emphasizes
on experience in knowledge attainment and
empiricists assert that sensory experience
constitutes the primary data of knowledge .
Thomas Hobbes is often referred to as the
founder of British empiricism ; he believed
that all knowledge was derived sensory
experience . Hobbes used the principle of
associationism to explain complex thought
from processes . The primary concern of John
Locke was to understand how the mind
acquires knowledge and he used Aristotle's
idea of tabula rasa .
David Hume differentiated between two
contents of mind , namely , impressions and
ideas . In order to explain how ideas get
combined , Hume gave three laws of
association - resemblance or similarity ,
contiguity in time and space , and cause and
effect. Laws of Associationism =
1)The law of Contiguity: Things or events that
occur close to each other in space and time
tend to get linked together in the mind.
(2) The law of Frequency- The more often two
things or events are linked, the more powerful
will be that association. 3)The law of
Similarity- If two things are similar the
thought of one will tend to trigger the thought
of other. 4) The law of Contrast- On the other
hand seeing or recalling something may also
trigger the recollection of something
completely opposite.
(5)The law of Resemblance or Similarity -The
more similar the ideas are, more readily they
will be associated.(6)The law of Cause and
Effect The more frequently two ideas , events
, or objects are experienced in the same
sequence , more likely they are inferred that
one will cause the other , and more strongly
they will be associated. Criticism -
Associationists reduced the learning process
to memory process *The associationist
theorist did not respect and sufficiently
elucidate the learners motivational factors in
learning *The problems of developmental
aspects of learning were insufficiently
described * The model of associating images
and sensations did not solve the problem of
the origin of concepts and thought operations
, since the relation between learning and
thinking was not solved .
Psychoanalysis is a school of psychology
founded by Sigmund Freud. Sigmund Freud
was born in Moravia (now Prior Czech
Republic. His father Jacob was a wool
merchant who had 10 children. Definition of
Psychoanalysis -(1)psychoanalysis is a school
of thought were study neurosis through
hypnosis , free association and dream analysis
(2) a systematic structure of theories
concerning the relation of conscious and
unconscious psychological processes. (3)A
technical procedure for investigating
unconscious mental process and for treating
mental illness. (4)A school of thought
emphasised the influence of the unconscious
mind on behaviour.
Perhaps the most impactful idea put forth by
Freud was his model ofthe human mind. His
model divides the mind into three layers, or
regions:1. Consciousness: our thoughts,
feelings,and focus about which weare aware
at any given moment.
2.Preconsciousness/subconsciousness:consist
s of thing of which we are not aware but of
which we could easily become aware.
3.Unconscious: consists of those memories
that are being activelyrepressed from
consciousness and are therefore made
conscious only with great effort
1.Id (pleasure principle): The id operates at an
unconscious level and focuses solely on
instinctual drives and desires. Two biological
instincts make up the id, according to Freud:
eros, or the instinct to survive/ life instinct
that drives us to engage in life sustaining
activities, and thanatos, or the death instinct
that drives destructive,aggressive, and violent
behavior. 2. Ego (reality principle): The ego
acts as both a conduit for and a check on the
id, working to meet the id’s needs in a socially
appropriate way. It is the most tied to reality
and begins to develop in infancy; 3.Superego
(moral principle): The superego is the portion
of the mindin which morality and higher
principles reside, encouraging us to act in
socially and morally acceptable ways.
STAGES= ORAL-The sex instinct centers on the
mouth because infants derive pleasure from
such oral activities as sucking , chewing , and
biting . Feeding activities are particularly
important . For example , an infant weaned
too early or abruptly may later crave close
contact and become overdependent on a
spouse . ANAL-Voluntary urination defecation
become the primary methods of gratifying the
sex instinct . Toilet - training produces major
conflicts between children and parents . The
emotional climate that parents create can
have lasting effects . For example , children
who are punished toileting " accidents may
become inhibited,messy or wasteful. PHALLIC-
Pleasure is now derived from genital
stimulation . Children develop an incestuous
desire for the opposite - sex parent ( called
the Oedipus complex for boys and Electra
complex for girls ) . Anxiety stemming from
this conflict causes children sex - role
characteristics and moral standards of their
same - sex parental rival . GENITAL-Traumas
of the phallic stage cause sexual conflicts to
be repressed and sexual urges to be
rechanneled into school work and vigorous
play . The ego and superego continue to
develop as the child gains more problem-
solving abilities at school and internalizes
societal values. LATENCY-Puberty triggers a
reawakening of sexual urges . Adolescents
must now learn how to express these urges in
socially ac ceptable ways . If development has
been healthy , the mature sex instinct is
satisfied by marriage and raising children.
