Functionalism

 Functionalism is a philosophical theory given by William

James, the renowned American psychologist of the late
19th century
 James was heavily influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution
 James argued that instead of focusing on the specific
‘introspective’ elements that make up our consciousness,
psychology should consider the purpose of consciousness,
psychological states, and behavior.
  James is credited as being the first to advocate for a functional
approach to psychology, the school of functionalism itself did not fully
emerge until later in the 19th century, when scholars at the University
of Chicago began to formalize the theory. 
 John Dewey, Harvey A. Carr and James Rowland Angell, Edward
Thorndike all develop functionalism
 Functionalism focused on how mental activities helped an
organism fit into its environment. Functionalism has a second,
more subtle meaning in that functionalists were more interested
in the operation of the whole mind rather than of its individual
parts
  William James and the other members of the school of
functionalism aimed to understand why animals and humans
have developed the particular psychological aspects that they
currently possess 
 James believed that introspection could serve as one means by
which someone might study mental activities, but James also
relied on more objective measures, including the use of various
recording devices, and examinations of concrete products of
mental activities and of anatomy and physiology (Gordon, 1995).

William James
Often considered the father of American psychology,  James was  one of the
first to advocate a functional approach to the field. William James was a
Harvard Professor and leading thinker of late 19th century America.
Edward Lee Thorndike
Thorndike’s research of animal behaviour and the learning process led to
the law of effect which states that, through a process of trial and error,
subjects find the most satisfying behavioral responses to specific stimuli, and
these become their most used responses in the future.
John Dewey
American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer, Dewey’s 1896
paper “The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology” is considered the first major
work of functionalism.
Harvey Carr
Carr was an American psychologist and Chairman of the University of
Chicago’s Psychology Department (which had become the hub of the
Functionalist movement) between 1926-1938. He is best known for
the Kerplunk Experiment, a famous stimulus and response test conducted on
rats, which he ran with John Watson.
What is functionalism?
functionalism is the theory of mind that holds that mental states
should be understood in their relationship to physical functions
and actions. In other words, mental entities like desires,
memories, pain, etc., are not things that exist purely in the mind.
It would be more accurate to say that they are states of
consciousness related to certain kinds of actions. For instance,
pain is a feature of consciousness that leads to the aversion or
cessation of a stimulus, while pleasure would be a state of
consciousness that the sentient organism tries to attain or sustain.
 In both cases, the mental state is understood in terms of what it
drives a person to do.
STRUCTURALISM
 Structuralism is first school of thought founded in Germany by
Wilhelm Wundt’s and mainly identified with Edward B. Titchener
 Wundt offered the very first university course ever taught in
scientific psychology in 1862 in Germany. He later established
the first experimental psychology lab in 1879 at the University of
Leipzig.
 The goal of structuralism is to break down a complex
phenomenon such as consciousness into is smaller components
 Structuralism sought to analyze the adult mind (defined as the
sum total of experience from birth to the present) in terms of the
simplest definable components and then to find the way in which
these components fit together in complex forms.

 Structuralism states that the elements of a person’s mental

experiences are a result of sensations, mental images, and
feelings that are associated with previous experiences

 The major tool of structuralist psychology was introspection (a

careful set of observations made under controlled conditions by
trained observers using a stringently defined descriptive
vocabulary).

Wilhelm Wundt and Voluntarism 

Wundt was a German physiologist who later came to be known as the
Father of experimental psychology. He is one of the founders of
modern psychology. Wundt established the first psychological
laboratory in Leipzig, Germany, in the year 1879. He was the first
person ever to call himself a psychologist. He distinguished between
psychology from philosophy and biology.
  Wundt’s main theory was of psychological voluntarism. This
theory suggested that the power of the will organizes the
contents of the mind. It gets organized into thought processes of
the higher level. Wundt focused on and proposed the theory of
human perception and consciousness. This is why Titchener’s
ideas were concerned with the structure of consciousness .
 Wundt’s experimental technique was known as introspection,
which we discussed above. The introspection Wundt used was a
highly practiced manifestation of self- examination. He called
introspection internal perception. He believed that the conscious
experience has to be observed so objectively, that it should seem
like a scientist is observing it.

Edward Titchener and Structuralism

Titchener, an Englishman, took structuralism to New York.
Titchener’s ideas of how the mind works were influenced by
Wundt’s voluntarism. He attempted to classify the mind into
structures. Introspection was the major tool used by him for this
classification. For approximately 20 years Titchener remained a
major dominant in American psychology . 
 Titchener was curious about what are the elements of the
mind. He concluded his research by discovering three
elements of the mind. He named them sensations (elements
of perception), images (elements of ideas), and affection
(elements of emotions). These elements could be further
broken down into various properties.

