Voluntarism, Structuralism and Other Early Approaches to Psychology - Coursework Example

Evolution of Psychology In attempting to formulate a historical perspective on the evolution of psychology one is struck by the difficulty in developing a functional chronology. While psychology does demonstrate scientific development over time, one investigation doesn’t necessarily follow the next, and a number of competing schools of thought beginning with the Greek philosophers intermittently emerge and disappear throughout time. In developing a perspective on the evolution of psychology, this essay considers the sometimes competing factions of psychological thought, as well as distinct instances of functional chronology, within the psychological frameworks of the early Greek philosophers, Voluntarism, Structuralism and Other Early Approaches to Psychology, and early 20th Century developments in Functional psychology. Early Greek Philosophers Most traditional accounts of the history of psychology credit the Greek thinkers for laying the scientific foundations for what would eventually evolve into the formal study of the subject. The early Greek thinkers began to think about the world in scientific and philosophical terms that went beyond traditional accounts that linked the physical world to a religious cosmology. It was the contributions of early Greek philosophers such as Democritus, Hippocrates, and Protagoras that began the long line of scientific inquiry into the nature of physical reality that has embodied the Western scientific tradition into the 21st century. While the early Greek’s have been predominantly credited with their broad scientific advances, thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle also developed preliminary investigations into topics that would later be considered psychological. Much like Freud many years later, Plato divided the mind into a number of parts each constituting a different function. Plato believed that the soul had a rational function that was located in the head, a spirited function that was located in the chest, and a courageous function that was located in the belly. The rational soul was the part of the mind that had to control the urges of the two other competing parts. The passionate section was understood to be particularly troublesome. One can see hear the archetypical blue-print for what would eventually evolve into Freud’s dichotomy of the Id, Ego, And Superego; it’s not far stretch to link a direct comparison between Freud’s Id concept and the licentious characterization Plato developed for the ‘passionate soul’. While Plato’s division between mind and body was an early example of dualist structure, Aristotle’s perspective linked the two into a functional whole. Aristotle indicated that the soul and the body were the same, and they couldn’t be separated, just as a statue can’t be separated from the material it was constructed from. Aristotle also believed that the soul had a number of different functions, which included nutrition, movement, and reason. The inclusion of reason into the functional category of the soul indicates an early foray into the study of psychology. Aristotle also references the facility of nutrition. This has led many theorists to align Aristotle’s theory of the soul as the “first functional psychology, an approach congenial to a biologist.” (Bakalis, 2005, p. 87) The biological ramifications of Aristotle’s theory of the soul would act as precedent to the psychological school of functionalism. The two theories share an emphasis on the “biological nature of mental functioning.” (Bakalis, 2005, p.89) Voluntarism, Structuralism and Other Early Approaches to Psychology Even as considerable investigations into the nature of consciousness and mental processes were made after the Greeks, it wasn’t until William Wundt and Voluntarism in the nineteenth-century that the first official school of psychological thought was founded. Wundt is regarded as the first psychologist for his crucial role in the development of experimental psychology. One of the notable experiments he undertook involved a clock with a pendulum that swung back and forth periodically striking a bell. The participants were asked to determine the exact time the bell struck, and Wundt determined that there answers were always 1/10 of a second off. This result led him to conclude that the human mind can only process one thought per 1/10 of a second. (Bringmann, 1980, p. 10) Voluntarism was a school of psychology that considered these findings when attempting to develop a theory of the human conscious. It followed that individual will was seen as the predominant conscious force, as the human volunteered to consider the ringing of the bell or to consider the swinging of the pendulum. This is significant in the evolution of psychology, as it distinguished from past theories. It discounted Materialistic psychology because consciousness, Wundt believed, “…cannot be derived from any physical qualities of material molecules or atoms” (Bringmann, 1980, p. 19) He also disagreed with empiricist philosophy because it lacked the emphasis on the human will that is found in Volunteerism. Another school of psychological thought that