Denial is a defense mechanism proposed by
Anna Freud which involves a refusal to accept
reality, thus blocking external events from
awareness.Repression is an unconscious
defense mechanism employed by the ego to
keep disturbing or threatening thoughts from
becoming conscious. Projection is a
psychological defense mechanism proposed
by Anna Freud in which an individual
attributes unwanted thoughts, feelings and
motives onto another person.Displacement is
the redirection of an impulse (usually
aggression) onto a powerless substitute
target. The target can be a person or an object
that can serve as a symbolic
substitute.Regression is a defense mechanism
proposed by Anna Freud whereby the the ego
reverts to an earlier stage of development
usually in response to stressful
situations.Sublimation is similar to
displacement, but takes place when we
manage to displace our unacceptable
emotions into behaviors which are
constructive and socially acceptable, rather
than destructive activities. Sublimation is one
of Anna Freud's original defense mechanisms.
Renaissance Humanism-As it applies to the
Renaissance , humanism denotes an intense
interest in human beings , " as if we were
discovering ourselves for the first time.
Interest was focused on a wide range of
human activities . How do we think , behave
and feel ? of what are we capable ? These and
related questions are reflected in the four
majon themes that characterised Renaissance
humanism. (1)Individualism: There was great
concern with human potential and
achievement. The belief in the power of the
individual to make a positive difference in the
world created a spirit of optimism .
(2)Personal religion : - Although all
Renaissance humanists were devout christians
, they wanted religion to be more personal
and less formal and ritualistic . They argued
for a religion that could be personally
experienced rather than one that the church
hierarchy imposed on the people.
3) Intense interest in the past : - The
Renaissance humanists became enamored
with the post . The works of the early greek
and Roman poets , philosophers and politician
were of special interest. Renaissance scholars
wanted to read what the ancients had really
said , instead of someone's interpretation.
4) Anti - Aristotelianism : Many of the
humanists believed that the church had gone
to far in its embracing of Aristotle's
philosophy . Aristotle's philosophy was as
authoritative as the Bible . Aristotle had been
only human , and like any human he was
capable of error .
Francesco Petrarch ( 1304-1374 ) So
influential was Francesco Petrarch that many
historians argue that his writings mark the
beginning of the Renaissance. Petrarc argued
that a person's life in this world is at least as
important as life after death . God wanted
humans to use their vast capabilities , not
inhibit them. By actualizing the potential God
has given to us , we can change the world for
the better. By focus leave! By focusing on
human potential , Petrarch helped stimulate
the explosion of artistic and literary endeavors
that characterized the Rrenaissance.
Giovanni Pico ( 1463-1994 ) Giovanni Pico
argued that God that granted humans a
unique position in the universe. Angels are
perfect and thus have no need to change,
whereas animals are bound by their instincts
and cannot change . Human alone , being
between angels and animals are capable of
change. We can choose to live sensual ,
instinctive lives , thereby becoming brutish ,
or to exercise our rationality and intelligence ,
thereby becoming more angelie and godlike.
Pico insisted that all philosophies have
common elements , for example -they reflect
human rationality and individuality.
Desiderius Erasmus ( 1466-1536 ) Desiderius
Erasmus was born at Rotterdam on October
27 of an unwed mother . He was an ordained
priest but had no taste monastic life ,
preferring in, tead a life of study , travel and
independence . He belived that war was
caused by fanaticism and was nothing more
than homicide , and he was especially
disturbed ad by bichops who become rich and
famous because of war. Erasmus completed
his book " The Praise of Folly'. The book
caused a sensation and was reprinted 40
times in his lifetime.