A description of the antecedents of functionalism, structuralism, and introspection. Who were the major contributors to each of those concepts?

Functionalism, structuralism, and introspection were all significant parts of early psychology. Each theoretical approach emerged in the late 19th century as an effort to better understand how humans think and behave. In this essay, I will discuss the antecedents of these three approaches to psychology as well as the major contributors to each concept.

The earliest form of functionalism was proposed by British philosopher John Stuart Mill during the mid-1800s (Mayer & Salterio, 2017). According to Mill’s theory of associationism, mental states are linked together in a way that can explain behavior (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2019). This theory outlined four principles for understanding cognition: contiguity (closely associated ideas tend to stick together), similarity (similar ideas are connected more strongly than dissimilar ones), contrast (ideas that are opposite one another tend to be easily remembered), and frequency (ideas that we encounter more often stay with us longer) (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2019). The idea of linking mental states together had been around since Aristotle’s time; however, it was not until Mill’s work that it became a part of modern psychological thought.