developed around this time was Edward Titchener’s Structuralism. Titchener believed that before the 1880s all forays into psychology lacked the experimental rigor required to classify them as a legitimate sciences. He believed that, “Science deals, not with values, but with facts. There is no good or bad, sick or well, useful or useless, in science” (Jalomn, 2000, p. 201) While both schools primary concern was the nature of consciousness, Structuralism differed from Voluntarism in that rather than attempting to “explain conscious experience in terms of unobservable cognitive processes…(it) sought only to describe mental experience” (Jalomn, 2000, p. 205) Through recordable conscious introspection, Structuralism sought to describe the structure of conscious events. While Structuralism and Voluntarism were the major psychological schools of the time, a number of other early approaches developed that challenged their assumptions. Some of the major competing views were held by theorists such as Brentano, Stumpf, Husserl, and Kulpe. Contrary to Titchener, Brentano believed that psychological investigations into consciousness should focus on mental acts instead of mental elements. Stumpf also accepted this premise and extended in stating that introspective research must include tangible psychological experience, rather than merely forms of thought. Husserl believed that in order to develop a science of psychology, a taxonomic structure of the mind had to be articulated. He disagreed with preceding theorists in that he believed this taxonomy needed to exist before experimental studies in consciousness could be developed. Functionalism Functionalism is widely regarded as the first United States school of psychology. While it originated around the same time as Structuralism, the paradigmatic aims of the two schools differed greatly; whereas structuralists investigated consciousness through research with introspection, the goals of functionalism were to “…understand how the mind and behavior work in aiding an organism’s adjustment to the environment” (Keebler, 1999, p. 50) While Structuralism relied predominantly on introspection as an experimental tool, Functionalism adopted a myriad of forms of inspection, including introspection, but also the study of animal behavior and the mentally ill. The functional school of thought evolved from previous research into evolutionary theory and as a result believed that the mind had a determinable function for survival in the environment. This led to a particular interest in the topic of motivation, as they believed that since …”an organism will act differently in the same environment as its needs change, these needs must be understood before the organism’s behavior can be understood.” (Keebler, 1999, p. 57) They went beyond previous psychological research as they attempted to determine these findings and apply them to real life scenarios. While Titchener believed psychology should be a science concerned only with the objective description of findings, the Functionalist school sought to make it a practical science and to use their findings to help institutions like education and industry, as well as improving personal lives. The Functionalists also went beyond previous psychological investigations in that they believed research methodology should include a broader array of subject matter, and incorporated anything that could be deemed informative. This progress attitude towards research methodology led to some of the first psychological investigations into abnormal psychology, animals, and children, as well as the incorporating mental testing. Conclusion In conclusion, the history of psychology demonstrates varying degrees of functional chronology and directly contradictory forms of psychological representation. The early Greek philosophers are credited largely for developing investigations into the physical world that went beyond traditional religious or mythological accounts. Thinkers like Plato and Aristotle explored the nature of the mind and soul in developing accounts of personality that would later be recalled in thinkers such as Sigmund Freud. They also explored the question of mind and body duality. Voluntarism and Structuralism were two of the first approaches to psychology that implemented experimental studies to attempt to determine mental processes. They were both concerned with understanding the nature of consciousness, but differed in the degrees of importance placed on individual volition. Finally, Functionalism was the first recognized American school of psychology. It was influenced by findings in evolutionary biology and attempted to determine the function of mental processes. It also went beyond Voluntarism and Structuralism in that it attempted to link its findings to practical uses in education and industry. References Bakalis, N. (2005). Handbook of Greek Philosophy: From Thales to the Stoics: Analysis and Fragments. Victoria, BC: Trafford Publishing. Bringmann, W. G. & Tweney, R. D. (Eds.) (1980). Wundt studies. Toronto: Hogrefe. Jalomb, P. (2000). The Psychologizing of Mind Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Keebler, D. (1999). Dynamics in psychology. New York: Liveright. Read More