Edward Titchener
English-born psychologist, leader of structuralism at Cornell
English-born Cornell psychologist who advanced structural psychology, an approach that analysed mind into elements such as sensations and affections, and who excluded women from his Experimentalists group.
Why this person matters
In 1898 Titchener set out a structural psychology and contrasted it with functional and developmental approaches, giving later schools something to define themselves against. He supervised many doctoral students at Cornell, including women, and also excluded women from his own society.
Main contributions
Structural psychology
In 'The Postulates of a Structural Psychology' (1898) he argued that psychology has structural, functional and developmental sides, and that the structural task is to analyse mind into elementary processes. He took the ultimate elements to be sensations and affections.
The stimulus error
He warned against the 'stimulus error', which is reporting the name of an object (such as 'pencil') instead of its raw sensory characteristics.
Cornell doctoral programme
He joined Cornell's Sage School of Philosophy in autumn 1892 and built what is described as the largest doctoral programme in the United States of its time. While at Oxford he had translated the first volume of the third edition of Wundt's Principles of Physiological Psychology.
Context and limits
Structuralism faded after his death. His Experimentalists excluded women from membership and meetings. Christine Ladd-Franklin challenged this and was allowed to attend one session in 1914; the group voted to admit women the year after his death. Edwin Boring recorded 56 doctoral students of Titchener, 21 of them women, so his record on women's training is mixed.
In your introductory course
History and research methods.Appears in the history chapter as the main structuralist, and is often cited when discussing the limits of introspection.
Related course reading: Psychology 2e, section 1.2. This is course context rather than a biographical source.
Years of active work
- 1892
Completed his Leipzig doctorate and joined Cornell University.
- 1894
His first graduate student, Margaret Floy Washburn, received a PhD.
- 1898
Published 'The Postulates of a Structural Psychology' in Philosophical Review.
- 1904
Founded the group later called the Society of Experimental Psychologists.
Sources
- Classics in the History of Psychology (York University), Titchener, The Postulates of a Structural PsychologyOriginal work. Text passages inspected.
- Association for Psychological Science, 100 Years of the ExperimentalistsSociety or association. Text passages inspected.
- Psychology's Feminist Voices, Christine Ladd-FranklinSociety or association. Institutional biography inspected.
- Wikipedia, Edward B. TitchenerReference work. Reference article inspected.