Chapter 7

FUNCTIONALIS
M:
DEVELOPMEN
T AND
FOUNDING

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 Topics
1. Evolution’s Neurotic Philosopher
2. Evolution Comes to America: Herbert
Spencer (1820-1903)
3. The Continuing Evolution of Machines
4. William James (1842-1910): Anticipator of
Functional Psychology
5. The Functional Inequality of Women

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 Topics (cont’d.)
6. Granville Stanley Hall (1844-1924)
7. The Founding of Functionalism
8. The Chicago School
9. John Dewey (1859-1952)
10.James Rowland Angell (1869-1949)
11.Harvey A. Carr (1873-1954)

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 Topics (cont’d.)
12.Functionalism: The Final Form
13.Functionalism at Columbia University
14.Robert Sessions Woodworth (1879-1962)
15.Criticism of Functionalism
16.Contributions of Functionalism
17.Selected Discussion Questions

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 EVOLUTION'S NEUROTIC
PHILOSOPHER

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 Evolution’s Neurotic Philosopher
• Herbert Spencer:
– Neurotic symptoms kept him from working for
more than a few hours a day
• Symptoms included: sensitivity to noise, inability to
concentrate often, acute insomnia, depression, nervous
excitement
• Used opium as a remedy for insomnia
– Brilliant philosopher
• Written many popular books
• His system of philosophy was standard curriculum in
also every university
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 EVOLUTION COMES TO
AMERICA:
HERBERT SPENCER
(1820-1903)

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 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

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 Herbert Spencer
(1820-1903) (cont’d.)
• Why America?
– Social Darwinism is compatible with American
values and individualistic spirit
• Free enterprise
• Self-sufficiency
• Independence from government regulation
• Fit with the individualistic laissez-faire economic system
• Synthetic philosophy: Herbert Spencer’s idea
that knowledge and experience can be
explained in terms of evolutionary principles
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 THE CONTINUING
EVOLUTION OF MACHINES

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 The Continuing Evolution of
Machines
• Mechanical evolution
• Samuel Butler: proposed that mechanical evolution is
the struggle to create new machines and gain some
competitive advantage
– Claimed one day machines would simulate human
thought.
• Henry Hollerith and the punched cards:
– Engineer Henry Hollerith invents a new way of processing
information
– Driven by necessity, so that the U.S. census can be more
efficient
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 Henry Hollerith and the Punched
Cards
• Hollerith’s system far superior to expensive
and time-consuming hand counting
• System involves punching holes to indicate the
demographics of the individual then having a
machine count the holes to tally census
statistics
• Hollerith’s company is today called IBM

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 WILLIAM JAMES (1842-
1910): ANTICIPATOR OF
FUNCTIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY

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 William James (1842-1910)
• William James:
– The American precursor to functional psychology
– Did not found functional psychology but
influencial
– Presented ideas that was pervading American
psychology
– Inspired yet did not train other psychologists
– Criticized for his interests in mental telepathy,
clairvoyance, spiritualism, communication with
the dead at séances
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 James’s Life
• 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
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 The Subject Matter of Psychology:
A New Look at Consciousness
• Rebelled against Wundt’s approach
– He highlights the importance of nonrational processes like
emotion and passion.
– consciousness must be studied in a more natural setting
• Interested in “mind-altering chemicals.”
– Fascinated by body states affecting conscious experience
• Consciousness is a continuous flow
– Stream of consciousness: idea that consciousness is a
continually flowing process and any attempt to reduce it to
elements will distort it
– he states that consciousness must serve some biological
purpose or it would not have survived over time.
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 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
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 Pragmatism and the Theory of
Emotions
• Pragmatism
– 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
– Later lead to the “James-Lange theory of
emotions”
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 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

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 THE FUNCTIONAL
INEQUALITY OF WOMEN

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 The Functional Inequality of
Women
• Mary Whiton Calkins (1863-1930):
– 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

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 The Functional Inequality of
Women (cont’d.)
• Helen Bradford Thompson Woolley (1874-
1947):
– Doctoral dissertation was the first experimental
test of the Darwinian notion that women were
biologically inferior to men
– Results showed no sex differences in emotional
functioning and only small, insignificant
differences in intellectual abilities
– Attributed these differences to social and
environmental factors (i.e., childrearing)
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 The Functional Inequality of
Women (cont’d.)
• Leta Stetter Hollingworth (1886-1939)
– Conducted extensive empirical research on the
variability hypothesis
– Her data refuted the variability hypothesis and
other notions of female inferiority
– Example: she found the menstrual cycle was not
related to performance deficits
– Challenged the concept of an innate instinct for
motherhood

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 GRANVILLE STANLEY
HALL (1844-1924)

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 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
• Racist & sexist

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 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
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 THE FOUNDING OF
FUNCTIONALISM

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 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
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 THE CHICAGO SCHOOL

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 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”

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 JOHN DEWEY (1859-1952)

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 John Dewey (1859-1952)
• Practical orientation: applying
psychology to educational and
philosophical problems
• Dewey’s most important work involves
the reflex arc
– He attacked the reductionism of the
reflex arc
– Dewey argues that neither behavior
nor conscious experience could be
reduced to elements
– Example: child reaching for a flame
and burnt by it
– Reflex forms a circle than an arc
because the child’s perception of the
flame changes, thus serving a
different function

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 JAMES ROWLAND ANGELL
(1869-1949)

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 James Rowland Angell (1869-1949)
• Student of James
• The province of functional psychology:
– Textbook Psychology embodies the functionalist
approach
– APA president
– Three major themes of functionalist movement:
• The psychology of mental operations (not elements)
• The psychology of the utilities of consciousness
• The psychology of psychophysical relations (mind-body
relations)
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 HARVEY A. CARR
(1873-1954)

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 Harvey A. Carr (1873-1954)
• Student of Angell & classmate of Watson
• Elaborated Angell’s theoretical position
• Work represents functionalism when it no
longer needed to crusade against
structuralism
• Defined the final form of structuralism

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 FUNCTIONALISM:
THE FINAL FORM

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 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

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 FUNCTIONALISM AT
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

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 Functionalism at Columbia
University
• Another form of functionalism developed at
Columbia University
– Robert Sessions Woodworth
– Dynamic psychology: Woodworth’s system, which was
concerned with the influence of causal factors and
motivations on feelings and behavior
• 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
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 CRITICISMS OF
FUNCTIONALISM

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 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
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 CONTRIBUTIONS OF
FUNCTIONALISM

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 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)

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 SELECTED DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS

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 Selected Discussion Questions
• Who extended Darwin’s ideas on evolution to
machines? Describe this person’s position on
mechanical evolution.
• Why was James considered to be the most
important American psychologist? Describe
his attitude toward laboratory work.
• What methods did James consider appropriate
for the study of consciousness? What was the
value of pragmatism for the new psychology?
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 Selected Discussion Questions
(cont’d.)
• How was the work of G. Stanley Hall
influenced by Darwin’s evolutionary theory?
Describe Hall’s recapitulation theory of
development.
• What “firsts” in American psychology can be
attributed to Hall? Why was he called a
genetic psychologist?
• Compare functionalism’s contributions to
psychology with the contributions of
structuralism.
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