Functionalism views the mind as a set of functions that help organisms adapt to their environments. It developed as an alternative to structuralism, focusing on what mental processes accomplish rather than their composition. Key influences included Darwin's theory of evolution and Spencer's idea that all aspects of the universe evolve. William James anticipated functionalism with ideas like stream of consciousness. The movement flourished in the early 20th century at universities like Chicago, emphasizing practical applications and studying animal and child behavior. Functionalism contributed methods like introspection but was later criticized for being too descriptive and lacking theoretical depth.

1. Functionalism
ANTECEDENT INFLUENCES

2. The Functionalism Protest
Charles Darwin, and his notion of evolution, changed the focus of the new psychology from
the structure of consciousness to its functions.
Functionalism is concerned with how the mind functions or how it is used by an organism
to adapt to its environment.
The functional psychology movement focused on a practical question like What mental
processes accomplish?
Functionalists studied the mind not from the standpoint of its composition—its mental
elements or its structure— but rather as a conglomerate or accumulation of functions and
processes that lead to practical consequences in the real world.
As an outgrowth of this emphasis on mental functions, the functionalists became interested
in the potential applications of psychology to everyday problems of how people function in
and adapt to different environments. The rapid development of applied psychology in the
United States may be considered the most important legacy of the functionalist movement.

3. The Evolution Revolution

The English physician Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of The Evolution
Revolution (1809–1882) Charles Darwin and Francis Galton) wrote that all
warm-blooded animals had evolved from a single living filament and were
given animation by God.

Erasmus Darwin believed there was a God who had originally set life on earth
in motion but who did not intervene thereafter to alter animal or plant species
or create new ones.

In 1809, the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck formulated a behavioral
theory of evolution that emphasized the modification of an animal’s bodily
form through its efforts to adapt to its environment.

Lamarck suggested that these modifications were inherited by succeeding
generations. For example, the giraffe developed its long neck over generations
of having to reach for higher and higher branches to find food.

4. Origin of Species by Natural Selection
1.Darwin’s influence on Psychology
2. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822–1911)
3. Mental inheritance; Hereditary genius
4. Statistical Methods
5. Mental Tests
6. The association of Ideas
7. Mental imagery
8.Arithmetic by smell & other topics
Animal Psychology & development of functionalism

5. George John Romanes (1848–1894)
Anecdotal method: The use of observational reports about animal behavior.
Introspection by analogy: A technique for studying animal behavior by
assuming that the same mental processes that occur in the observer’s mind
also occur in the animal’s.
Lloyd Morgan (1852–1936):Law of parsimony: (Lloyd Morgan’s Canon): The
notion that animal behavior must not be attributed to a higher mental
process when it can be explained in terms of a lower mental process.

6. Functionalism: Development and
Founding
Evolution’s Neurotic Philosopher
Evolution Comes to America: Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
Social Darwinism; The development of all aspects of the universe is
evolutionary including human character & social institutions in accordance
with the “survival of the fittest”.
Synthetic philosophy: Herbert Spencer’s idea that knowledge and experiences
can be explained in terms of evolutionary principles.
The Continuing Evolution of Machines

7. William James (1842–1910): Anticipator of
Functional Psychology

An epidemic of neurasthenia An American neurologist, George Beard, had
coined the term “neurasthenia” and referred to the condition as a
peculiarly American nervousness. He listed a variety of symptoms:
insomnia, hypochondria, headache, skin rash, nervous exhaustion, and
something called brain collapse (Lutz, 1991). James called the syndrome
“Americanitis” (Ross, 1991).

8. Discovering Psychology
The Principles of Psychology
Stream of consciousness: William James’s idea that consciousness is a
continuous flowing process and that any attempt to reduce it to elements will
distort it.
Methods of Psychology ( introspection)
The Theory of Emotions
The Three Part Self( material, social, spiritual)
Habit

9. The Functional Inequality of Women ;Mary Whiton Calkins (1863–1930)

The Variability Hypotheses
Helen Bradford Thompson Woolley (1874–1947)

Leta Stetter Hollingworth (1886–1939)

Granville Stanley Hall (1844–1924)

10. Evolution and the Recapitulation
Theory of Development
The Founding of functionalism
The Chicago School
John Dewey (1859–1952)
The Reflex Arc
James Rowland Angell (1869–1949)
The Province of Functional Psychology
Harvey A. Carr (1873–1954)
Functionalism: The Final Form

11. Functionalism at Columbia University
Robert Sessions Woodworth (1869–1962)
Dynamic psychology: Robert Woodworth’s system of psychology, which was
concerned with the influence of causal factors and motivations on feelings
and behavior.
Criticism of Functionalism
Contributions of Functionalism