Lecture 4 - Structuralism & Functionalism

Question 1

Titchener

Answer 1

Academic -> public psy
Physio lab (snob)
Pure research approach (not applied); disagreed w/ applied psy
Functionalism = too vague
Structure is more important

Question 2

Goals of structuralism

Answer 2

1. Analyze - what are the elements?
2. Understand synthesis - how are they arranged?
3. Explain how nervous system produces these elements - what causes these arrangements?
   Focused on answering 1 & 2

Question 3

What were Titchener’s research methods?

Answer 3

Introspection - trained students
Thought it was more impartial
Looked at facts, no preconceptions
Introspectors should be fresh, healthy, without anxiety

Question 4

What were problems w/ Titchener’s methods?

Answer 4

Could not be replicated
Difficult to be unbiased, anxiety free
What was the point of breaking it down?
More useful to look at the whole rather than the parts
Introspection req'd too much training
P's limited to highly motivated adults
Did not look at indvd dffs
Excluded children, animals, insane

Question 5

What is stimulus error?

Answer 5

Describing the whole rather than the sensations/facts that make up the whole

Question 6

What are the 3 elements of consciousness?

Answer 6

1. Images - ideas
2. Feelings/affections - emotions
3. Sensations - perceptions

Question 7

What are the attributes of the elements?

Answer 7

1. Sensation: Quality, Intensity, Duration, Clearness
2. Images: Same but pale/faded/washed out
3. Affections: pleasant or unpleasant; intensity, qual, duration but no clearness

Question 8

1909 - T’s Txtbook of Psy

Answer 8

1/3rd dedicated to sensory processes

Question 9

What was T’s impact on psychology?

Answer 9

American Journal of Psychology (Hall, 1895)
Translated articles from German -> English, incld. Wundt
The Manuals taught many students
Helped create scientific psychology

Question 10

Discuss the Manuals

Answer 10

2 written for students and instructors
Old way of research training - drill courses, nothing original, only replication
1901 - Qualitative - basic sensory perceptual and affectual processes
1905 - Quantitative - psychophysics, reaction time
Many students trained from the manuals

Question 11

What were the reasons for structuralism’s downfall?

Answer 11

No one kept it going after T’s death
View on psychology too narrow
No applied psy, omitted important mental processes
T was uncompromising and authoritarian
Rise of functionalism
Imageless thought problem
Others defended themselves fiercely against T

Question 12

Why did functionalism rise?

Answer 12

US growing
Application of knowledge was popular
People wanted psy to be applied
Psy was studied widely
People needed help

Question 13

Discuss the context of functionalism.

Answer 13

Evolution was well-known, functionalism grew out of it
What was the purpose of bhvr in rltn to the environment?
Variation was adaptive, and indvd diffs were getting attn

Question 14

What did functionalism look at?

Answer 14

The function/purpose of consciousness

1. To solve problems and adapt to novel situations

Question 15

How did functionalism affect psychology?

Answer 15

Broadened the scope conceptually and methodologically
Included other fields
Brought it closer to modern psy

Question 16

Who was in the Chicago school?

Answer 16

Dewey
Angell
Carr

Question 17

Who was in the Columbia school?

Answer 17

Cattell
Thorndike
Woodworth

Question 18

Discuss Dewey

Answer 18

Established Chicago as center of functionalism

Wrote Reflex Arc Concept - start of functionalism

Question 19

What was the Reflex Arc Concept?

Answer 19

Said that traditional view of reflex was too simple
Stimulus -> brain/idea -> act/response
Wanted to incld cdtning and learning by consequence
Focus on what for, not just what
Consider adaptive purpose of reflexes
Saw them as integrated whole, or continuous circuit

Question 20

Dewey and psy in education

Answer 20

Children do not learn like adults
Must form flexible variety of habits
Most important - growth
Against math/reading/writing
Children shd learn naturally from envr
Less disciplined

Question 21

Discuss Angell

Answer 21

Wrote The Province of Functional Psychology

Clearly defined functionalism, described it, compared it with functionalism

Question 22

What are the main tenets of functionalism?

Answer 22

1. Study mental operations, not elements
2. Identify utilities of consciousness
3. Is a psychophysical psychology - connection between mind/body

Question 23

Discuss Carr

Answer 23

Carr mazes and standardization
Ran lab at Chicago
Comparative psychology

Question 24

Discuss Thorndike

Answer 24

Educational psy and psy testing
Comparative psy - most notable work
Baby chicks and cats in puzzle boxes
First acted randomly, eventually found way out; useless bhvr decreased and effective bhvr increased
Similar ideas to punishment, reinforcement and generalization

Question 25

What is the Law of Effect

Answer 25

Responses which are followed by a satisfactory outcome are likelier to reoccur
Similar to reinforcement
Responses followed by discomfort are less likely to reoccur
Precursor to bhvrsm

Question 26

What is the Law of Exercise

Answer 26

Connection btwn stim/response strengthens w/ practice

Trial-and-error learning

Question 27

What is transfer

Answer 27

Transfer learning from one situation to another situation

Similar to generalization today

Question 28

What is learning

Answer 28

Formation of connection in brain between situations and actions

Question 29

What did Woodworth work on?

Answer 29

Transfer of training with Thorndike

Found that transfer dpds on how similar tasks are

Question 30

What was special about the Columbia Bible?

Answer 30

67k copies by 1957
100k learned from it
29 detailed topics + research methods
Narrowed definition of experiments
IV is manip'd, all else constant
Before, exp incld'd introspection, mental testing, observation
Labelled IV/DV
Cause/effect = only way is experiment

Question 31

What did functionalism lead to?

Answer 31

Focus on indvd diffs, animals, dvpmt, abnormal bhvr, practical applications of psy
Clinical, counseling, school, forensic, health, sport, I/O
Replaced by behaviorism and cognitive psy

Question 32

What is structuralism?

Answer 32

A psychological school of thought that seeks to analyze and organize the mind into its elementary units
T said F was impossible before S fully understood

Question 33

Who were the Experimentalists?

Answer 33

T resigned from APA
1904 - Formed Experimentalists
Discussed research and kept experimental psy active
Selective/exclusive members - men, talented

Question 34

What were T’s solutions to introspection’s main problem?

Answer 34

Problem - cannot have conscious experience and reflect at the same time

1. Memory - delay introspection (retrospection)
2. Break experience into stages
3. Acquire the habit thru training

Question 35

What is Social Darwinism?

Answer 35

Survival of the fittest in society

Rationalized rich/poor

Question 36

What were puzzle boxes?

Answer 36

Thorndike’s method of studying learning in animals
Methodologically rigourous and standardized tests
Cats learned separate responses, then combined them
13 cats - at first bhvr was random, then effective responses increased w/ trials

Question 37

What is connectionism?

Answer 37

Connect btwn stimuli in boxes and successful escape

Question 38

What was Thorndike’s finding on transfer?

Answer 38

Cats in similar boxes escaped quicker

So skills do transfer w/ similar environments

Question 39

Thorndike-Mills controversy

Answer 39

Mills criticized T
Said he did not respect predecessors and rejected the artificial envr
T said he wasn’t impressed by past research - uncritical and anecdotal
Said Mills did not try to replicate his rsrch
Continues today - natural or artificial envr?