Behaviorism
  Behaviorism was formally established with the
1913 publication of John B. Watson's(who is
often considered the father of behaviorism)
classic paper, "Psychology as the Behaviorist
Views It”.
 From about 1920 through the mid-1950s, behaviorism
became the dominant school of thought in psychology.
What Is Behaviorism?
Behaviorism is a theory of learning based on the idea that all
behaviors are acquired through conditioning, and
conditioning occurs through interaction with the
environment. Behaviorists believe that our actions are
shaped by environmental stimuli.
according to this school of thought, also known as
behavioral psychology, behavior can be studied in a
systematic and observable manner regardless of internal
mental states. Behavioral theory also says that only
observable behavior should be studied,
as cognition, emotions, and mood are far too subjective.

Types of Behaviorism

Behaviourism is a psychological perspective that emphasizes the role of

observable behaviour and environmental stimuli in shaping human
behaviour. There are several types of behaviourism that have
developed over time, each with its own unique focus and approach.
Methodological behaviourism: This type of behaviourism holds that
psychology should only study observable behaviour and not mental
processes. Methodological behaviourists believe that behaviour can be
explained by environmental factors such as stimuli and reinforcement,
rather than internal mental processes.

Radical behaviourism: Radical behaviourism, developed by B.F.

Skinner, emphasizes the role of consequences in shaping behaviour.
This type of behaviourism asserts that behaviour is a function of
environmental stimuli and the reinforcement and punishment that
follow those behaviours.

Classical Conditioning vs. Operant Conditioning

Behaviorists believe humans learn behaviors through conditioning,
which associates a stimulus in the environment, such as a sound, to a
response, such as what a human does when they hear that sound. Key
studies in behaviorism demonstrate the difference between two types
of conditioning: classical conditioning, which is associated with
psychologists like Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson, and operant
conditioning, associated with B.F. Skinner.

Classical Conditioning: Pavlov’s Dogs

The Pavlov’s dogs experiment is a widely known experiment involving
dogs, meat, and the sound of a bell. At the start of the experiment,
dogs would be presented meat, which would cause them to salivate.
When they heard a bell, however, they did not.
For the next step in the experiment, the dogs heard a bell before they
were brought food. Over time, the dogs learned that a ringing bell
meant food, so they would begin to salivate when they heard the bell—
even though they didn’t react to the bells before. Through this
experiment, the dogs gradually learned to associate the sounds of a bell
with food, even though they didn’t react to the bells before.

The Pavlov’s dogs experiment demonstrates classical conditioning: the

process by which an animal or human learns to associate two
previously unrelated stimuli with each other. Pavlov’s dogs learned to
associate the response to one stimulus (salivating at the smell of food)
with a “neutral” stimulus that previously did not evoke a response (the
ringing of a bell.) This type of conditioning involves involuntary
responses.

Classical Conditioning: Little Albert

In another experiment that showed the classical conditioning of
emotions in humans, the psychologist J.B. Watson and his graduate
student Rosalie Rayner exposed a 9-month-old child, whom they called
“Little Albert,” to a white rat and other furry animals, like a rabbit and a
dog, as well as to cotton, wool, burning newspapers, and other stimuli
—all of which did not frighten Albert.

Later, however, Albert was allowed to play with a white lab rat. Watson
and Rayner then made a loud sound with a hammer, which frightened
Albert and made him cry. After repeating this several times, Albert
became very distressed when he was presented with only the white rat.
This showed that he had learned to associate his response (becoming
afraid and crying) to another stimulus that had not frightened him
before.

Operant Conditioning: Skinner Boxes

Psychologist B.F. Skinner placed a hungry rat in a box containing a lever.
As the rat moved around the box, it would occasionally press the lever,
consequently discovering that food would drop when the lever was
pressed. After some time, the rat began running straight toward the
lever when it was placed inside the box, suggesting that the rat had
figured out that the lever meant it would get food
.In a similar experiment, a rat was placed inside a Skinner box with an
electrified floor, causing the rat discomfort. The rat found out that
pressing the lever stopped the electric current. After some time, the rat
figured out that the lever would mean that it would no longer be
subject to an electric current, and the rat began running straight
toward the lever when it was placed inside the box.

