EMERGENCE & GROWTH OF

PSYCHOLOGY
 UNIT-I: BIRTH OF MODERN PSYCHOLOGY
PART A: STRUCTURALISM

Short Notes:

÷
1. Wilhelm Wundt is known as the 'father of experimental psychology.' He
founded the first psychological laboratory at the University of Leipzig in 1879.
His overall contribution to psychology was that he made psychology
independent of other scienes such as philosophy, biology and physiology, and
established it as an independent experimental science. Experimental works
done at the Leipzig Laboratory were another major contribution of Wundt to
psychology. Wundt proposed his systematic psychology in his famous book
'Outline of Psychology'.

2. Titchener established structural psychology as a system in America in 1989

in his paper 'The postulates of a structural psychology'. He defined psychology
as the study of consciousness which was distinct from mind.

3. Similarities of Wundt and Titchener:

(i) The subject-matter of psychology was consciousness for both Wundt and
Titchener.
(ii) Both these psychologists considered introspection, experimentation and
observation to be the primary methods of psychology.
(iii) They both believe in psychophysical parallelism.

4. Dissimilarities of Wund & Titchener:

(i) Wundt held that there were 2 primary attributes of conscious experience-
quality and intensity. Titchener extended the number of attributes to 4 by
adding 'duration' and 'clarity'.
(ii) Titchener rejected the tridimentional theory of feeling of Wundt.
(iii) Titchener criticized the applied aspect of psychology. Wundt did not do so
and insisted upon the fact that the behavior of children and abnormals
yielded valuable psychological information.
(iv) Wundt was an institution providing training to a vast number of
psychologists and expanding the scope of psychology from armchair
speculation to experimental laboratories. Titchener was basically an individual
who did the same thing but in a very limited way.
=
5. Psychophysical Parallelism:
Wundt accepted the theory of Psychophysical Parallelism, which states that
the mind and body are parallel but not interacting systems. Thus, mind and
body existed side-by-side without making any interaction between them. In
other words, Psychophysical parallelism is the theory that mental and
bodily events are perfectly coordinated, without any causal interaction
-
between them. As such, it affirms the correlation of mental and bodily
events, but denies a direct cause and effect relation between mind and
body.

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WUNDT'S SYSTEMATIC PSYCHOLGY

1. Definition and Subject-Matter of Psychology:

For Wundt, psychology is broadly the science of experience. He divided
experience into two parts:
(i)Immediate Experience: The experience that is used as a way to locate
about something other than experience itself.
(ii)Mediate Experience: The experience as such.
Wundt defined psychology as the study of immediate experience or
conscious experience and not of mediate. He emphasized upon the atomistic
nature of consciousness or conscious experience. The conscious experience
could be analyzed in terms of two psychical elements- sensations and feelings.
Every conscious feeling could be located in three-dimensional space-
(i)excitement-calm, (ii)tension-relaxation, (iii)pleasure-displeasure. This is known
as tridimensional theory of feeling.
Sensations and feelings have 2 attributes- quality and intensity. Their
elements are combined to yield what is called the psychical compound, which
consists of a group of simple sensations or feelings, or a group of both. Wundt
maintained that psychology studies the process of sensation, feeling and
volition, the unity of which constitutes consciousness.

2. Principles of Connection:
According to Wundt, the elements of consciousness were combined by means of
association. Association also involves assimilation and complication.
Wundt also formulated the principle of creative synthesis, which explains
that the elements of consciousness might form such a complex or compound,
whose characteristics were different from the characteristics of the component
elements.

3. Method of Psychology: Wundt pointed out that the methods of studying

conscious or immediate experience were experimentation and introspection.
Instrospection was the method through which a person could analyze the
conscious process for finding out how its elements were synthesized. For Wundt,
introspection and experimentation were not separable.
Wundt followed certain rules for making good introspection:
(i) The introspectionist should be able to locate from where the process starts
(ii) He must be capable of maintaining strained attention
(iii) The entire observation must be capable of being repeated
(iv) The conditions must allow for introduction or elimination of some stimuli.
4. Apperception: For Wundt, the term apperception has 3 aspects:
(i) Apperception as Phenomenon: As phenomenon, apperception refers to the
focus of consciousness. Thus, through apperception, certain elements are
focused and made dominant in the consciousness.

