Structuralism: The Roots of Psychology

Today Structuralism is considered to be one of the earliest branches of psychology. At its beginning in the late Nineteenth Century, however, Structuralism was simply the way in which Edward Bradford Titchener and his contemporaries viewed the entire field of psychology. Titchener studied in Germany under the great Wilhem Wundt, now considered the Father of Psychological Experimentation. Though he gained experience from Wundt, many of Titchener's ideas differed greatly from those of his instructor. He implemented these ideas in his classrooms and writings after moving to the United States in 1892. According to Schultz, Titchener believed "psychology's fundamental task was to discover the nature of the elementary conscious experiences - to analyze consciousness into its component parts and thus determine its structure" (117). Many of his experiments, then, focused on these "conscious experiences." He helped to further developed a technique called "introspection" in which participants were to observe their own conscious states and describe certain elements of consciousness (Schultz 125). Titchener was primarily different from the psychologist's before him in that he concentrated on the individual parts of an experience while they focused on whole and complete experiences.

At this time in psychological history the debate of whether it is nature or nurture that plays a more significant role in one's development had not yet begun. Nature refers to ones own genetic make up influencing the personality and habits of the individual, while nurture refers to the environment and parenting style of the individual influencing the personality and habits. During these early years psychology was continuing to principally focus on physiology of the brain as it is concerned with perceived states of consciousness. Titchener's writings do not seem to indicate that he was particularly concerned with the reasoning behind human behaviors in regards to nature or nurture. He very slightly, if at all, acknowledges either concept. Perhaps his most important written contribution is A Textbook of Psychology which was published in 1910. In his chapter on the subject-matter of psychology he claims, "All human knowledge is derived from human experience; there is no other source of knowledge" (6). This statement seems to indicate that he values the human experience, and therefore, nurture. Yet in another work, he dedicates whole chapters to Charles Darwin and evolutionary ideas seemingly giving importance to heredity and nature (Systematic Psychology, 49-54). He never, however, addresses the either point directly, as discussions of nature and nurture had not yet begun to develop.

Works Cited

Systematic Psychology: prolegomena. by Edward Bradford Titchener.
New York, Macmillan, 1929.