Functionalism has influenced the school of behaviorism and applied psychology. It has also influenced the education and academic system as well. It puts a lot of focus on objective matters and ignores the subjectivity of individual thought processes. Both structuralists and functionalists no matter having difference, have the main focus on the science of conscious experience.
No matter what, both have contributed immensely in the field of psychology and have influenced various other theories and school or thought later on. Skip to content Historically when psychology was first established, the main focus was how to describe human behavior and examine the mind. Comparison Table Between Structuralism and Functionalism.
What is Structuralism? What is Functionalism? Structuralism Focus on the structure of the mind i. Structuralism used introspection i. Structuralism is criticised as it is too subjective as a result it lacks reliability. Also, it puts a lot of focus on internal behavior, which cannot be observable and measured.
Whereas functionalism lacks objectivity and reliability as the data collected cannot be measured and analysed. What is Functionalism — Theory of Functionalism, Drawbacks. Key Differences Between Structuralism and Functionalism. The theory of structuralism was first described by Wilhelm Wundt, who is known as the father of structural psychology. This term can be defined as the first objective theory in psychology which is used to assess the human mind by creating numerous basic subsectors within it.
Interestingly, structuralism is found to be the hallmark theory which paved the way to establish the first psychological laboratory and also the first triumph to achieve a scientific explanation about how the human mind functions. However, the main drawback of this theory is its dependency on inherently subjective maneuvers based on their introspection.
In fact, participants engaging in the procedure will have to concentrate on their emotions and sensations so that they could be explained in detail to the experimenters later on. Also, its basis, which relied only on the subjective aspects of individual minds, clearly reduced its accuracy. Due to these negative aspects of structuralism, this theory was much criticized, and another theory known as functionalism was created as a responsive explanation.
The application of structuralism can be seen in a number of social sciences such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, and also linguistics. In linguistics , structuralists such as Saussure highlight how language possesses a structure.
In other disciplines such as anthropology, also this can be understood through the study of human culture, lifestyles, and behavior. Structuralism is subjective and is more philosophical.
Functionalism, on the other hand, is based on the idea that each element of the society has a function of its own and it is the interdependence of each element that contributes to the social order and social stability.
For example, take the different social institutions that exist in a society. The family, economy, religion, education, and political institution, each has a role of its own. These roles are unique and cannot be fulfilled by any other institution.
For instance, if the education institution does not exist, the secondary socialization of the child does not occur. This results in the creation of individuals who have not internalized the culture, norms and values of a society and also individuals who are unskilled because the child only gets education from the family.
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