1. Chapter 7 Functionalism: Development and Founding
Ms. Wilson, MS, LPC

2. Topics Evolution Comes to America: Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
William James ( ): Anticipator of Functional Psychology
The Functional Inequality of Women
Granville Stanley Hall ( )
The Founding of Functionalism
John Dewey ( )
James Rowland Angell ( )
Criticism of Functionalism
Contributions of Functionalism

3. Evolution Comes to America: Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
Social Darwinism: the system of philosophy that brought Herbert Spencer acclaim
Premise: the development of all aspects of the universe is evolutionary, including human character and social institutions
Proposal: allow “survival of the fittest” to operate freely and let the characteristics, institutions, and people who are not fit to survive die out
The state should not interfere
Vastly popular in America

4. William James (1842-1910) William James:
The American precursor to functional psychology
He was not the founder of functional psychology
Inspired yet did not train other psychologists
Criticized for his interests in mental telepathy, clairvoyance, spiritualism, communication with the dead at séances

5. James’s Life Born in a wealthy family
Dabbled in medicine, biology, and literature before settling on psychology
Experienced neurasthenia: a condition of American nervousness
Symptoms: insomnia, hypochondria, headache, skin rash, nervous exhaustion, and something called brain collapse
Published The Principles of Psychology: a tremendous success and a significant contribution to the field
The goal of psychology is not discovery of the elements of experience, but the study of living people as they adapt to their environment.

6. The Subject Matter of Psychology: A New Look at Consciousness
James: “Psychology is the science of mental life, both of its phenomena and their conditions
Rebelled against Wundt’s approach
Stream of consciousness : idea that consciousness is a continually flowing process and any attempt to reduce it to elements will distort it
Personal to the individual
Continuous; cannot be divided up for analysis
Always changing
Selective; some events are selected for further consideration while others are not
Functional; purpose is to aid the individual in adapting to the environment.

7. The Methods of Psychology
Introspection must be a basic method
Results could be verified by appropriate checks and by comparing the findings obtained from several observers
Importance of the experimental method
Did not use it himself
Noted the major difference between structural and functional psychologies
The functionalist movement would not be restricted to a single method

8. Pragmatism and the Theory of Emotions
The doctrine that the validity of idea is measured by their practical consequences
The theory of emotions
Contradicted current thinking about the nature of emotional states
The arousal of the physical response precedes the appearance of the emotion
“Act the way you want to feel”
Later lead to the “James-Lange theory of emotions”

9. The Three-Part Self and Habit
The three-part self: James believed there are three parts to the self
Material: everything unique our own (i.e., clothes)
Social: recognition we get from others
Spiritual: our inner and subjective being
Habit: influence of physiological influences
Repetitive or habitual actions involve the nervous system and serve to increase the plasticity of neural matter

10. The Functional Inequality of Women
Mary Whiton Calkins ( ):
Student of James
Developed the paired-associate technique used in the study of memory
Became the first woman president of the APA
Contested the variability hypothesis
Men show a wider range and variation of physical and mental development than women; abilities of women are seen as more average

11. Granville Stanley Hall (1844-1924)
Many firsts:
First American doctoral degree in psychology
First American student in the first year of the first psychology lab
Began what is often considered to be the first psychology laboratory in the United States
Began the first psychology journal
Was the first president of Clark University
One of the first applied psychologists

12. Evolution and the Recapitulation Theory of Development
Hall’s single theme: evolutionary theory
Believed that that the normal growth of the mind involved a series of evolutionary stages
Method: questionnaires
Recapitulation theory: children in their personal development repeat the life history of the human race, evolving from infancy to childhood to rational human being
The Adolescence book became controversial because of focus on sex

13. The Founding of Functionalism
Functionalism was not started intentionally
Began as a protest against the restrictions and limitations of Wundt’s version of psychology and of Titchener’s structuralism
No single form to functionalism
Emphasis on:
Mental functions: look at real-world problems
How people function in, and adapt to, different environments
Titchener (1898), The Postulates of a Structural Psychology.

14. The Chicago School
In addition to James, there were two other psychologists that contributed to the “founding” of functionalism
John Dewey
James Rowland Angell
James later designated them the “Chicago School”

15. John Dewey ( )
Practical orientation: applying psychology to educational and philosophical problems
Dewey’s most important work involves: “The reflex Arc Concept in Psychology” (1896)
Dewey argues that neither behavior nor conscious experience could be reduced to elements
Reflex forms a circle than an arc because the child’s perception of the flame changes, thus serving a different function

16. James Rowland Angell (1869-1949)
The province of functional psychology:
Textbook Psychology embodies the functionalist approach
Goal of psychology: study how the mind assists the organism in adjusting to its environment
Three major themes of functionalist movement:
The psychology of mental operations (not elements)
The psychology of the fundamental utilities of consciousness
The psychology of psychophysical relations (mind- body relations)

17. Functionalism: The Final Form
Defined the subject matter of psychology as mental activity (i.e., memory, perception, feeling, imagination, judgment, and will)
The function of mental activity: to acquire, fixate, retain, organize, and evaluate experiences and to use these experiences to determine one’s actions

18. Functionalism at Columbia University
Another form of functionalism developed at Columbia University
Other contributors:
James McKeen Cattell: work on mental tests embodied the American functionalist spirit
E.L. Thorndike: research on problems of animal learning reinforced the functionalist trend toward greater objectivity

19. Criticisms of Functionalism
Came mostly from structuralism
Included:
Any approach to psychology that deviated from the introspective analysis of the mind into elements could not truly be called psychology
Criticisms of the functional psychologists’ interest in practical concerns
Ongoing dispute between seeing psychology as a pure or as an applied science

20. Contributions of Functionalism
Consequences of the shift in emphasis from structure to function:
Research on animal behavior
Incorporated studies of infants, children, and people with mental disabilities
Supplemented the introspective method with data obtained from other methods (i.e., mental tests, questionnaires, and objective descriptions of behavior)
By 1930, the functional victory was complete