Compare and contrast four of the early perspectives in psychology as presented in your textbook. What do you think were the greatest contributions and drawbacks of each perspective?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Structuralism was an early perspective that sought to break down the mind into a basic structure. It contributed to a focus on breaking things down into simple elements, but it largely depended on introspection, which has not been found to be reliable. Structuralism is also limited in its focus and does not really help us understand why a behavior may occur. Further, structuralism focuses on internal behavior, which can't be observed. Functionalism looked at the proposed function of thought and behavior in contributing to the survival of the person/animal. Functionalists thought it was important to study the applications of psychology to educational, home, and work settings, and gave birth to a number of the current areas of psychology. Criticisms may include that functionalism focuses too much on the biology of the organism and not enough on its psychology. The psychoanalytic perspective looked at behavior as being driven by problems and conflicts in the unconscious mind, rooted in unresolved issues from childhood. The psychoanalytic perspective is still influential today. However, it has been criticized because it is hard to verify unconscious processes, as they cannot be observed. Gestalt psychology believed that humans experience the world as a collection of meaningful or unified patterns. It is still influential in the study of personality and psychotherapy. Gestalt psychology may be criticized because it focuses on describing behavior and doesn't contribute to predicting, controlling, or changing behavior. Behaviorism focused on studying observable behaviors, and it dominated psychology for decades. It continues to contribute to new ideas in education, parenting, and therapy. Behaviorism may be criticized because it does not account for internal influences such as moods, thoughts, and feelings. Students must only discuss four of the above.