(ii) As Cognition: Apperception is the unifying factor in consciousness. The

process of sensations, feelings and volition are united into consciousness
through appercetion

(iii) As Activity: Apperception is an active process. It is always accompanied by

a feeling of activity. Thus, it is an active current in the stream of
consciousness.

5. Mind-Body Problems: For Wundt, mind and body were parallel but not
interacting systems. This is known as psychophysical parallel. Thus, mind and
body existed side by side, without making any interaction between them. Mind
did not depend upon body. It could be studied directly.

WORK OF LEIPZIG LABORATORY:

(i) Sensation and Perception Experiments: In this, Wundt investigated visual

perception, colour discrimination, colour mixing, etc.

(ii) Reaction Time Experiments: Through these experiment, Wundt hoped to

discover the three postulated stages between stimulus and response, that is,
perception-apperception-will.

(iii) Association Experiments: Wundt's experiments on word associations were

also highly important. These experiments had revealed that there were two
types of association- inner and outer.

(iv) Attention Experiments: These experiments revealed the nature of attention

which, for Wundt, was bidimensional, fluctuating and having specific range or
span.

(v) Feeling Experiments: These experiments studied feeling with the help of
method of paired comparison and such researches led Wundt to formulate the
tridimensional theory of feeling.
TITCHENER

1. Subject-Matter:
For Titchener, all experiences were immediate. There were 3 basic problems
of psychology-
(i) The 'what' refers to the analysis of mental experience into its simplest
components.
(ii) The 'how' refers to discovering how these components are combined and
the laws which govern the combination.
(iii)The 'why' refers to the ways mental events correlate with their
physiological conditions.
There were 3 basic elements of consciousness:
(i) Sensations: These were regarded as the elements of perceptions.
(ii) Images: These were elements of ideas and represented those patterns
which were not actually present.
(iii) Affections: Elements of emotion.
For Titchener, the elements of consciousness had 4 attributes- quality,
intensity, clarity, and duration.

2. Methodology: Titchener considered introspection and experimentation to be

the primary methods of investigation. He considered introspection as a part
of experimentation. It was required that the observer must be exceptionally
trained so that he might not commit any stimulus error, which means to see
thing or object rather than the conscious experience gathered by the
concerned object or thing. He outlined these rules for making introspective
more effective:
(i) The observer must be completely impartial and unprejudiced
(ii) He must have proper control over his attention
(iii) He must have a positive attitute towards the introspection

3. Principles of Selection: Titchener outlined 3 general stages of attention:

(i)Native/Involuntary/Primary attention in which factors like quality and
intensity of sensory experience determine attention.
(ii)Voluntary/Secondary attention which refers to purposeful focusing on
elements in consciousness.
(iii)Derived primary/Habitual attention which arises due to repetition of
similar circumstances.
Titchener regarded these 3 stages of attention as continuous rather than
separate ones. To him, reaching the last stage of derived involuntary attention
was the basic objective of education.
4. Principles of Connection: Titchener held the law of contiguity to be the
fundamental law of association for sensations and images. According to his
context theory of meaning, meaning of sensation or image was determined by
the conext of sensation in which it occured in consciousness. Thus, meaning was
the result of connection between past associations and images.

5. Emotion: Titchener pointed out 2 methods to study emotion:

(i) Method of Impression: This method is used when we want to make
comparison of the different affective characteristics.
(ii) Method of Expression: In this, the emotion is studied on the basis of
bodily changes.

6. Thinking: Titchener's viewpoint on thought was that the so-called element of

thought was probably an unanalyzed blend of kinesthetic sensations and images
that were difficult to find in consciousness.

7. Mind-Body Problem: Titchener believed that the mind and the body are
different from each other. No interaction takes place between them and neither
causes the other. But a change in one is followed by a change in the other.
Titchener, therefore, was a psychophysical parallelist.
 PART B: FUNCTIONALISM

Short Notes:

i
1. William James has been considered as one of the greatest American
psychologists to date. He strongly criticized elementarism and Wundtian
introspectionism. Although James' psychology was not systematic nor
experimental like that of Wundt's, his approach gave birth to later
functionalists' movement at the Univeristy of Chicago. In this sense, he has
been considered as a forerunnner of functionalism.
William James' pragmatic psychology has been set down mainly in his two-
volumed 'Principles of Psychology' that was published in 1890.
Pragmatism stated that validation of any knowledege in psychology must
be done in terms of its values or utilities.

