Functionalism

General paradox  Major figure in American psychology, yet viewed by some colleagues as a negative force Considered by many scholars to be greatest American psychologist Espoused mentalistic and psychical phenomena (telepathy, séances, etc.) Not an experimentalist in attitude or deed  Did not found functional psychology, but did influence the movement

 Espoused new goal of psychology: Study of people as they adapt to their environment  Function of consciousness: To enable survival  Interested in how brain (physical structures) affect consciousness  Stream of consciousness Is a continuous flow, always changing Cannot be “reduced” to elements Is selective about what it attends to  Humans are sometimes nonrational The principles of psychology

 The then-current theory:  Emotion precedes physical arousal/response  We see a lion, we feel fear (emotion)  we run (response)  James:  Physical arousal/response precedes emotion  We see a lion, we have a bodily response  we run (response)  we fear (emotion – an interpretation of bodily changes)  Bodily change is the emotion (increased heart rate, increased breathing, sweaty palms)  If no bodily change, then no emotion The theory of emotions

 Introspection  Experimentation  Comparative method  Pragmatism  The validity of an idea must be tested by looking at its practical consequences  “anything is true if it works”

 Very clear, interesting writing style  Opposed Wundt  Offered an alternative to Wundt

 Functionalists’ central interest:  how the organism uses the mind to adapt to the environment  First uniquely American system of psychology  Deliberate protest against Wundt's and Titchener's systems  Interest in applying psychology to real world

 Consciousness cannot be meaningfully analyzed into elements, it removes all meaning  Argued structure and function cannot be meaningfully separated  Behavior should be treated in terms of its significance to the organism as it functions in its environment  Proper subject for psychology: study of the total organism as it functions in its environment

 Functionalists did not mean to start a new school of though  Formalized indirectly when Titchener named it  Therefore, there was no single functional psychology, no leaders

 American temperament  Individualistic, independent, hard-working, adaptable, practical  Distinctive social, economic, and political character  Pioneering society  US population census (1890)

 Functionalism not clearly defined  Did not follow Titchener’s subject matter or methods  Applied to real-life situations

 Opposition to structuralism  Bridged move from study of subjective mind to study of objective behavior  Legitimacy of research on animal behavior  Inclusion of humans other than “normal adults” as subjects  Allowed applied aspects of research  Development and inclusion of research methods beyond introspection

 By the end of the 19 th century, evolutionary theory and functional psychology had a strong footing in United States  American psychology guided more by ideas of Darwin and Galton than by Wundt  Although Wundt trained 1 st generation of American psychologists, few of his ideas accompanied them home  Strong interest in a useful, applied psychology

 Applied psychology took hold in the discipline  1900: 25% of articles in American psychology journals had applied focus  Only 3% used introspection  Even Titchener acknowledged the strong trend toward application  Dominance in numbers  1903: more PhD's in psychology than in any science other than chemistry, zoology, and physics  1913: United States had more of world’s leading psychologists than any other country

 Popularity  Within 20 years of the founding of psychology, America became undisputed leader of the field Required psychology courses included in the undergraduate curriculum Burgeoning enrollment in psychology courses Increasing number of students engaged in original research Psychology in the US

 1900: three times as many PhDs as laboratories  Pressure to prove psychology’s value  Opportunity