5 Different Schools of Psychology

Psychology becomes its own subject matter after separating from philosophy. As the ideologies of psychologists changed, schools of psychology were formed. All these schools played an important role in developing psychology. All schools of psychology had different ideologies about psychological thoughts and feelings.

If psychology is to be understood in depth. And all these schools have their ideologies. All schools of psychology describe psychology on the basis of their ideology.

Different types of schools in psychology

The different schools of psychology. They are:- structuralism, functionalism, behaviorism, Gestaltism, and psychoanalysis.

1.  Structuralism

This school was established by Wilhelm Wundt and developed by E.B. Titchener. In the history of psychology, structuralism was the first school of psychology. W. Wundt established the world’s first psychological laboratory in Leipzig in 1879. Wundt worked on the basis of psychological testing. And made psychological testing reliable and validated. He made psychology a separate subject from philosophy.

Wundt’s experiments were based on sensation and perception.  Wilhelm Wundt was of the view that the mind can be analyzed only at the level of consciousness. And the introspection method was used to analyze the behavior of a person.

Titchener published the book “The postulates of structural psychology in 1889 in America. He did not accept Wundt’s idea related to mediating experiences.

E.B. Titchener explained 42415 different types of sensations. All images were elements of ideas. Three elements of consciousness. they are sensations, Images, and affection.

The sensation is an element of perception. Images are related to ideas. And affection is related to emotion.

According to Wundt, 3 elements of feelings. They are- pleasure, excitement, and relaxation.

First Titchener accepted Wundt’s only one dimension related to pleasure. and later on, he rejected the pleasure-unpleasure of feelings. According to structuralism, there is no link between mind and body.

For Wundt, psychology is the science of immediate experience.  In conclusion, Immediate experiences are recognized with the help of experimentation and introspection.

2.  Functionalism

    William James was influenced by Darwin’s evolutionary theory. He rejected the approach of structuralism and established functionalism. In agreement with W. James, the mind process cannot be analyzed in pieces. Because it is a continuous process. As soon as we do any work with the mind, then there is a change in the nervous system.

John Dewey, Raymond Cattell, Thorndike, and Angell contributed significantly to the development of the function. Functionalism, identifying the behavior of a person is related to mental activity. It is presented with the help of perception, feeling, memory, judgment, and will.

In functionalism, adaptive behavior has three characteristics. They are motivating stimulus, sensory stimulus, and response. Functionalism adapted structuralism’s method by adding observation. It emphasizes on adjustment adaptive behavior of the organism. In short, it prefers the imperial method to predict person’s behavior.

3.  Behaviorism

In 1913, J.B. Watson established and develop behaviorism.

Watson’s thoughts, we cannot prove the level of consciousness by scientific methodology. Psychology is the science of behavior so S-R ( Stimulus-Response) priority. He also removed the mental, images, and ideas from psychology. Overt behavior can be measured with the scientific method. Overt behavior such as walking, talking, facial expressions, and bodily gestures leads to external behavior. But covert behavior cannot be measured systematically. Because it is not part of such  S-R connection in psychology.

Behavior happens according to stimulus, we prove and repeat it. Consequently, humans have one body and no mind. He accepted muscle and gland responses. And the response is not possible without stimulus. Watson preferred S-R connection.

4.  Gestalt Psychology

Gestaltism rejects the ideology of structuralism, functionalism, and behaviorism. And established a new thought of psychology. Gestalt psychology was developed by Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka, and Wolfgang Kohler. It follows the whole approach. The individual looks at anything as a whole compared to parts.

Gestaltism rejected S-R connection that was given by the behaviorists.  They use an insight approach in their thinking. Earliest it worked on perceptual organization and illusion. Later it works on problem-solving, learning, thinking, and motivation. Wertheimer concluded with the help of the Phi-phenomenon which is an optical illusion that a person sees things as a whole.

In addition, Wolfgang Kohler proved from insight theory that trial and error have no importance in learning. Because it depends on insight thinking.

5.  School of Psychoanalysis

Sigmund Freud established and developed psychoanalysis with the help of evidence. S. Freud believed that the causes of depression and tension were the unconscious mind. And Freud told different technologies and how one can be brought from the unconscious mind to the conscious level. We have tension due to unconscious things. But it is very difficult to bring unconscious to conscious level.

He criticized S-R connection. Freud divided the personality structure into three parts. They are Id, Ego, and Superego. And the ID is present from birth.

Carl Jung established analytical psychology. And Alfred Adler established individual psychology. Psychoanalysis is both theory and therapy.

The main objective of psychoanalysis is to extract repressed emotions and experiences from the unconscious mind.

Conclusion:- In short, all schools have their special importance in psychology. Most schools focus on the conscious level. But psychoanalysis is the only school that focused on the unconscious level.  And it is impossible to completely predict the unconscious mind. Because the methods of psychoanalysis are not based on scientific research.

Behaviorists only believe in S-R connection. But the person responds even without stimulus. So, the whole behavior of man is not dependent on S-R connection. And not all things can even be seen as a whole.

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