Chapter 11: American Psychology and Functionalism PDF

Hergenhahn’s An Introduction to the History of Psychology Eighth Edition Chapter 11 American Psychology and Functionalism © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Early U.S. Psychology (1 of 3)...

Hergenhahn’s An Introduction to the History of Psychology Eighth Edition Chapter 11 American Psychology and Functionalism © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Early U.S. Psychology (1 of 3) Stage one: moral and mental philosophy – Psychology included topics such as ethics, divinity, and philosophy.  To learn psychology was to learn the accepted theology of the day. – “American Enlightenment” began in 1714  Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding influenced notable figures. o The book focused on topics psychological in nature.  child psychology, the nature of consciousness, the nature of knowledge, introspection, and perception.  This was the basis for logic, as well as supporting religious beliefs. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Early U.S. Psychology (2 of 3) Stage two: intellectual philosophy – Psychology became a separate discipline, primarily influenced by the Scottish commonsense views.  Believed in naïve realism.  Thought self-examination produced valid evidence. – Held clear benefits to theology Stage three: the U.S. Renaissance – Late 1880s  Publishing of John Dewey’s textbook, the first issue of the American Journal of Psychology  William James’s Principles of Psychology (1890) – Psychology becomes an empirical science.  Emphasized: individual differences, adaption to environment*, and practicality.  Compatible with evolution by natural selection. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Early U.S. Psychology (3 of 3) Stage four: functionalism – Science, emphasis on the individual, and evolutionary theory combined into the school of functionalism.  In conflict with structuralism.  Assumptions were irreconcilable. o Structuralism wanted to understand the structure of the mind and used introspection as it’s primary tool. o Functionalism thought the mind was best understood via evolutionary principles.  Outlining how the mind and behavior work to help an organism adjust to an environment.  Willing to research anything that was informative* © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Characteristics of Functional Psychology (1 of 3) Never was a well-defined school – Did not have one recognized leader or an agreed-on methodology. However, held common themes – Opposed the elementarism of structuralism – Focus was to understand the function of the mind  Goal was to avoid a description of content of the mind.  Believed mental processes served a function: to aid the organism in adapting to its environment © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved. Characteristics of Functional Psychology (2 of 3) – A practical science  Desired to be a practical science, not a pure science.  Apply findings to the improvement of the human condition: o Personal life, education, industry, etc. – Advocated in broadening psychology  Urged others to expand participants to include animals, children, and abnormal humans  Willing to see the use of almost any methodology that proved useful – Concerned for the “why” of mental processes  This led directly to an interest in motivation as a research topic o Animals act differently, even when in the same environment. o This needed to be understood if an organism’s behavior is to be understood. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved. Characteristics of Functional Psychology (3 of 3) – Accepted both mental processes and behavior  Viewed both as legitimate interests for psychology  Even accepted introspection as a tool, but not the only tool. – More ideographic than nomothetic  More interested in differences than similarities o A perspective that has slowly been changing in contemporary psychology, at least in hopes of striking a balance. – Directly or indirectly influenced by William James © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  William James (1 of 5) William James – Trials of family and health.  Lead to an opportune crossing of paths. – James’s highly influential.  Principles of Psychology appeared in two volumes, 28 chapters, and a total of 1,393 pages. – The first American Psychology textbook. o Tried to bridge the gap between empirical and rational // experimental and phenomenological. – Existential Crisis: Determinism vs Free Will  Pragmatism o The belief that if an idea works, it is valid o We should assume determinism is true but limited.  Psychology should be a science and make use of philosophy for questions science can’t answer.  Radical empiricism o All consistently reported aspects of human experience are worthy of study  Opposed Wundt’s approach to psychology © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  William James (2 of 5) – Stream of consciousness is: 1) Personal to the individual 2) Continuous; cannot be divided up for analysis 3) Always changing 4) Selective; some events are selected for further consideration while others are not 5) Functional; purpose is to aid the individual in adapting to the environment. – Habits (instincts) are formed as an activity is repeated.  He had a neurophysiological explanation of habit formation. o Habits form when activities are repeated. o Repetition causes neural pathways to form, become entrenched and setting the stage for them to be passed on. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  William James (3 of 6) – 5 Maxims to follow to develop or eliminate habits  Place yourself in circumstances that encourage good habits and discourage bad ones.  Do not allow yourself to act contrary to a new habit that you are attempting to develop: o “Each lapse is like the letting fall of a ball of string which one is carefully winding up; a single slip undoes more than a great many turns will wind again”  Do not attempt to slowly develop a good habit or eliminate a bad one. o Engage in positive habits completely to begin with and abstain completely from bad ones.  It is not the intention to engage in good habits and avoid bad ones that is important; it is the actual doing so.  