Structuralism was the first school of psychology and focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components. Researchers tried to understand the basic elements of consciousness using a method known as introspection. Wilhelm Wundt, founder of the first psychology lab, is often associated with this school of thought despite the fact that it was his student Edward B. Titchener who first coined the term to describe this school of thought. Functionalism formed as a reaction to the structuralism and was heavily influenced by the work of William James and the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin. Functionalists sought to explain the mental processes in a more systematic and accurate manner. Rather than focusing on the elements of consciousness, functionalists focused on the purpose of consciousness and behavior. Functionalism also emphasized individual differences, which had a profound impact on education.

1. Foundations
of
Guidance Counseling
Jeel Christine C. de Egurrola

2. Structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
 German physiologist who
was trained in medicine.
 Specialized in the scientific
study of human
consciousness.
 Established the first
psychological laboratory at
the University of Leipzig in
Germany in 1879.
 Invented his own laboratory
equipments

3. Structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
Tachistoscopes,
chronoscopes,
electrical
stimulators,
pendulums, timers
and sensory
mapping devices.
 In 1879 he began
experiments that
were not part of
his teaching – he
marks this as the
beginning of his
lab

4. Structuralism
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
 Often identified as “the world’s
first true psychologist” and the
“Founder of Psychology.”
 Also identified as the “Father of
Experimental Psychology”
Wundt with his lab research assistants

5.  Wundt's aim was to record thoughts and sensations, and to
analyze them into their constituent elements
 Wundt founded voluntarism, the processing of organizing the
mind
Structuralism
During his academic career Wundt trained
186 graduate students (116 in psychology).
Edward Titchener, who described his
system as Structuralism, or the analysis of
the basic elements that constitute the mind.

6. Structuralism had its roots in earlier work in
physiology.
Scientists there (e.g. Gustav Fechner) had found
success in studying sensory perception by
manipulating stimuli and having subjects report
back their experience.
Wundt adopted this general approach for his new
science
Structuralism

7. Wundt defined psychology as the study of the
structure of conscious experience.
The goal was to find the 'atoms' of conscious
experience, and from there to build a knowledge of
how the atoms combine to create our experience.
Wundt hoped to thus emulate the success of the
natural sciences
Structuralism

8. As psychology was defined as the study of
experience, and as an outside observer cannot
gather information on subjective experience,
Wundt turned to introspection (experimental self-
observation) as the tool for gathering data.
Researchers were trained with specific criteria for
becoming skilled introspectors.
Structuralism

9. Structuralism
Structuralism was the study of the most basic
elements, that make up our conscious mental
processes.
Elements of the Mind:
Sensations
Perceptions

10. Structuralism
Sensations are relatively meaningless bits of
information that result when the brain processes
electrical signals that come from the sense organs
Perceptions are meaningful sensory expreriences
that results after the brain combines hundreds of
sensations.

11. William James (1842-1910)
Functionalism
 American pragmatist and
Psychologist
 Went to Germany and met
Wundt and Helmholtz
 Brought Functionalism in the US
 First American psychologist
 Father of American Psychology

12. Functionalism
William James (1842-1910)
 Wrote the first general text
book on psychology, The
Principles of Psychology (1890)
 He moved from psychology to
philosophy.
 He took a strong individualistic
perspective rooted in individual
experience.

13. Functionalism
William James (1842-1910)
 He argued forcibly against the
structuralist position that
conscious can be broken into
constituent parts.
 Coining the phrase 'stream of
consciousness', James proposed
that mental life is a unity that
flows and changes.
 Consciousness is a continuum

14. Functionalism
William James (1842-1910)
 In Principles of Psychology he
presented illuminating ideas
concerning consciousness,
attention, memory, habits, and
emotions.
 Emotions are caused by
physiological changes

15. Functionalism
 Psychology is the study of mental activity (e.g.
perception, memory, imagination, feeling, judgment).
Mental activity is to be evaluated in terms of how it
serves the organism in adapting to its environment.
Focuses on the functions of the mind
Study of how a mental process operates.
Study of how the mental process functions in the evolution
of the species, what adaptive property it provides that
would cause it to be selected through evolution.

16. Functionalism
Mental acts can be studied through
introspection, the use of instruments to
record and measure
Objective manifestations of mind, through the
study of its creations and products
And through the study of anatomy and
physiology.

17. Functionalism
Functionalism was the study of the function
rather than the structure of consciousness,
was interested in how the minds adapt to our
changing environment
Attention, Memory, and Emotion

18. Book
 Macapagal, M.E.J. (2007). General Psychology for Filipino College
Students. Manila, Ph: Ateneo University Press.
 Mangal, S.K. (2013). General Psychology. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
 Plotnik, R. & Kouyoumdjian, H. (2011). Introduction to Psychology. (9th
ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Internet
 University of Utah Department of Psychology. (n.d.). Wilhelm Wundt and
Structuralism. In: A Brief History of Psychology. Retrieved from:
http://www.psych.utah.edu/gordon/Classes/Psy4905Docs/PsychHistory/Cards/Wundt.html
 University of Utah Department of Psychology. (n.d.). William James and
Functionalism. In: A Brief History of Psychology. Retrieved from:
http://www.psych.utah.edu/gordon/Classes/Psy4905Docs/PsychHistory/Cards/James.html
References

19. Guidance Counseling
PsychologicalFoundationsof