2. James explained consciousness by its 5 major characteristics:

(i) Consciousness is Personal: It is personal and individualistic and every
thought belongs to someone.
(ii) Consciousness is Always Changing: No state once gone can ever recur and
be identical. Objects can recur no doubt but not thoughts or ideas. Thus,
consciousness is like a constantly flowing stream.
(iii) Consciousness is Continuous: There is no break in the stream of
consciousness although there may be temporary interruptions in continuity.
(iv) Consciousness Deals with Objects other than Itself: Thoughts are
unitary, no matter how complex they are.
(v) Consciousness is Selective: We actively choose a few to attend and bring
it to consciousness.

3. Purpose/Function of Consciousness:
(i) It makes humans a better adapted organism
(ii) Whenever a person is faced with any new problem requiring new
adjustment, consciousness helps a lot.
4. John Dewey: In 1896, Dewey published a short research paper entitled
✓
'The Reflex-Arc Concept in Psychology'. This paper marked the starting
point of Functionalism as a definite movement. Dewey emphasized that the
psychological activity should not be broken down into elements or parts,
rather they should be considered as a whole. He viewed behavior as total
co-ordination that helped the organism in marking
A adaptation to the
situation. The fundamental points of Dewey's research are:
(i) In studying behavior, molar approach, rather than mlecular approach,
should be adopted.
(ii) The behaviour should be studied in context of its function,
particularly adaptive function.

✓
5. James Rowland Angell: In 'The Province of Functional Psychology',

published in 1907, Angell outlined 3 separate concepts of functional

psychology:
(i) Functionalism was contrasted with Structuralism. The Structuralists
addressed themselves to contents of consciousness whereas the
Functionalists addressed themselves to the operations of mental process.
(ii) Functional psychology was the psychology of the fundamental
utilities of consciousness. The mind is always engaged in mediating
between the environment and the needs of the organism. Thus, any
psychological function can be considered as an adaptive process.
(iii) Functional psychology may be regarded as a typical method of
dealing with the mind-body problem. It dealt with the totality of
relationship of organism to the environment. Mind and body could not be
separated but belonged to the same whole.

Process

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FUNCTIONALISM AS A SYSTEM

Harvey Carr published his famous book 'Psychology: A Study of Mental Activity'
in 1925. The main trends are:

1. Definition and Subject-Matter of Psychology: According to Carr, psychology is

the study of mental activity or adaptive behavior. Adaptive behavior has 3
characteristics- motivating stimulus, sensory stimulus, and response.

The 3 ways in which adaptive act may brought motive to an end are:
(i) First way is that the adaptive act may directly remove the motive. (Eg.
Eating removes hunger)
(ii) Second way is that the actual continuance of the act may disrupt motive
by introducing a stronger stimulus. (A person cutting a tree in sun may quit
due to sheer exhaustion)
(iii) Thirdly, the adaptive act may produce some sensory consequences that
may resolve the motive. (A person reaching for a hot kettle may drop it due to
the feeling of pain in his fingers).

2. Postulates: The postulates of functionalism are as follows:

(i) All activities are initiated by some sort of sensory stimulus. In absence of
such stimulus, no response can occur.
(ii) All sensory stimuli affect not only motives but also behavior.
(iii) Behavior is intrinsically adaptive as well as purposive
(iv) Behavior is a continuos and co-ordinated process and it tends to modify
the stimulus situation.

3. Methodology: Functionalism accepted the method of structuralism, that is

introspection but added obervation. Carr accepted experimentation to be the
most desirable method of gathering data but he also cautioned that in human
studies complete controls were highly difficult to achieve with experimental
method
4. Mind-Body Problem: Carr described mental activity as being psychophysical
one. It is physical in the sense that individual has some knowledge of the
activity being done. He does not perceive, reason or will without being aware
of it. A mental activity is physical in the sense that it is a reaction of the
physical organism. He made no effort to explain the connection between the
physical and psychical aspect.