Force yourself to act in ways that are beneficial to you, even if doing so at first is distasteful and requires considerable effort. – Act in ways that benefit who you want to become. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  William James (4 of 6) – Three components of self (empirical self)  Material self: o One’s body, family, and all things owned  Social self: o Self known by others; many social selves  Spiritual self: o State of consciousness, one’s own subjective reality – According to James: the self is partly known and knower; partly object and partly subject.  James was one of the first to examine self-esteem. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  William James (5 of 6) – James-Lange theory of emotion:  The bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact (stimulus). o The emotions we feel depend on what we do. o Sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, fear because we tremble.  Not that we cry, strike or tremble because we are sorry, angry or fearful. – Science must assume determinism, including psychology, but for certain approaches to the study of humans, the assumption of free will might be fruitful. – Ideo-motor theory of behavior:  An idea of an action precedes and causes that action.  In most cases, ideas and actions flow immediately and automatically producing habitual or reflexive behavior. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  William James (6 of 6)  For voluntary behavior, however, ideas of various behavioral possibilities are retained from previous experiences o Their recollection and a selection (by mental effort) of a behavior is a prerequisite to voluntary behavior. – Pragmatism is the cornerstone of functionalism.  Behaviors, thoughts, or beliefs must be judged by their consequences.  If it works for the individual than it is appropriate.  Truth must be judged by its effectiveness in the situation. o What works is true for that circumstance. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Granville Stanley Hall (1 of 6) Granville Stanley Hall. – Organized the first psychology laboratory in the United States – Founded the first psychology journal, American Journal of Psychology – Helped organize and was first president of the American Psychological Association. – President of Clark University. – Recapitulation theory states that the development of an individual through their lifetime mirrors the evolution of the species. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Granville Stanley Hall (2 of 6) – Ideas on developmental psychology were greatly influenced by this theory.  His work in this area did much to stimulate educational psychology and start the child development movement in the United States. – Hall had several ideas about adolescence including ideas about sexual behavior, religious conversion, and sex-segregated schools.  He also believed that adolescence was a good time to study human instinctual makeup. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Granville Stanley Hall (3 of 6) – Hall also focused on the study developmental psychology and the end of the life. – Adolescence: Its Psychology and Its Relations to Physiology, Anthropology, Sociology, Sex, Crime, Religion, and Education. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Granville Stanley Hall (4 of 6) Francis Sumner – Hall’s last graduate student and first African American to receive a Ph.D. in psychology. – Argued for segregated higher education; however, evidence indicates that his public statements did not match his private beliefs and activities.  This was a pragmatic way to obtain funding for African American higher education. – Developed the psychology department at Howard University into a major center for training African American psychologists. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Granville Stanley Hall (5 of 6) Kenneth Bancroft Clark – Trained with Sumner – Both he and his wife (Mamie Phipps Clark) obtained their Ph.D.s from Columbia University. – They did pioneer work on the developmental effects of prejudice, discrimination, and segregation on children. – Extremely instrumental in the efforts to desegregate the school systems. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Granville Stanley Hall (6 of 6) Hall’s Legacy at Clark University – In 1908, Hall invited prominent European psychologists to Clark for its 20th anniversary. – Hall invited Wundt, Freud, and Jung, but Wundt had a prior engagement. – Freud remarked that this visit did much to further the acceptance of his theory around the world. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Functionalism at Chicago (1 of 3) John Dewey – Wrote “The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology”  Many think this marks the formal beginning of functionalism.  Proposed that the three elements of the reflex (sensory processes, brain processes, motor response) must be viewed as a coordinated system directed toward a goal, this goal is usually related to the survival of the organism. – Influential in creating what came to be called “progressive” education, which stated that education should be student-oriented and not subject-oriented and students should learn by doing – Also involved in liberal causes © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Functionalism at Chicago (2 of 3) James Angell – Presented the three major points of functionalism  Functional psychology is interested in mental operations, not conscious elements.  Mental processes mediate between the needs of the organism and the environment. Mental functions help the organism survive.  Mind and body cannot be separated, they act as a unit in an organism’s struggle for survival. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.  Functionalism at Chicago (3 of 3) Harvey Carr – Because learning is a major tool used in adjusting to the environment, it was a major concern of functionalism. – Carr proposed the adaptive act, which has three components.  A motive that acts as a stimulus for behavior (such as hunger or thirst).  An environmental setting or the situation the organism is in.  A response that satisfies the motive. © 2019 Cengage. All rights reserved.