Which approach to psychology views perception as an amalgamation of elementary units?

The correct choice emphasizes the perspective of structuralism, which is a school of thought in psychology that seeks to break down mental processes into their most basic components. This approach posits that the human mind is structured in such a way that perception can be understood by analyzing its constituent elements, much like how a chemical substance can be understood by examining the elements it comprises.

Structuralists, notably figures like Wilhelm Wundt, aimed to identify these elementary units of consciousness through introspection, a method wherein individuals report their thoughts, feelings, and sensory experiences. By doing so, they believed that a comprehensive understanding of perception and other mental processes could be achieved by piecing together these basic building blocks.

In contrast, other approaches like functionalism focus more on the purpose and function of mental processes rather than their structure, while behaviorism largely disregards internal mental states altogether in favor of observable behaviors. Cognitive psychology, while it includes investigations into perception, does not prioritize the elemental analysis characteristic of structuralism in the same way. Thus, structuralism most accurately captures the idea of perception as an amalgamation of elementary units.