why the declination of structuralism happened? what is the reason behind the declined? what is the relevant issues behind the declination of structuralism?

-- Amirulmaulud Ahmad (arelut@hotmail.com), January 19, 2002

Answers

"Structuralism" is a label that was adopted explicitly by almost no one but E. B. Titchener. He used it to separate his position from that of the members of the University of Chicago Dept. of Psychology -- J.R. Angell, John Dewey, and later Harvey Carr -- which he labelled "functionalism" (though Titchener's began the debate in the mid-1890s against J. M. Baldwin, then at Princeton). M. W. Calkins presented some defense of structuralism in the mid-1900s, though I do not believe she described herself as a structuralist, per se. "Stucturalism" didn't so much "decline" as simply vanish with Titchener's death in 1927. Functionalism was the dominant form of American psychology until challenged by its descendent, behaviorism, in the 1910s and 1920s. Some of the early behaviorists (mis-)used the term "structuralism" to refer to any psychological research program that employed introspection. Angell, Dewey, and Carr lived on until the 1949, 1952 and 1954, respectively. You can find the details in most any history of psychology textbook.

-- Christopher Green (christo@yorku.ca), January 19, 2002.

We cannot absolutely affirm the declination of Structuralism intoto. This is because the technique the school in data collection (introspection) could the sole factor responsible for the such a decline. Most eminent Psychologists believe that the subjective nature of introspection is one of the factors that strangule the development of STRUCRURALISM. E. B. Tichner on the other hand, was a little bit myopic in his quest for the defence of structualism. This is because he excludes minors (children), animals and abnormal personality in the scope of psychological investigations, thereby limiting the scope of psyhological findings to only normal adults. Despite all the shortcomings of structuralism, the school deserves a credit for the mere fact that it was the first scientific school of thought

-- Aminu Sambo (amsaeedzrx@yhoo.com), February 18, 2005.