Structuralism

An early school of psychology that wanted to identify the basic building blocks of conscious experience — the elements of the mind.

Key figure: Wilhelm Wundt. The main method was Introspection (a term coined by his student Baldwin) — training observers to report on their inner experience.

The problem: a lot of cognition happens outside conscious awareness, so introspection can only go so far. Contrast with Functionalism, which cared less about parts and more about purpose.