1. American Functionalism

2. Psychology in America: A Feeling of Independence
Everyone wanted to be free to do their own thing
Different people thinking about very different things
The need to be unconstrained by dogma was important

3. What is Functionalism? Insect analogy How and why the mind functions
All behavior serves the purpose of survival
e.g., Darwin was a functionalist

4. George Trumbull Ladd (b. 1842)
Elements of Physiological Psychology (1887)
The SELF
The function of consciousness?
Psychology explains the purpose of mind
James's “Principles of Psychology” Revisited

5. The ”Official" Beginning of Functionalism

6. John Dewey (b. 1859) Psychology (1886)
Moves to University of Chicago (1896)

7. 1896: The Reflex Arc
A reflex is not an entity in itself, it is part of one's adaptation to its environment
Reflexive reactions should not be broken down into component parts, e.g., the stimulus sensation and the response

8. The Chicago School of Functionalism
Dewey believed that philosophy should be useful to society
Turned to education later in his career
Advocate of “progressive education”

9. James Rowland Angell (b. 1869)
1894: Chair at Chicago
RT experiments with a functionalistic interpretation
1903: Paper that defined functionalism

10. Angell's Definition of Functional Psychology
The study of mental operations as opposed to mental elements
The psychology of the uses of the mind
Concerned with all of the relationships between the organism and its world and with all relationships between mind and body
No fixed agenda; no obligatory methods, no required concepts
No theory, no program, no set of methods, or even much of a point of view
nothing

11. Columbia School of Functionalism
Cattell's research dealt with individual differences
Cattell’s Students

12. Cattell’s Eugenics Psychology and Social Progress (1933)
Cattell called for three major modifications in social mores and law:
The prohibition of interracial marriage and children
Increasing the distance between people of dissimilar race
Promoting competition and eugenic selection

13. Edward L. Thorndike (b. 1874)

14. Cat-in-the-puzzle-box experiment

16. Studied measurement and taught statistics
Educational Psychology (1913)
Thorndike & Lorge word frequency counts
Eugenics fan

17. Robert S. Woodworth (b. 1869) Physiological psychologist
1902: studied with Kulpe & Sherrington
1911: revised and co-authored Ladd's book
“Motivology” – mechanism and drive
“Experimental Psychology” (1938)
“Contemporary Schools of Psychology” (1931)

18. The Psychological Corporation
Formed in 1921 by Catell, Thorndike, and Woodworth
Marketed psychological tests to practicing psychologists and psychiatrists
Psychcorp

19. Functionalism at Columbia
Edna Heidbreder (1933), “The psychological scene at Columbia presents a motley aspect.... Animal psychology, the psychology of tests and measurement, the various kinds of applied psychology, the orthodox and unorthodox varieties of experimental psychology, theoretical discussions of learning, of intelligence, of measurement, and of the bearing of psychology generally--all are represented, and all go their separate ways.”

20. The Founding of American Psychology
1875: James has first lab in U.S. at Harvard
1883: 1st PRODUCTIVE lab at Johns Hopkins set up by Hall
1883: 1st continuously running lab at Penn
1888: Indiana (William Bryan)
1888: Wisconsin (Joseph Jastrow)
1889: Clark (Edmund Sanford)

21. 1892: The First APA Convention
In the 1890's, predominant mood was still structuralistic
Program of papers:
12 papers presented by 9 people
5 papers dealt with historical matters or with local events
6 papers reported experiments on psychophysics, sensory phenomena, and reaction time link