Together with his mentor, the famous Wilhelm Wundt, Edward Titchener was the founder of structuralist psychology , a psychological current of a theoretical and methodological nature that focused on the analysis of mental processes through introspection and that emerged during the first years of the 20th century.

Although this school of thought was defeated by William James’ functionalism, which gave way to behaviorism, and by other psychological orientations that opposed Wundt’s and Titchener’s proposals (such as the German Gestalt), it had a key influence on the development of scientific psychology, even if this happened mostly by reaction.

Biography of Edward Titchener

When he began studying at the university, the British Edward Bradford Titchener (1867-1927) focused on classical literature; however, he became increasingly interested in biology. In particular, he was struck by the book “Principles of Physiological Psychology” by Wilhelm Wundt, who founded the first psychological laboratory and is considered the father of scientific psychology.

After translating the German psychophysiologist’s work into English, Titchener moved to Leipzig to study with his idol; it was the year 1890. Under Wundt’s supervision, Titchener published his doctoral thesis , in which he analyzed binocular or stereoscopic vision (the phenomenon by which images captured by the two eyes are processed together).

In 1892 Titchener returned to the United Kingdom for a few months; he then moved to Ithaca, a city in the state of New York, to work as a professor of psychology and philosophy at Cornell University. There he founded his own psychology laboratory, as well as spreading and developing Wundt’s ideas to make way for structuralist psychology.

Titchener not only devoted himself to teaching, despite the fact that this was his main profession; he also published several books focusing on psychological theory and methodology , among which Experimental Psychology (1901-1905) stands out, and he was the editor of such important scientific journals as the American Journal of Psychology .

Structuralist Psychology

The structuralist school played a relevant role in the psychology of the early 20th century. Titchener, Wundt and the rest of the theorists of this orientation had the objective of analyzing the mind from the basic elements that make it up , and from how these join together to form complex processes. To do so, they based themselves above all on the introspective method.

There is debate about whether the foundation of structuralist psychology should be attributed to Wundt or Titchener. Although the central ideas of this psychological orientation are based on Wundt , it was Titchener who systematized, extended and popularized his proposals in the United States, which at that time was becoming the world nucleus of psychology.

Structuralist psychology proposes that we can understand the structure of mental processes through the definition and categorization of the elements that make up the psyche, particularly the mental contents and the processes by which they take place.

Titchener stated that consciousness (or mind) is formed by three types of phenomena: sensations, affects and images . When several of the same kind come together, complex processes appear. Sensations would be the elements that make up perceptions, while affects would give rise to emotions and ideas to thoughts.

The introspective method

Titchener’s structuralist psychology was based on the use of the introspective method, by which a trained subject exercises the role of observer and descriptor of his own psychological processes . To provoke them, different types of stimuli were used, which varied according to the task to be performed and the type of mental content studied.

The introspective method had already been used by Wundt; however, Titchener applied it much more rigorously. In particular, this author rejected the study of unconscious processes, which includes constructs such as “instinct”. Thus, his study techniques focused on the description of conscious psychological experience.

According to Titchener it is possible to obtain reliable information about the nature of the mind through introspection and self-knowledge. In fact, for this author this is the only method that allows us to analyse mental processes in a reliable way , since he stated that psychology must necessarily be a discipline based on introspection.

The legacy of structuralism

In general, it is considered that structuralist psychology disappeared with Titchener: the psychological schools that opposed the approaches of this author won the ideological battle in the scientific community. However, like Wundt, Titchener played a key role in the development of experimental and scientific psychology.

The functionalism of William James emerged as a reaction to the structuralism of Titchener . This orientation focused on the relevance of aspects forgotten by structuralist psychology such as empirical methods, statistical comparison or systematic experimentation, and was the fundamental antecedent of Watson’s behaviorism.

Today the type of psychology that Titchener advocated is still alive in a different form in cognitive psychology, which also focuses on the description of mental processes and phenomena that are often subjective. Furthermore, the usefulness of the introspective method has been highlighted by a large number of psychologists in recent decades.

A curious fact regarding Titchener is the fact that it was this author who coined the Anglo-Saxon term “empathy” . The word comes from the classical Greek “empatheia”, which means “passion or physical affection”; it was adapted into German (“Einfühlung”) by Hermann Lotze and Robert Vischer and finally Titchener himself translated it into English.

Bibliographic references:

  • Hothersall, D. (2004). History of psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
  • Titchener, E. B. (1902). Experimental psychology: A manual of laboratory practice (Vol. 1). New York: MacMillan & Co.