(c) 2016 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

Topics
1. Evolutions 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
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)

(c) 2016 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
 Topics
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

(c) 2016 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
 EVOLUTION'S NEUROTIC
PHILOSOPHER

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 Evolutions 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)
Why America?
Social Darwinism is compatible with American values
and individualistic spirit
Free enterprise
Self-sufficiency
Independence from government regulation

Synthetic philosophy:
Herbert Spencers 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 occurs as well
Butler:
proposed that mechanical evolution is the struggle to create
new machines and gain some competitive advantage

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
Holleriths 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

Holleriths 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

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 sances
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 Jamess 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 Cengage
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 The Subject Matter of Psychology:
A New Look at Consciousness
James: Psychology is the science of mental life,
both of its phenomena and their conditions
Basic part:
physical substructures

Rebelled against Wundts approach

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
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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
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Cengage Learning
 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
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
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
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 Evolution and the Recapitulation
Theory of Development
Halls 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 Wundts version of psychology and
of Titcheners 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

Deweys most important work involves the reflex

arc
Dewey argues that neither behavior nor conscious
experience could be reduced to elements
Reflex forms a circle than an arc because the childs
perception of the flame changes, thus serving a
different
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Cengage Learning
 JAMES ROWLAND ANGELL
(1869-1949)

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 James Rowland Angell (1869-1949)
The province of functional psychology:
Textbook Psychology embodies the functionalist
approach
Goal of psychology:
study how the mind assists the organism in adjusting to its
environment
Three major themes of functionalist movement:
The psychology of mental operations (not elements)
The psychology of the fundamental 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)
Elaborated Angells 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 ones 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
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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 ROBERT SESSIONS
WOODWORTH (1869-1962)

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 Robert Sessions Woodworth
(1869-1962)
Disliked the constraints imposed by membership in any
school of thought
An important point of view:
Dynamic psychology:
Woodworths system, which was concerned with the influence of causal
factors and motivations on feelings and behavior

Viewpoint was constructed not out of protest but by extending,

elaborating, and synthesizing what he considered to be
appropriate features of other approaches

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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)
By 1930, the functional victory was complete
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 SELECTED DISCUSSION
QUESTIONS

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 Selected Discussion Questions
Who extended Darwins ideas on evolution to
machines?
Describe this persons 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
How was the work of G. Stanley Hall influenced by
Darwins evolutionary theory?
Describe Halls recapitulation theory of development.

What firsts in American psychology can be

attributed to Hall?
Why was he called a genetic psychologist?

Compare functionalisms contributions to

psychology with the contributions of
structuralism.
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