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FUNCTIONALISM

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14 views

FUNCTIONALISM

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shawanjali423
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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FUNCTIONALISM

BRIEF INTRO ON
WILLIAM JAMES
• Born in NY City
• Showed interest in art &
painting
• 1869, James received his
degree in medicine from
University of Harvard.
• He was appointed in the
same as an instructor in
anatomy & physiology.
• Started showing interest in
experimental psychology.
FUNCTIONALISM
BRIEF INTRO ON
WILLIAM JAMES
• Watson (1978) claimed that
James established the first
ever psychological lab in
1875, though it remains
debatable.
• James published many
articles in MIND-a British
journal on Philosophy
during 1880s.
• 1890-published his most
famous book ‘The
Principles of Psychology.’
FUNCTIONALISM
BRIEF INTRO ON
WILLIAM JAMES

• Soon afterwards, his


interest shifted towards
Philosophy.
• In 1987, he became a
professor of Philosophy.
• But, E.L. Thorndike, R.S.
Woodworth & James
Angell were some of the
students whose sharp minds
were shaped by James.
FUNCTIONALISM
Definition & Subject Matter of Psychology:
According to James, Psychology is ‘the science of mental
life, both of phenomena and their conditions.’

• By ‘mental life’ he meant consciousness.


• By ‘phenomena’, he meant the subject-matter that was
found in experience.
• However, his way of viewing ‘experience’ is markedly
different than that of Wundt and Titchener.
• He emphasized not upon the analytical character of
consciousness, but upon its functional utility.
CREDIT:PIXABAY
FUNCTIONALISM
Definition & Subject Matter of Psychology:
For James,

• Consciousness was a continuous and dynamic complex.


• It is not something composed of discrete bits joined
together.
• Its main concern was adaptation to the changing
stimulation of the environment.
• To study consciousness as it was given in immediate and
actual experience, was the main concern of
psychologists. (STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS)
CREDIT:PIXABAY
FUNCTIONALISM
Definition & Subject Matter of Psychology:
By ‘condition’, James meant
• Bases of mental life could be found in the body.
• Thus his Psychology is also concerned with physical
beings.

Methods:
• Psychology is a part of natural science.
• The study of human beings must be considered in the light
of adaptation and readaptation to the environment.
CREDIT:PIXABAY
FUNCTIONALISM
Method of Introspection:
• James considered ‘introspection’ an important method to
study consciousness. He considered ‘introspection’ as a
natural gift of a person and for this training is not needed.
Thus his introspection was different from the method
suggested by Wundt and Titchener.
• James was of the opinion, that introspection might have
some difficulties, but it could be verified by using
appropriate checks and by marking comparison on various
reports.

CREDIT:PIXABAY
FUNCTIONALISM
Experimentation:
• James was never an experimentalist. He himself preferred
not to conduct experiments.
• But for one thing, he recognized the importance of
experiment.
• He believed some kind of experiments could yield
valuable information regarding psychology.

CREDIT:PIXABAY
FUNCTIONALISM
Comparative Method:
• It is subsidiary to introspection and experiment.
• According to James, with this method, the mental life of
animals, children, defective and even people with some
mental disorders can also be studied.
• James considered this method to be inexact.
• Investigator was left with his own common sense in
handling this method.

SNARES:
Problems and difficulties in executing these methods are
called snares. CREDIT:PIXABAY
FUNCTIONALISM
For him,

• Introspection was inaccurate, experiment was futile and comparative method


was ‘wild work.’
• Another difficulty is related with language. James believed that the facts of
consciousness can be conveyed through words, however, the relationship
between words and facts of consciousness was not a reliable one.
• Psychologist’s fallacy: We generally tend to read our perceptions than what is
actually present there.
FUNCTIONALISM
EMOTION:
James, came up with a unique theory of emotion. At about the same time, C.G.
Lange, Danish Physiologist, came up with a similar theory. Together they came
to be known as James-Lange Theory of Emotion. They said,

Emotional
Perception Emotional
Response/
of Stimulus Experience
Behaviour
FUNCTIONALISM
James noted,

• This kind of emotional behaviour may both be explicit as well as implicit


bodily responses.
• Changes of blood pressure, heart rate, flow of adrenaline, are some of the
implicit responses according to him.
• A feedback of such changes is sent to brain that helps in experiencing
emotion.

However, today this theory is important only because of its historical


significance.
FUNCTIONALISM
INSTINCT:
• James got influenced by Charles Darwin and
other experts here.
• As per him, instincts help both human and animals
in self preservation in a natural ways, but
compared to other animals, humans have the
highest number of instincts.
• These are unlearned, as well as self-preservative.
• Instincts are not blind, rather they are modifiable
by habit.
CREDIT:PIXABAY
FUNCTIONALISM
SELF:
• For James, ‘Self’ is equivalent with something
today known as ‘Personality.’
• It consists of three hierarchical aspects.
• Material Self—Body, Money, property, home,
clothes.
• Social Self/Selves-Recognition of a person by
others. Can be more than one.
• Spiritual self-All Psychic faculties taken together.
Thinking, intellectual capacity etc. comes under
this.
CREDIT:PIXABAY
FUNCTIONALISM
MEMORY:
• It is one of the few areas where James actually
conducted some research.
• His research results did not support the belief held by
FACULY PSYCHOLOGISTS.
• James divided between two types of memories-
PRIMARY and SECONDARY.

MIND-BODY PROBLEM:
• James unlike Wundt and Titchener was an
interactionist
CREDIT:PIXABAY • Mind sometimes serve to operate the body & vice
versa.
FUNCTIONALISM
STREAMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS:
• Crux of James’ Psychology is found in Streams of Consciousness.
• For him, the starting point of Psychology is immediately felt experience. This
is something he meant by the phrase ‘STREAMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS.’
• ‘CONSCIOUSNESS’ is personal.
• ‘CONSCIOUSNESS’ is always changing.
• ‘CONSCIOUSNESS’ is continuous
• ‘CONSCIOUSNESS’ deals with objects other than itself.
• ‘CONSCIOUSNESS’ is always selective.
• There are two purposes of ‘CONSCIOUSNESS’ –adaptation and adjustment.
FUNCTIONALISM
SIGNIFICANCE OF JAMES’ THEORY:
• He had opposed the elementalism of structuralism by Wundt and Titchener and
given an alternative, one which is PRAGMATIC.
• He was the pioneer of Psychology In USA, thus will remain a revered figure
always.
• As a pragmatist, James always emphasized about the utility of the subject matter
of experience. In today’s research, utilitarian value assumes immense importance.
• Many believe, in existential psychology and humanistic psychology, attempt are
made to rediscover James’s STREAMS OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
• He made Psychology a popular branch of study right when it was getting a
distinct form.

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