The Skinner box experiment demonstrates operant conditioning, in

which an animal or human learns a behavior (e.g. pressing a lever) by
associating it with consequences (e.g. dropping a food pellet or
stopping an electric current.) The three types of reinforcement are as
follows:

Positive reinforcement: When something good is added (e.g. a food

pellet drops into the box) to teach a new behavior.
Involves adding something in order to increase a response. For
example, adding a treat will increase the response of sitting; adding
praise will increase the chances of your child cleaning his or her room.
The most common types of positive reinforcement are praise and
reward, and most of us have experienced this as both the giver and
receiver.
Negative reinforcement: When something bad is removed (e.g. an
electric current stops) to teach a new behavior.
Involves taking something negative away in order to increase a
response. Imagine a teenager who is nagged by his parents to take out
the garbage week after week. After complaining to his friends about the
nagging, he finally one day performs the task and, to his amazement,
the nagging stops. The elimination of this negative stimulus is
reinforcing and will likely increase the chances that he will take out the
garbage next week.
Punishment: When something bad is added to teach the subject to stop
a behavior.
Refers to adding something aversive in order to decrease a behaviour.
The most common example of this is disciplining (e.g., spanking) a child
for misbehaving. The child begins to associate being punished with the
negative behaviour. The child does not like the punishment and,
therefore, to avoid it, he or she will stop behaving in that manner.
Extinction: involves removing something in order to decrease a
behaviour. By having something taken away, a response is decreased.

Gestalt Psychology
 Gestalt psychology  was a movement in psychology founded in
Germany in 1912. It’s main aim is to explain perceptions in terms
of whole rather than by analyzing their constituents
 Gestalt is a psychology term which means “unified whole”. It
refers to theories of visual perception developed by German
psychologists in the 1920s. 
 These theories attempt to describe how people tend to organize
visual elements into groups or unified wholes when certain
principles are applied.
 The founders of Gestalt psychology are Max Wertheimer, Kurt
Koffka, and Wolfgang Köhler
 Gestalt psychology is a school of thought that looks at the human
mind and behavior as a whole. When trying to make sense of the
world around us, Gestalt psychology suggests that we do not
simply focus on every small detail.
 Instead, our minds tend to perceive objects as part of a greater
whole and as elements of more complex systems. This school of
psychology played a major role in the modern development of the
study of human sensation and perception.
 This view was revolt against structuralism in the early 20 century
by Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Köhler and other
German psychologists
 Wundt was interested in breaking down psychological matters
into their smallest possible part, the Gestalt psychologists were
instead interested in looking at the totality of the mind and
behavior.
 A core belief in Gestalt psychology is holism, or that the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts.
  Wertheimer’s proposed the concept of the Phi phenomenon, a
concept of isomorphism, in which flashing lights in sequence can
lead to what is known as apparent motion.
 The phi phenomenon is an optical illusion where two stationary
objects seem to move if they are shown appearing and
disappearing in rapid succession. In other words, we perceive
movement where there is none. example of blinking lights at a
train station, the whole we perceive is that one light appears to
move quickly between two points. The reality is that two separate
lights are blinking rapidly without moving at all.

Influential Gestalt Psychologists

Wolfgang Köhler: Köhler connected Gestalt psychology
to the natural sciences, arguing that organic phenomena
are examples of holism at work. He also studied hearing
and looked at problem-solving abilities in chimpanzees.

Kurt Koffka: Together with Wertheimer and Köhler,

Koffka is considered a founder of the field. He applied the
concept of Gestalt to child psychology, arguing that
infants first understand things holistically before learning
to differentiate them into parts. Koffka played a key role
in bringing Gestalt principles to the United States.

Principles of Gestalt Psychology

Wertheimer created principles to explain how Gestalt perception functions.
Some of the most important principles of Gestalt theory are: 26

 Prägnanz: This foundational principle states that we naturally

perceive things in their simplest form or organization.
 Similarity: This Gestalt principle suggests that we naturally group
similar items together based on elements like color, size, and
orientation. An example would be grouping dogs based on whether
they are small or large, or if they are big or small.
 Proximity: The principle of proximity states that objects near each
other tend to be viewed as a group.
 Continuity: According to this Gestalt principle, we perceive elements
arranged on a line or curve as related to each other, while elements
that are not on the line or curve are seen as separate.
 Closure: This suggests that elements that form a closed object will be
perceived as a group. We will even fill in missing information to create
closure and make sense of an object. An example of this Gestalt
psychology principle is using negative space to give the illusion that a
particular shape exists when it doesn't.
 Common region: This Gestalt psychology principle states that we
tend to group objects together if they're located in the same bounded
area. (For example, objects inside a box tend to be considered a
group.)

