Why did the approaches to psychology pursued by Wundt and by Titchener fail to survive in the United States?
Doctrine of evolution and the psychology of function which deduced from it quickly took hold in the US in the direction of the end of the 19th century. Psychology of America was dictated more by the ideologies of Galton, Spencer and Darwin as compared to Wundt.
This was a historical, curious and paradoxical phenomenon. Wundt taught several of the 1st generation of psychologists in America with his kind of psychology. These students returned, they commenced developing a psychology boring resemblance to what they learnt from Wundt.
Therefore, the new field of science was differing to adapt to its new surroundings. Psychology of Wundt and structuralism of Titchener did not survive for long in their initial form of so therefore they emerged into functionalism.
These were not practical types of psychology, these would not handle with the mind in use and were not applicable to daily problems and demands. Culture of America was pointed in the direction of practicality, people appreciated what functioned.
The approaches by Titchener and Wundt were quickly being engulfed by a new psychology. Titchener, the huge psychologist of structuralism, perceived this comprehensive change in the psychology of America. Psychology had inclined, very certainly, in the direction of application.