A method used by structuralists to attain a scientific description of the components of experience. It aimed to get subjects to describe their experiences and thought processes after being introduced to a stimuli.

Analytic Introspection

Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) was a German scientist recognized as the first individual to be referred to as a psychologist. He viewed psychology as the scientific study of conscious experience, believing its primary goal was to identify the fundamental components of consciousness and understand how they combine to create that experience. To achieve this, Wundt utilized 'internal perception,' or introspection, a process where individuals objectively examine their own conscious thoughts, treating the human mind as an observable aspect of nature. His approach, termed experimental introspection, relied on instruments to precisely measure reaction times. He also championed voluntarism, the idea that individuals possess free will and should be aware of a psychological experiment's intent if they participate. Wundt authored 'Principles of Physiological Psychology' in 1873 and later published 'Völkerpsychologie' in 1904, advocating for the inclusion of cultural studies in psychology. Although he laid the groundwork, it was his student, Edward Titchener, who formally developed structuralism.

Wilhelm Wundt

The psychological school of thought that posits our experience is made up of combining basic elements of experience, referred to as sensations. Wanted to make a "periodic table of elements" for psychology. It dominated psychology in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

- Structuralism
- Behaviorism 
- Cognitive revolution

Early schools of thought/movements in Psychology (leading up to cognitive psychology)

Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Nelson Education.


Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience

Structuralism

As one of the most historically influential schools of thought, behaviorism aimed to establish psychology as an objective science. This approach centered on studying overt, observable behavior while deliberately deemphasizing the significance of unobservable internal mental processes.

Behaviorism

Timeline of predecessors to cognitive psychology

Emerging in the 1950s, the cognitive revolution was a movement that revived scientific interest in the mind. This shift was driven by new disciplinary perspectives in linguistics, neuroscience, and computer science, which collectively redirected psychological inquiry back toward mental processes after a prolonged period dominated by behaviorism's focus on external behavior.

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