Question
A psychologist argues that reports of inner experience can never be checked by another observer, and that psychology will become a natural science only when it restricts itself to relationships between stimuli that can be presented and responses that can be measured. This position is most closely identified with
- a.structuralism
- b.functionalism
- c.behaviorism
- d.Gestalt psychology
- e.psychoanalysis
Correct answer
C. behaviorism
Full reasoning
- 1Read the commitment rather than the tone: the argument names one method it rejects, introspection, and one class of data it accepts, measurable stimulus-response relationships.
- 2That pairing is the defining position of behaviorism, which held that psychology should study only what an outside observer can verify.
- 3Structuralism is what the argument attacks, so it cannot be the answer; identifying the target rather than the source is the most common error on items phrased this way.
- 4Functionalism and Gestalt psychology both criticized structuralism as well, but each kept conscious experience as subject matter, so neither matches the exclusion stated here.
- 5Psychoanalysis fails the same test from the other direction, since its central constructs are unconscious and inferred rather than observed.
Why each choice is right or wrong
Choice A
Structuralism is the target of this argument, not its source: it used trained introspection to break conscious experience into elements, which is exactly the practice being rejected as unverifiable.
Choice B
Functionalism also broke with structuralism, but on a different point — it asked what mental processes are for rather than what they are composed of. It never proposed abandoning the study of consciousness.
Choice C
Correct. The rejection of introspection as unverifiable and the restriction of psychology to observable stimuli and measurable responses is the founding commitment of behaviorism, associated with Watson and extended by Skinner.
Choice D
Gestalt psychology opposed structuralism too, but by insisting that perception is organized into wholes that decomposition destroys. It continued to study conscious perceptual experience rather than ruling it out.
Choice E
Psychoanalysis locates the causes of behavior in unconscious conflict inferred from clinical case material — the least directly observable subject matter of any school listed, and the opposite of what this argument demands.
Related formula
School identification test
elements of consciousness by introspection = structuralism; purpose of mental processes = functionalism; unconscious conflict = psychoanalysis; organized perceptual wholes = Gestalt; observable behavior only = behaviorism; free will and growth = humanism; internal processes inferred from behavior = cognitive
Assumptions: Matching map for the schools described in OpenStax Psychology 2e Section 1.2, not a quantitative formula.
Related topic and practice
This worked example is free to read. A free account unlocks practice questions for this exam.
Sources
Authored for this public explainer registry. It has no database question ID and is not copied from a protected or official exam bank.
- Psychology 2e, Section 1.2: History of Psychology — OpenStax. Accessed 2026-08-15. OpenStax textbook content is CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; attribute and avoid verbatim reuse beyond short cited references.
Sources and corrections
Sources last checked 2026-08-15Every source cited on this page was checked on the date shown, and we update the page when a source changes. If something looks wrong, tell us and we'll recheck it.