Wilhelm Wundt (1912) established the first psychological laboratory in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany. This marked the beginning of psychology as a new discipline of experimentation and instrumentation (Evans, 2000) and not as one of philosophical theorizing. Influenced by the traditions of rationalism and empiricism and the burgeoning experimental emphasis in the new discipline of psychology, two dominant schools of psychological thought arose, both of which would go on to underpin modern theories of learning.

Structuralism

As a student of Wilhelm Wundt and later as director of the psychological laboratory at Cornell University in 1892, Edward B. Tichener introduced Wundt’s experimental methods to the United States. Tichener’s structuralism was a blending of associationism and the experimental method (Tichener, 1909). Tichener (1909) postulated that “the mind is composed of associations of ideas and that to study the complexities of the mind one must break down these associations into single ideas” (cited in Schunk, 2004, p. 15). One of the primary experimental methods used by structuralists is the self-analysis technique introspection, which has the objective of reducing consciousness down to its basic elements.

Functionalism

One of the greatest challenges to structuralism came from the functionalist school of thought, which held that mental processes and behaviors help living beings adapt to environmental factors (Heidbreder, 1983). Some of the most influential scholars within the functionalist tradition include John Dewey and James Angell. Functionalist ideas that have most influenced the theories of learning include:

  • Consciousness is a continuous process. Ideas are not separate pieces of information associated together but rather come from abstract thought and conscious study. Similarly, the purpose of consciousness is to help us adapt to our environment (James, 1969; 2007).
  • Psychological processes and consciousness should be examined holistically. While objects and events do take on stimulus-response roles, the roles cannot be separated from their larger reality (Dewey, 1896).
  • The mind and body interact together and do not function separately (Angell, 1907).
  • Questions pertaining to “how mental processes operate, what they accomplish, and how they vary with environmental conditions” (Schunk, 2004, p. 16).

Join me tomorrow as I introduce the first major theory of learning… Behaviorism.