What is structuralism concerned with?

Structuralism is a psychological approach that focuses on breaking down mental processes into their most basic elements. Founded by Wilhelm Wundt and later advanced by Edward Titchener, structuralism is primarily concerned with the classification of the mind's structures—essentially, it aims to understand the components that make up consciousness and perception.

This approach uses introspection as a method to analyze thoughts and feelings, thereby identifying the fundamental structures of the human mind. By understanding these basic elements, structuralists believed that they could build a comprehensive understanding of the mind's functions and processes. This focus on the elemental aspects of mental experience distinguishes structuralism from other psychological perspectives, such as behaviorism, which looks at observable behavior rather than internal mental states, or cognitive psychology, which investigates mental processes without the same structural breakdown.

In summary, structuralism's emphasis on decomposing mental processes into their simplest components makes the classification of the mind's structures its primary concern.