DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STRUCTURALISM AND FUNCTIONALISM (METHOD OF STUDY)

STRUCTURALISM

The study of the essential components that serve as the bedrock of conscious experience is the focus of the structuralist school of psychology. This viewpoint highlights the underlying components of conscious experience and deconstructs its structural aspects into things like sensations, feelings, and images, among other things. However, we might examine the minor components that support the mind rather than studying the stimulus as it is.

For instance, if someone touches a hot object or a fire, their skin feels warm before they feel any pain, even if their foot burns. It would be a structural approach if we each focused on something separately.

FUNCTIONALISM

William James and Cattell, two psychologists from the US, proposed it. As a result, it claims that functionalism is the theory of the nature of mental states. The traditional assumption that mental states are internal states of thought is retained by functionalism, which holds that mental states are defined by what they do rather than by what they are comprised of.

This school of thinking primarily focuses on what the mind does—that is, the mental processes. Functionalists concentrated on how behaviour helps people achieve their needs and how it helps them better adapt to their environment. John Dewey offered suggestions on strategies to address the educational needs of the students utilizing this strategy.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STRUCTURALISM AND FUNCTIONALISM

Ø The earliest school of thought in psychological history was structuralism. While the structuralism viewpoint served as the stimulus for the development of the functionalist school of thought.

Ø While functionalists supported the study of the function of the mind, structuralists were debatable when it came to the structure of the mind.

Ø Structuralism examines the workings of the mind and the fundamental elements that emerge from introspection. Contrarily, functionalism can alter their studies, implying that people sometimes experience pain as a whole and other times as individual components.

Ø Although structuralism overlooked consciousness' essential essence, functionalism saw it as a continuous stream of ideas.

Ø Structuralism's introspective techniques gradually become problematic. The universal components of conscious experience had to be investigated. However, this method has been made possible by consciousness, a very individual and subjective functionalist.

METHOD OF STUDY

STRUCTURALISM

This point of view highlighted the need for introspection to understand human nature and, in particular, the anatomy of the mind.

The foundation of structuralism is the idea that the purpose of psychology is to break consciousness down into its simplest components and examine how these components interact. They relied on the introspective method, which involves a careful, methodical examination of one's own conscious experience.

Analysis of perception, association, memory, attention, and reasoning was done structurally. Titchner and the students focused their research and tests mostly on these issues, but feeling received the most focus.

For instance, Wundt asked his qualified subjects to describe in their own words how they felt after being exposed to a stimulus, such as a message written on a card. Wundt concluded that this allowed observers to understand the nature of their thoughts through the observations made by knowledgeable subjects.

FUNCTIONALISM

Given that the functionalist viewpoint focuses on the function of mental processes. While experimentation and informal introspection are the study's two main research methods. As a result, this kind of research can be used to examine real issues like business, law, educational levels, etc.

The concern of structuralism on the structure of the mind was drawn upon by functionalism, which in turn increased concern about the roles of the mind and, later, the psychological theory of behaviour.

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