Functionalism was the first school of thought in American psychology, founded by William James in the late 19th century. It grew out of Darwin's theory of evolution and focused on how the mind helps humans adapt and function in their environment. Functionalists studied mental processes and consciousness with the goal of understanding their practical utility, rejecting the idea of breaking down consciousness into elements as structuralists did. They wanted psychology to have diverse methods and real-world applications rather than being a narrow, formal science.

1. Made by
Simrat

2.  Firstly completely American Psychology
 Founded by William James(1842-1910)– Was not
an experimentalist
 William James influenced by the theory of Charles
Darwin’s Theory of evolution
 It grew directly from the Darwinian thinking which
focuses attention on the utility and purpose of
behavior that has been modified over years of
human existence.

3.  Functionalism began as a rebellion against the structural approach for being
• Narrow
• Artificial
• Pointless
 They protested against the restrictions and limitations of Wundt’s version of
psychology and of Titchener’s structuralism, but they did not want to replace these
with another formal “-ism”.
 Rejected the idea that the conscious mind had a permanent structure or blue-print of
the mind.
 No aim to start another school of thought or system.
 It incorporated many of the characteristics of a school of thought, but that was the goal
of the leaders.

4.  Scholars associated with the founding of functionalism had no ambition to
start a new school of thought.
 Many functional psychologists coexisted at one time- each differed in
someway or the other. Although each of them interested in studying the
function of consciousness.
 No single Functional psychology , whereas only one structural psychology.
 Main interest in potential application of psychology.
 Not associated with a single dominant theorist.
 Lack of a central leader or formalized set of ideas.

5.  Major Premise:-- Mental Processes help/cause human beings
to adapt to their everyday environment
 Primary Interest in this approach:-- Function of mental
processes
 Functionalism conceived of a fundamental set of values and
procedures emphasizing adaptive acts and empirically
demonstrated functional relationships has remained a strong
influence in psychology and even today represents much of the
main stream of American Psychology.

6.  Stream of Consciousness– Conscious Experience was like a river that was
always changing and flowing.
 The conscious mind enabled people to make rational choices which in
turn helped them to survive generation after generation
 Functionalists more concerned with the function of mental processes
play in our life than on breaking consciousness into smaller elements.
 To William James, how the mind allows people to function in the real
world – how people play, work and adapt to their surroundings, is what
he called functionalism.

7. Functionalists:
 Oppose the search for the elements of consciousness as futile.
 Believe that the mind has the function of helping us adapt to the environment. They want to
understand the function of the mind, the ways it helps us adapt.
 Want psychology to be practical, not pure science.
 Want psychology to be broadened to include research on animals, children, and atypical
humans.
 Believed the needs and motivations of the organism should be understood if one wanted to
understand behavior.
 They are more interested in what makes people different from each other than in what makes
them similar.
 They are willing to use a wide variety of methods of study.

8. Three groups of psychologists who contributed towards forming
Functionalism
1st --- Pioneers --- Laid the ground work, gave the starting and mentioned the
initial postulates --- William James
2nd --- Founders --- Gave the major contribution to make Functionalism as a
system --- John Dewey and James Angell
3rd --- Developers --- Responsible for Maturation and further elaboration of
the system --- Harvey Carr and Robert S. Woodworth

9.  Considered important in the development of psychology.
 Broadened the scope of psychological research and application.
 The Subject area for psychology undertaken by functionalists is very wide in nature
(not stuck to immediate experiences but also included applied fields).
 It also introduced a wide variety of research techniques that were beyond the
boundaries of structural psychology, like physiological measures, mental tests and
Questionnaires.

10. Some of the Primary Concepts with functionalism are as following:--
• Collective Conscience
• Value Consensus
• Social Order
• Education
• Family
• Crime and deviance
• Media

11. A history of Modern Psychology by Duane P. Schultz and Sydney
Ellen Schultz
System and Theories in Psychology by Melvin H. Marx and William A.
Hillix
Internet Sources
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/functionalism/
https://www.iep.utm.edu/functism/