A Textbook of Psychology

Edward B. Titchener's A Textbook of Psychology (1910) is a key work in structuralism, a school of psychology he founded. Titchener, a disciple of Wilhelm Wundt, aimed to understand the mind by breaking it down into its most basic components, much like an anatomist studies the body. He believed that psychology's focus should be on the systematic, experimental study of the normal adult mind, using introspection—careful self-observation—as its primary method. Titchener identified sensation and affection (feeling) as the fundamental elements of conscious experience. Structuralism, though influential in establishing psychology as a distinct field, eventually declined, giving way to other schools of thought that explored behavior and personality, which were outside its scope.12