Psychoanalysis
 Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist who
founded psychoanalysis. Also known as the father of
modern psychology, he was born in 1856 and died in
1939.
 Sigmund Freud, coined the term psychoanalysis
 Psychoanalysis is a method of therapy in which the
patient talks about experiences, early childhood, and
dreams
 Psychoanalysis refers to both a theory and a type of
therapy based on the belief that all people possess
unconscious thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories
 Psychoanalysis also suggests that:

 A person's behavior is influenced by their unconscious

drives.
  Emotional and psychological problems such as depression
and anxiety are often rooted in conflicts between the
conscious and unconscious mind.
 Personality development is heavily influenced by the events
of early childhood (Freud suggested that personality was
largely set in stone by the age of five).
 People use defense mechanisms to protect themselves
from information contained in the unconscious.

 prominent names in psychoanalysis were   Anna

Freud , Erik Erikson, Erich Fromm, and Carl Jung

Levels of Consciousness
Unconscious Mind

The unconscious mind includes all of the things that are

outside of our conscious awareness, such as early childhood
memories, secret desires, and hidden drives. According to
Freud, the unconscious contains things that we might
consider to be unpleasant or even socially unacceptable. We
bury these things in our unconscious because they might
bring us pain or conflict.

While these thoughts, memories, and urges are outside of

our awareness, they still influence how we think and
behave. In some cases, the things that are outside of our
awareness can influence behavior in negative ways and lead
to psychological distress. 

conscious Mind

The conscious mind, on the other hand, includes everything

that is inside of our awareness. The contents of the
 conscious mind are the things we are aware of or can easily
bring into awareness

Structures of personality
Id
The first of the key elements of personality to emerge is known as the id.
The id contains all of the unconscious, basic, and primal urges.

Ego
The second aspect of personality to emerge is known as the ego. This is the
part of the personality that must deal with the demands of reality. It helps
control the urges of the id and makes us behave in ways that are both
realistic and acceptable.

Rather than engaging in behaviors that are designed to satisfy our desires
and needs, the ego forces us to fulfill our needs in ways that are socially
acceptable and realistic. In addition to controlling the demands of the id, the
ego also helps strike a balance between our basic urges, our ideals, and
reality.

Superego
The superego is the final aspect of personality to emerge, and it contains our
ideals and values. The values and beliefs that our parents and society instill
in us are the guiding force of the superego and it strives to make us behave
according to these morals.

The Ego's Defense Mechanisms

Defense mechanisms are strategies that the ego uses to protect itself from
anxiety. These defensive tools act as a safeguard to keep unpleasant or
distressing aspects of the unconscious from entering our awareness. When
something is experienced as overwhelming or even inappropriate, defense
mechanisms keep the information from entering our consciousness, which
minimizes our distress.
  Psychosexual Development
 Freud proposed that children develop in five distinct stages, each focused on a
different source of pleasure:

Oral Stage (0–1 year old)

During this psychosexual stage, a child derives pleasure from oral activities,
such as sucking and tasting. Successful fulfillment of the child’s feeding needs
and proper weaning will result in the establishment of trust.

Too much or too little gratification can bring about an oral fixation when the
child grows up and can result in addictions such as drinking alcohol, smoking,
over eating, or nail biting

Anal Stage (2–3 years old)

The main source of gratification for a child during this psychosexual stage is
the ability to control bladder and bowel movement. A positive and appropriate
experience revolving around potty training encourages a sense of
competence, creativity and productivity. On the contrary, anal fixations can
translate into obsession with perfection, extreme cleanliness, and control or
the opposite which is messiness and disorganization in adulthood.

Phallic Stage (3–6 years old)

During this psychosexual stage, the erogenous zone is the genitals.
Boys start to perceive their father as rivals for their mother’s affections, while
girls feel similarly towards their mother. Freud used the term “The Oedipus
Complex” to describe boys’ attachment towards their mother, and Carl Jung
later coined the term “The Electra Complex” to describe girls’ attachment
towards their father. Fear of punishment leads to repression of feelings toward
the opposite sex parent, and fixation at this stage may bring about sexual
deviancy or weak sexual identity.

Latency Stage (6 years to puberty)

During this psychosexual stage of development, sexual urges are usually
repressed. Children spend most of their time interacting with same sex peers,
engaging in hobbies and acquiring skills. Adults who are fixated at this stage
are immature and have a hard time forming meaningful relationship.

Genital Stage (Puberty onward)

During the last psychosexual stage, the erogenous zone is genitals.
Individuals’ sexual urges are reawakened and are directed toward opposite
sex peers. However, unlike at the phallic stage, the sexuality at the genital
stage is consensual. People who completed the earlier stages successfully
become well-adjusted, caring and secure individuals at this stage. While
younger children are mostly ruled by their id and focus on their wants,
individuals at this stage have fully formed ego and superego. They can
balance their wants (id) with the reality (ego) and ethics (superego).