The Early School of Thoughts

STRUCTURALISM (Empiricists)
1890
- Structuralism is generally thought of as the first school
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of thought in psychology.
FUNCTIONALISM (Rationalists)
- The outlook focused on breaking down mental
processes into the most basic components. - Functionalism was utilitarian and concerned with
- Structuralism was the dominant school of psychology common sense issues. This was the rival school of
in Germany and the US between 1890– 1920. Structuralism.
- The structuralists used techniques such as -Functionalism stressed the importance of consciousness
introspection to analyze the inner process of the human and behavior.
mind. - William James is the main person credited as the
founder of the functionalism the 1890s.
We think this picture - Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of
symbolizes structuralism the function of its constituent elements; namely norms
because it breaks down and customs, traditions and institutions.
divides the man’s thought
process. Functionalism is also said
to study common sense which is
expressed in this picture of a
man sawing at a branch that he
is sitting on. Common sense
PSYCHOANALYSIS (Rationalists) would say it’s a bad idea.

- Was founded by Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939)

- It was thought of as a kind of technique in
psychotherapy.
- It is general psychology of human behavior.
- There are six assumptions that show the main ideas of
psychoanalytic theory. One is that unconscious mental
processes exist. The second is
 EVOLUTIONARY (Empiricists)
all human behavior is motivated and purposeful. Third,
past experiences influence current changes and reactions. - Evolutionary is a school of thought that aims to
Forth, personality functioning is very complex and can be understand the functions of the human mind by looking at
understood through the Id, Ego and Superego. Fifth, and understanding what adaptive problems it may have
thinking processes involve energy, strength and force. solved earlier in its ancestral past.
Finally human behavior is influenced by interaction with - This school of thought was established somewhere
the government. around the late 1800s.
- Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection impacted
evolutionary psychology
This picture is good - Evolutionary uses ideas such as adaptation, reproduction
example of psychoanalysis and the concept of survival of the fittest as the basis for
because it shows your explaining specific human behaviors.
personality in what you
decide to show in the surface This image illustrates
and all you have underneath. the evolution of men, which
relates to evolutionary
psychology because this
school of thought deals with
how our adaption and
reproduction explains human
behavior.

BIOLOGICAL (Rationalists)

- Was established in the late 1800s A way of looking at

psychological topics by studying the physical basis for
animal and human behavior.
- Involves such things as studying the immune system,
nervous system and genetics.
-This field of psychology is often referred to as
biopsychology or psychological psychology.
- Today, scientists use tools such as PET and MRI scans to
look at how drugs, disease and brain damage impact
behavior and cognitive functioning.

As biological
psychology also studies
animal and human
behavior we thought that
this picture could
symbolize the difference
in animal and human
thinking.

1900

GESTALT (Rationalists)

- Gestalt psychology is a school of psychology based upon

the idea that we experience things as unified wholes.
- According to the gestalt thinkers, the whole is the
greater than the sum of its parts.
- This approach to psychology began in Germany and
Austria during the 1920s in response to the molecular
approach of structuralism.
- The person instrumental to the development of Gestalt
psychology was Max Wertheimer.

This picture is an actual

picture used in gestalt therapy to see
what images the patient will see ,
two people or a goblet. We think it
is none of the most used pictures
and would be a good representation.
 BEHAVIORISM (Empiricists)

- Was the primary paradigm in psychology between 1920s

to 1950.
- Behaviorism was a major change from previous
theoretical perspectives, rejecting the emphasis on both
the conscious and unconscious mind.
- Instead, behaviorism strove to make psychology a more
scientific discipline by focusing purely on observable
behavior.
- Behaviorism suggests that all behavior can be explained
by environmental cause rather than by internal forces.

HUMANISM (Rationalists)
I think this is a good
- Modern humanistic psychology emerged in about the
example of behaviorism
mid- 1950s but has been traced back to the middle ages.|
because after a period of
- Humanistic psychology developed as a response to
conditioning almost all
psychoanalysis and behaviorism. But humanistic
animals and even humans
psychology focused on individual free will, personal
eventually know what to do to
growth and the concept of self- actualization.
get what they want.
- While early school of thoughts were largely centered on
abnormal human behavior, humanistic psychology
differed considerably in its emphasis on helping people
achieve and fulfill their potential.
- Major humanist thinkers were Abram Maslow and Carl
Rogers.

Humanism explains
normal human behavior and we
thought this would be a good
example because humans has a
tendency of falling in love or
finding a mate.
 COGNITION (Rationalists)

- Cognitive psychology began to emerged during the 1950s,

partly as a response to behaviorism.
- One of the most influential theories from this school of
thought was the stages of cognitive development theory
proposed by Jean Piaget.
- Studies mental processes including how people think,
perceive, remember and learn.
- It is related to other disciplines including neuroscience,
philosophy and linguistics.

CROSS- CULTURAL (Empiricists)

This image shows
- Cross- cultural is a school of thought that studies the
someone trying to solve a
effects of culture on behavior and mental processes.
problem by using their mind.
- The main focus is on the similarities and differences in
Cognitive psychologists believe
psychological functioning across cultures and ethnic
that the mind is an active and
groups.
aware problem solving system.
- Cross- cultural psychology was established in the
1970s and it has continued to grow and develop since
then.

Just like the picture in

the left illustrates, when
people act differently than
them, they are outcasts. The
differences in cultures can
affect the way we see or treat
people of different ethnicity’s.

2000