5. Nature of Data: Functionalism stressed more on the adjustment or

adaptation of the organism to the environment. By emphasizing upon
adjustment, functionalism stressed upon the objective data and by accepting
introspection, it also showed its adherence to the subjective data. However, as
functionalism aged, it laid increasing emphasis upon the objective data.

6. Principles of Connection: The principles of connection were nothing but the

principles of learning and hence, were the central point of focus for the
functionalists' research programme. Carr distinguished between descriptive
laws of association and explanatory laws of association.

7. Principles of Selection: Carr regarded attention, motives and learning to be

the 3 primary aspects of behavior selection. He considered attention as a
sensory-motor adjustment. Motives were defined as a relatively persistent
stimulus that directed actions. Learning was regarded as the basic agent of
behavior selection.
 UNIT II: BEHAVIOURISM

Short Notes:

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1. Watson founded Behaviorism in 1913 at John Hopkins University. This school
was founded as a protest against structuralism and functionalism. It earned
the nick-name of being second force in psychology.

2. Watsonian behaviorism has 2 subsystems-

(i)Positive aspect: This was his emphasis upon objective psychology. He
wanted to apply the techniques and principles of animal psychology to human
psychology. For him, the study of behavior rather than consciousness was the
major source of data for psychologists. Such aspect of behaviourism was
termed as 'empirical behaviorism' or 'methodological behaviorism'.
(ii) Negative Aspect: This was his rejection of introspective psychology of
Titchener and Wundt as well as Angell's Functionalism. In 1919, Watson
adopted a metaphysical position that denied the existence of mind or
consciousness. This was called 'metaphysical' or 'radical' behaviorism.
WATSON'S PRIMARY CONTRIBUTION

1. Definition of Psychology: For Watson, psychology is a branch of natural

science that studies human behavior. He also made it clear that the subject-
matter of psychology is not consciousness, not mental functions nor
psychophysical processes of any sort. Watson's behavorism had 2 specific
objectives- to make prediction about response after knowing the stimulus, and
to make prediction about stimulus after knowing the response.

2. Methods of Psychology: Watson rejected introspection as a scientific method

of psychology. Watson basically recognized the following methods:
(i) Observation: He considered experimental method to be indispensable. But
at the same time, he also accepted naturalistic observations of stimulus-
response relationship in the field outside the laboratoy.
(ii) Conditioned-reflex technique: He considered conditioning as one scientific
method that provided an objective way of analyzing behavior.
(iii) Testing: Psychological testing was also recognized. But it was not a
mental test because it doesn't measure special abilities as aspects of mind.
(iv) Method of Verbal Report: Watson accepted verbal report as one method
of investigation in the case of human subjects.

3. Postulates of Psychology: Watson made certain basic assumptions called

postulates for the psychology outlined in his behaviorism. These were:
(i) Behavior consists of glandular secretions and muscular movements.
(ii) Behavior consists of response elements and it can be analyzed by the
appropriate scientific methods.
(iii) Every effective stimulus produces an immediate response.
(iv) The study of conscious processes must be ignored at all cost because
they cannot be studied scientifically.

4. Nature of Data: Watson always emphasized upon objective data. He rejected

subjective data collected from the study of consciousness by introspection.

5. Principles of Connection: The laws of frequency and recency were accepted

as the major principles of connection. Later, he also included the principle of
conditioning. He opined that conditioning is a fundamental principle of learning.

6. Principles of Selection: One of the two basic objectives of behaviorism was

to make prediction about the response. This is done through selectivity of
stimulus.
7. Mind-Body Problem: Behaviorists denied the existence of mind or
consciousness. They pointed out- one body and no mind. Watson made it clear
that consciousness is never seen, touched, tasted, or smelled. It is a plain
unprovable assumption. Thus, he was clearly monist. With denial of mind, the
mind-body problem remained no longer a problem for behaviorists. Psychology
was concerned only with bodily responses- responses of muscles and glands to
stimuli. Thus, Watson's behaviorism was a 'mind-less' psychology.
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