What concept describes our overall experience as a combination of basic elements?

The concept that describes our overall experience as a combination of basic elements is structuralism. This psychological theory, primarily associated with early psychologists such as Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener, posits that the complex phenomena of human consciousness can be understood through the analysis of its simplest components. Structuralism emphasizes breaking down mental experiences into their most basic parts, such as sensations and feelings, in order to understand how these elements combine to form the entirety of our experiences.

By documenting and analyzing these fundamental components, structuralists aimed to establish a systematic approach to understanding the mind. This foundational idea laid the groundwork for later psychological theories, despite its eventual decline in favor of more holistic approaches to understanding human thought and behavior. The other options—perception, sensations, and reactiveness—are related concepts but do not specifically encapsulate the holistic view of experience that structuralism emphasizes.