Structuralism, Functionalism, Behaviourism, Humanistic theories

1. Schools of thought
in Psychology
DR. AKSHAY NAIK
MD (PSYCHIATRY)
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

2. Contents
 Structuralism
 Functionalism
 Unconscious mind & Freud
 Behaviorism
 Humanists

3. THE BATTLE!!!
Structuralism Functionalism

4. Structuralism
 Edward Titchener- an Englisman who emigrated to US in 1892
Task of psychology is
 to analyze consciousness into its basic elements
 To investigate how these elements are related
 Eg. Like how physicists study matter which is made up of basic particles

6. INTROSPECTION- method used by structuralists to examine contents of
consciousness
 Definition: Careful, systematic self-observation of one’s own conscious
experience.
 Required the subjects (person being studied) more objective and more
aware
 Exposure to auditory tones, optical illusions and visual stimuli and
subsequent analysis of what they experienced
 Performed under carefully controlled and systematically varied conditions

7. Functionalism
 Task of psychology: To investigate the function or purpose of
consciousness (rather than its structure)
 Emergence credited to William James
James was influenced by Charles Darwin’s concept of natural selection-
 Typical characteristic of species must serve some purpose
 ‘consciousness’ an important characteristic of species
 Hence psychology should investigate function rather than structure of
consciousness

8. Consciousness consists of a
continuous flow of
thoughts
‘stream of consciousness’
Continually ongoing,
wholistic experience or
process
James argued that
structuralists:
Look at static points in this
flow by analyzing only its
elements
Depict consciousness as a
mental container full of
such ‘contents’
FUNCTIONALISM
STRUCTURALISM

9.  James analysed several crucial issues
 How people acquire habits- groundwork for study in learning
 Concept of the ‘self’- laid foundation for theories of personality
Functionalists began investigating:
• Mental testing
• Patterns of development in children
• Effectiveness of educational practices
• Behavioural differences between the sexes

10.  Who won?
 Functionalism fostered the development of two important descendants:
BEHAVIOURISM and APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY

11. The Unconscious mind & Sigmund
Freud (1856-1939)
 Departure from the prevailing belief that people are fully aware of the forces
affecting their behaviour
 Unconscious contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the
surface of conscious awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on
behaviour
 Based the concept of unconscious on a variety of observations
• ‘Slips of tongue’- revealed persons true feelings
• “dreams’ often express important feelings one is unaware of
• Psychological disturbances caused by personal conflicts at an unconscious level

12.  Freud gave psychoanalytic theory that attempts to explain personality,
motivation and mental disorders by focusing on unconscious determinants
of behaviour
 Behaviour is greatly influenced by how people cope with their sexual urges
 Controversial nature of theory
 But also got Freud recognition and followers such as Carl Jung and Alfred
Adler.

13. BEHAVIORISM
 Founded by John B. Watson (1878-1958)
 As per Watson, mental events are private events and are not a proper
subject for scientific study. (eg. thoughts, feelings etc.)
 Behaviorism is based on the premise that scientific psychology should
study only observable behaviour which is verifiable
 Watson tried to redefine scientific psychology by proposing to abandon
the study of consciousness altogether and focussing exclusively on
behavior that they could observe directly

14.  This was in stark contrast with the psychoanalytical theory by Freud
 Hence proponents of behaviorism and psychoanalysis engaged in several
heated debates
Behaviorism
Psychoanalysis

15. What else did Watson’s take on
behaviourism challenge?
Nature
Nurture

16. Behaviorists and stimulus-response psychology
 Rise of animal research in psychology- advantage of easy control
Stimuli
• Observable
event in
environment
Response • Overt
behaviours

17. Behaviourism and B.F. Skinner
 Influenced by work of Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson
 Strict focus on observable behaviour
 Emphasized on how environmental factors mold behavior
 Organisms tend to repeat responses that lead to positive outcomes, and they
tend to not repeat response that lead to neutral or negative outcomes
 Stated that since internal mental events could not be studied scientifically,
there was no need to study them

18.  Skinner’s followers showed priniciples uncovered in their animal research
could be applied to complex human behaviors as well
 Free will is an illusion- people are controlled by their environment not by
their conscious decisions
 All behaviour is fully governed by external stimuli
 Behaviorism flourished as the dominant school of thought in psychology
during the 1950s and 1960s

19. The Humanists revolt
 By 1950s, behaviorism and psychoanalytic theory had become the most
influential schools of thought
 Both schools criticized and termed ‘dehumanizing’ –
• Suggest people are not masters of their destinies
• Both fail to recognize the unique qualities of human behavior

20. What were the criticisms by
humanists?
• Behaviour dominated by
primitive, sexual urges
• People are pawns of their
animal heritage
Psychoanalytical
theory
• Preoccupation with study of
simple animal behaviour
• People are pawns of their
environmental circumstances
Behaviorism

21.  Humanism is a theoretical orientation that emphasizes the unique qualities
of humans, especially their freedom and their potential for personal
growth
 Take an optimistic view of human nature
 Because humans are fundamentally different from animals, research on the
latter has little relevance in understanding human behaviour
 Most prominent humanists- Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow

22.  Rogers argued that human behavior is governed primarily by each
individuals sense of self or ‘self-concept’
 Both asserted that fundamental human drive for personal growth and a
need to evolve to fulfil their potential needs to be accounted for
 Psychological disturbances occur as a result of thwarting these unique
human needs
 Carl Rogers- person centered therapy.

24. THANK YOU