Yuuna

Title: Constructivism, Functionalism, and Behaviorism in Psychology
Tags:

• Constructivism
• Functionalism
• Behaviorism
• Psychology
  ID: '82'
  Categories:
• • Psychology
    Date: 2022-04-21 13:25:07

Constructivist Psychology

1. Representative Figures: Vygotsky, Piaget

2. Research Object: Direct experience (consciousness)

3. Research Methods:

Experimental introspection, which involves observing and describing psychological states accurately under precise experimental conditions.

4. Main Points:

Advocates for the study of human consciousness, specifically the awareness of direct experience.

Analyzes the content of consciousness and identifies its components, as well as the rules governing the formation of complex psychological processes.

Explains the entirety of human psychology based on the construction of conscious experiences, focusing only on the elements of consciousness without considering the sources, meanings, and functions of conscious content.

Believes that the fundamental components of the human psychological world are sensations (elements of perception), representations (elements of concepts), and emotions (elements of feelings).

5. Historical Evaluation:

(1) Contributions:

Freed psychology from the constraints of philosophy, pioneered modern psychology, and laid the foundation for its development.

Zhao's mnemonic: Freed, pioneered, laid foundation.

(2) Limitations:

Narrow research scope detached from reality.

Decomposes psychology into individual elements, neglecting its wholeness.

Subjective and lacks replicability, making it difficult to study many advanced psychological phenomena through introspection.

Zhao's analysis: Object, viewpoint, method.

Functional Psychology

1. Representative Figures: James, Dewey, Angell

2. Research Object: Functions and roles of consciousness

3. Research Methods: Objective observation, experimental introspection

4. Main Points:

Functional psychology advocates for the study of adaptive psychological activities, emphasizing the significant mediating role of conscious activities between human organism needs and the environment. It views consciousness as a continuous process.

Characteristics of functional psychology:

(1) Opposes the decomposition of consciousness into elements such as sensations and emotions, considering consciousness as a continuous whole.

(2) Opposes viewing psychology as a passive phenomenon, emphasizing the adaptive functions of psychology.

(3) Opposes considering psychology solely as a pure science, emphasizing the practical applications of psychology.

(4) Opposes limiting psychology to the exploration of general psychological laws in normal individuals, advocating for expanding the scope of psychology to animal psychology, child psychology, educational psychology, abnormal psychology, differential psychology, and other fields.

5. Historical Evaluation:

(1) Contributions:

Established scientific psychology in the United States.

Promoted the development of various branches of psychology.

Facilitated the widespread application of psychology.

Zhao's mnemonic: Established, promoted, applied.

(2) Limitations:

Tendency towards contradictions in the study of consciousness.

Biological determinism tendency.

External teleology and mysticism tendencies.

Zhao's mnemonic: External teleology, mysticism.

Behaviorist Psychology

1. Representative Figures: Watson, Skinner, Bandura

2. Research Object: Behavior

3. Research Methods: Experimental methods

4. Main Points:

Behaviorism emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when American psychologist Watson published "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It," marking the birth of behaviorism. This school of thought has the following characteristics:

(1) Opposes studying consciousness and advocates for the study of behavior in psychology.

(2) Opposes introspection and advocates for the use of experimental methods.

(3) Opposes genetic determinism of behavior and emphasizes the role of the environment.

Behaviorism believes that psychology, consciousness, and the soul are subjective and intangible, making them unobservable, unmeasurable, and unverifiable. As such, they can never be considered scientific objects of study. Psychologists should only focus on behaviors that can be observed, encountered, and ultimately controlled by scientific researchers.

5. Historical Evaluation:

(1) Contributions: The birth of behaviorism had a significant impact on the psychology community worldwide. Its emphasis on studying observable behavior using objective methods played a positive role in the scientific development of psychology.

Zhao's mnemonic: Impact, objective, scientific.

(2) Limitations: The extreme stance of behaviorism neglects the study of internal structures and processes of psychology, denies the importance of studying consciousness, and limits the healthy development of psychology.

Zhao's mnemonic: Extreme denial limitation.