Edward Titchener and structuralist psychology

Titchener, one of the first psychologists, confronted William James in his conception of the mind.

Along with his mentor, the celebrated Wilhelm Wundt, Edward Titchener was the founder of structuralist psychology.a theoretical and methodological psychological current that focused on the analysis of mental processes through introspection, which emerged during the early years of the 20th century.

Although this school of thought was defeated by the functionalism of William James, which gave way to behaviorism, and by other psychological orientations that opposed Wundt's and Titchener's proposals (such as German Gestalt), it had a key influence on the development of scientific psychology, even if this happened mostly by reaction.

Biography of Edward Titchener

When he started studying at university, the British Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927) focused on classical literature; however, he became increasingly interested in biology. In particular, his attention was drawn to the book "Principles of Physiological Psychology" by Wilhelm Wundt, who founded the first psychological laboratory and is considered the father of scientific psychology.

After translating the work of the German psychophysiologist into English, Titchener moved to Leipzig to study with his idol; the year was 1890. Tutored by Wundt, Titchener published his doctoral dissertation, in which he analyzed the vision of the brain.D. thesis, in which he analyzed binocular or stereoscopic vision (the phenomenon by which images captured by the two eyes are processed together).

In 1892 Titchener returned to the United Kingdom for a few months; he then moved to Ithaca, a city in the state of New York, to work as a professor of psychology and philosophy at Cornell University. There he founded his own psychology laboratory, as well as disseminating and developing Wundt's ideas into structuralist psychology.

Titchener not only devoted himself to teaching, although this was his main profession; he also published several books focused on psychological theory and methodology, among which the following stand out.among which the following stand out Experimental Psychology (1901-1905), and was the editor of such important scientific journals as the American Journal of Psychology.

Structuralist psychology

The structuralist school played a relevant role in the psychology of the early twentieth century. Titchener, Wundt and the rest of the theoreticians of this orientation had the objective of analyze the mind from the basic elements that make it up, and how they come together to form complex processes.and how they come together to form complex processes. To this end, they relied mainly on the introspective method.

There is debate as to whether the foundation of structuralist psychology should be attributed to Wundt or Titchener. Although the central ideas of this the central ideas of this psychological orientation are derived from Wundts, it was Titchener who systematized, extended and popularized his proposals in the United States, which was then becoming the world's nucleus of psychology.

Structuralist psychology proposes that we can understand the structure of mental processes through the definition and categorization of the elements that make up the psyche, particularly the mental contents and the processes by which they take place.

Titchener asserted that consciousness (or the mind) is made up of three types of phenomena: sensations, affects and images.. When several of the same kind come together, complex processes appear. Sensations would be the elements that compose perceptions, while affects would give rise to emotions and ideas to thoughts.

The introspective method

Titchener's structuralist psychology was based on the use of the introspective method, by means of which a trained subject plays the role of observer and describer of his own psychological processes.. To provoke them, different types of stimuli were used, which varied according to the task to be performed and the type of mental content studied.

The introspective method had already been used by Wundt; however, Titchener applied it in a much more rigorous way. In particular, this author rejected the study of unconscious processes, which includes constructs such as "instinct". Thus, his study techniques focused on the description of conscious psychological experience.

According to Titchener it is possible to obtain reliable information about the nature of the mind through introspection and self-knowledge. In fact, for this author this is the only method that makes it possible to analyze mental processes reliably.He claimed that psychology must necessarily be a discipline based on introspection.

The legacy of structuralism

It is generally considered that structuralist psychology disappeared with Titchener: the psychological schools that opposed the approaches of this author won the ideological battle in the scientific community. However, like Wundt, Titchener played a key role in the development of experimental and scientific psychology.

William James' functionalism emerged as a reaction to Titchener's structuralism.. This orientation focused on the relevance of aspects forgotten by structuralist psychology such as empirical methods, statistical comparison or systematic experimentation, and was the fundamental antecedent of Watson's behaviorism.

Today the type of psychology advocated by Titchener is still alive in a different form in cognitive psychology, which also focuses on the description of mental processes and phenomena, in many cases subjective. Moreover, the usefulness of the introspective method has been emphasized by a large number of psychologists in recent decades.

A curious fact with respect to Titchener is the fact that it was this author who coined the term "introspective method". it was this author who coined the Anglo-Saxon term "empathy". (empathy). The word comes from the classical Greek "empatheia", meaning "passion or physical affection"; it was adapted into German ("Einfühlung") by Hermann Lotze and Robert Vischer and finally Titchener himself translated it into English.