The Theories Of Structuralism And Functionalism Psychology Essay

This research paper will explain both theories of structuralism and functionalism by using the dualist prospective to explain the interactional pattern between both these theories with the mind and body. Furthermore there will be an explanation of how both structuralism and functionalism have impacted the practice of psychology in these modern times. Then there will be an explanation about how both these theories are needed to describe our conscious mind and how they interact with the body.

The Theories of Structuralism and Functionalism

Since the begin of time, philosophers have been debating the issue of Structuralism and Functionalism theories for many years now and as of yet there is still no real consciences as to which theory is corrects, even in these modern times the debate still persist to this today. There are so many different viewpoints about these theories that you have to do your own research to find out which one is correct for your belief system. The process that will be used to explain both theories of Structuralism and Functionalism interaction with the mind and body will be the Dualism prospective. Furthermore there will be an explanation of how both these theories have impacted the practice of psychology in these modern times. Then there will be an explanation about how both these theories are needed to describe our conscious mind and how they interact with the body.

Dualism Prospective

This section will explain how the Dualism prospective will used to explain both theories of Structuralism and Functionalism and how they interactions with the mind and body.

According to Goodwin, (2008) dualism views the mind and the body as two distinct entities, and that one can and does exist alone. The centerpiece of the human mind is its ability to reason, whereas the body is the machine. Descartes believed that the mind can have influence on the body and the body can have influence on the mind. This mind-body interaction is based on reflex response system. The reflex is an automatic stimulus-response reaction that provides a physiological model for Descartes’ believes system on the mind-body question. Descartes explained reflexes as thin wire like “filaments” that occurred within the nerves and reaches out to the brain. When the senses were stimulated these filaments would move causing certain “pores” within the brain to open up. The process of the energy flow would produce the reflex movement. This reflex action can also give rise to the movement of energy flow in the brain. This process leads the mind to deliberately making decisions to act (Goodwin, 2008).

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The dualism process can be used to explain how the mind can interact with the body by using the reflex response to relay the messages to the different body parts. When you come to know each structural component within the brain, then you can understand the functional aspects of how the brain interacts with the rest of the body. The process can be used to gain a better understanding of all psychological and biological component of the human body, which is closed system. The mind and body influences each other on how they will react to any given situation that may arise within our social environment. The mind and body are separate entities that work together to maintain the whole system.

Structuralism and Functionalism

This section will explain Structuralism and Functionalism theories and how both these theories have impacted the practice of psychology.

Structuralism

According to Goodwin, (2008) Structuralism were more concerned with asking the question “What is consciousness?” and the main goals for Structuralism psychology are to study the experiences in the human conscious and break them down into their elemental units, which show how these units could produce the mental processes. To gain a complete understanding of the adult mind, the structuralist’s used laboratory research to explain the mental processes. This process allowed them to understand the workings of the brain and nervous system. The main components of conscious experience are sensations and their affects. These sensations have the characteristics of being different with the intensity, duration, and clarity of their affects, whereas the characteristics of images aren’t as clear as sensations, because they lack clarity. Structural psychology used pure laboratory science to discover the basic structure of human consciousness. Structuralism was responsible for making psychology into scientific approach by using laboratory research to support their conclusions through experimenting under controlled conditions. Structuralism was the beginning of experimental psychology with it systematic method of introspection (Goodwin, 2008).

Functionalism

According to Angell, (1907) the functional psychology has three principal that form this theory. Functionalism is regarded as the psychology of mental processes instead of mental components. The first principal is to uncover “how” and “why” of human consciousness. Functionalism deals with the problem of the mind by negotiating between the environment and the organism. This process brings about understanding of the fundamental psychology of the human consciousness within the mind. The second principal is to determine the process of consciousness and how they could be classification. Functionalism has been described as both psychology and physical in its approach. Functionalism understood the need for the mind-body relationship when dealing with the human consciousness. Presently functional psychology has a broad, flexible of view point in psychology (Angell, 1907).

According to Goodwin, (2008) he pointed out that functionalists were more involved with the question of “What is consciousness for?” This brought about the study of topics ranging from developmental to abnormal psychology. As a result from these studies they became interested in the differences among individuals and how psychology could be used to resolve everyday problems. Functionalism used the trial-and-error learning process with the scientific learning process that occurs through the creation of connections between stimulus and responses model. The stimulus and responses model were successful in the creating a learning process that make up the “Law of Effect”. These connections were strengthened with repetition of the situations and responses, which made up the “Law of Exercise”. The educational practices were influenced by the “Stimulus-Response” model and the “Stimulus-Organism-Response” framework that was in behavior learning. Functionalism has branched off into various psychological fields; it has become the leading part in applied, educational, behavioral, cognitive, social, developmental, abnormal, and biological with cultural influences when psychology practitioners were committing to usually one specialty (Goodwin, 2008).

The Mind And Body

This section will describe how both theories are needed to explain how our mind and body work together.

According to Angell, (1903) there can exist no theoretical distinctions between philosophy and psychology, when psychology is interpreted as both structural and functional in their processes. The distinction between philosophy and psychology is largely the outcome of the prevalent attempt to make psychological an investigative science after the manner of biological procedure that treats the mind as an organism from a structural and functional prospective. The implications are that structural and functional aspects of the mind and body are characteristics of two processes for the same purpose. Psychology can’t, therefore, restrict ‘itself to merely structural problems, but questions as to what the make-up the conscious mind and body. The operations that are performed, cannot answer the questions without showing how and why they are performed (Angell, 1903).

According to Matarazzo, (1987) William A. Hunt began his career studying psychology by combining structuralism and functionalism in the field of psychology. When Hunt mastered the experimental method of introspection, he used it to the study of human emotions (Matarazzo, 1987).

Conclusion

In conclusion the dualism process can be used to explain how the mind can interact with the body by using the reflex response to relay the messages to the different body parts. When you combined structural knowledge of the component within the brain, with the understanding of functional aspects of how the brain works and interacts with the rest of the body, then you can gain a better understanding of all psychological and biological component of the human body, which is closed system. The mind and body influences each other on how they will react to any given situation that may arise within our social environment. The mind and body are separate entities that work together to maintain the whole system.