Schools of Thought in Psychology When psychology first emerged as a science separate from biology and philosophy, the debate over how to describe and explain the human mind and behavior began. The different schools of psychology represent the major theories within psychology.

1. 9/23/2017
SCHOOL OF THOUGHT IN PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY

2. 1 | P a g e
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Schools of Thought in Psychology.....................................................................................................2
Structuralism and Functionalism....................................................................................................2
Gestalt psychology..................................................................................................................................3
Behaviorism .............................................................................................................................................3
Psychoanalysis.........................................................................................................................................3
Humanistic Psychology........................................................................................................................4
Cognitive Psychology.............................................................................................................................4
References ................................................................................................................................................5

3. 2 | P a g e
Schools of Thought in Psychology
When psychology first emerged as a science separate from biology and philosophy, the debate
over how to describe and explain the human mind and behavior began. The different schools of
psychology represent the major theories within psychology.
The first school of thought, structuralism, was advocated by the founder of the first psychology
lab, Wilhelm Wundt. Almost immediately, other theories began to emerge and vie for dominance
in psychology.
In the past, psychologists often identified themselves exclusively with one single school of
thought. Today, most psychologists have an eclectic outlook on psychology. They often draw on
ideas and theories from different schools rather than holding to any singular perspective.
Every academic discipline, from literature and history to sociology and theology, has competing
theories or schools of thought: perspectives from which to study the subject. Psychology, the study
of the mind, has hundreds of theories and sub theories, but it is possible to identify six main schools
of thought every psychology student should know.
The following are some of the major schools of thought that have influenced our knowledge and
understanding of psychology:
Structuralism and Functionalism
Structuralism is widely regarded as the first school of thought in psychology. This outlook focused
on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components. Major thinkers associated
with structuralism include Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener. The focus of structuralism was
on reducing mental processes down into their most basic elements. The structuralists used
techniques such as introspection to analyze the inner processes of the human mind.
Functionalism formed as a reaction to the theories of the structuralist school of thought and was
heavily influenced by the work of William James.
Unlike some of the other well-known schools of thought in psychology, functionalism is not
associated with a single dominant theorist. Instead, there are some different functionalist thinkers
associated with this outlook including John Dewey, James Rowland Angell, and Harvey Carr.
Author David Hothersall notes, however, that some historians even question whether
functionalism should be considered a formal school of psychology at all given its lack of a central
leader or formalized set of ideas.
Functionalism has the most influence of any theory in contemporary psychology. Psychological
functionalism attempts to describe thoughts and what they do without asking how they do it. For
functionalists, the mind resembles a computer, and to understand its processes, you need to look
at the software -- what it does -- without having to understand the hardware -- the why and how
underlying it.
Instead of focusing on the mental processes themselves, functionalist thinkers were instead
interested in the role that these processes play.

4. 3 | P a g e
Gestalt psychology
Gestalt psychology is a school of psychology based upon the idea that we experience things as
unified wholes. This approach to psychology began in Germany and Austria during the late 19th
century in response to the molecular approach of structuralism. Instead of breaking down thoughts
and behavior to their smallest elements, the gestalt psychologists believed that you must look at
the whole of experience. According to the Gestalt thinkers, the whole is greater than the sum of its
parts.
According to Gestalt psychologists, the human mind works by interpreting data through various
laws, rules or organizing principles, turning partial information into a whole. For example, your
mind might interpret a series of lines as a square, even though it has no complete lines; your mind
fills in the gaps. Gestalt psychotherapists apply this logic to problem-solving to help patients.
Behaviorism
Behaviorism became a dominant school of thought during the 1950s. It was based upon the work
of thinkers such as:
John B. Watson
Ivan Pavlov
B. F. Skinner
Behaviorism suggests that all behavior can be explained by environmental causes rather than by
internal forces. Behaviorism is focused on observable behavior. Theories of learning including
classical conditioning and operant conditioning were the focus of a great deal of research.
The behavioral school of psychology had a significant influence on the course of psychology, and
many of the ideas and techniques that emerged from this school of thought are still widely used
today.
In the 1950s, B.F. Skinner carried out experiments with animals, such as rats and pigeons,
demonstrating that they repeated certain behaviors if they associated them with rewards in the form
of food. Behaviorists believe that observing behavior, rather than attempting to analyze the inner
workings of the mind itself, provides the key to psychology. This makes psychology open to
experimental methods with results that can be replicated in the same way as any scientific
experiment.
Behavioral training, token economies, aversion therapy and other techniques are frequently used
in psychotherapy and behavior modification programs.
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a school of psychology founded by Sigmund Freud. This school of thought
emphasized the influence of the unconscious mind on behavior.
Freud believed that the human mind was composed of three elements: the id, the ego, and the
superego. The id consists of primal urges while the ego is the component of personality charged

5. 4 | P a g e
with dealing with reality. The superego is the part of personality that holds all of the ideals and
values we internalize from our parents and culture.
Psychoanalytic theory, which originated with Sigmund Freud, explains human behavior by
looking at the subconscious mind. Freud suggested that the instinct to pursue pleasure, which he
described as sexual in nature, lies at the root of human development. To Freud, even the
development of children hinged on key stages in discovering this pleasure, through acts such as
feeding at the mother's breast and defecating, and he treated abnormal behavior in adults by
addressing these stages.
Freud believed that the interaction of these three elements was what led to all of the complex
human behaviors.
Freud's school of thought was enormously influential, but also generated considerable debate. This
controversy existed not only in his time, but also in modern discussions of Freud's theories.
Other major psychoanalytic thinkers include:
Anna Freud
Carl Jung
Erik Erikson
Humanistic Psychology
Humanistic psychology developed as a response to psychoanalysis and behaviorism. Humanistic
psychology instead focused on individual free will, personal growth and the concept of self-
actualization. While early schools of thought were primarily centered on abnormal human
behavior, humanistic psychology differed considerably in its emphasis on helping people achieve
and fulfill their potential.
Humanist psychologists teach that to understand psychology, we must look at individuals and their
motivations. Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs" exemplifies this approach: a system of
needs, such as food, love and self-esteem, determines a person's behavior to various extents.
Meeting these needs leads to a sense of self-satisfaction and solves psychological problems.
Major humanist thinkers include:
Abraham Maslow
Carl Rogers
Humanistic psychology remains quite popular today and has had a significant influence on other
areas of psychology including positive psychology. This particular branch of psychology is
centered on helping people living happier, more fulfilling lives.
Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology is the school of psychology that studies mental processes including how
people think, perceive, remember and learn. As part of the larger field of cognitive science, this
branch of psychology is related to other disciplines including neuroscience, philosophy, and
linguistics.

6. 5 | P a g e
Cognitive psychology began to emerge during the 1950s, partly as a response to behaviorism.
Critics of behaviorism noted that it failed to account for how internal processes impacted behavior.
This period is sometimes referred to as the "cognitive revolution" as a wealth of research on topics
such as information processing, language, memory, and perception began to emerge.
One of the most influential theories of this school of thought was the stages of cognitive
development theory proposed by Jean Piaget.
Cognitive psychology follows behaviorism by understanding the mind through scientific
experimentation, but it differs from it by accepting that psychologists can study and understand
the internal workings of the mind and mental processes. It rejects psychoanalysis, as it regards
psychoanalytic theories about the subconscious mind as subjective and not open to scientific
analysis.
References
Hothersall, D. (1995). History of Psychology, 3rd Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Schacter, D. L., Wegner, D., and Gilbert, D. (2007). Psychology. New York: Worth Publishers