Theory of functionalism( emotionally)

While functionalism about the emotions in its current form is relatively recent, functionalism as a
philosophical position is not. Generally speaking, functionalists in philosophy of mind hold that
mental states should be identified in relational terms. These relational terms are often taken to be
relations between inputs, outputs, and other mental states functionalism was proposed as a reaction
to identity theory, the claim that mental states are type-identical to brain states.

In contrast, functionalists propose that one cannot understand the nature of emotion without
understanding what the person is trying to do, and how events in the external or internal environment
have an impact on such strivings. Functionalists also stress the importance of conceptualizing facial,
vocal, and gestural behaviors as signals that affect the behavior of other persons, and not just as outward
signs of internal states. Because emotions are manifested in very flexible ways, functionalists steer their
investigations away from the search for a "gold standard " by which an emotion can be operationalized.
Functionalism also has major implications for studying how feeling and emotion are interrelated, and
understanding how culture influences emotion and emotional development.

From a functionalist perspective, an emotion entails a readiness to adjust one's relationship to the
environment with respect to something that is of importance to the person. The adjustment can
be one of maintenance or change. Hence, this approach emphasizes the idea that emotions
function to focus action that achieves personal goals. In doing so, emotions exert bidirectional
influences on cognitive processing, social interaction, and physical experience. In addition,
emotions play an important role in the emergence of self-awareness, because the interest and
excitement that infants display when interacting with novel objects helps them develop a sense of
self-efficacy. Within the functionalist approach, development entails the progressive ability to
regulate emotions according to the demands of the physical and social worlds. In addition,
children are socialized into knowing the appropriateness of different emotional displays in the
culture in which they grow up. Concurrent to this, development also increases the range of
responses that a person is able to mount to environmental changes, resulting in the emergence of
families of emotions with differing nuances, which are centered on the commonly recognized
emotions, such as joy, sadness, shame, and pride. Each family of emotions provides a range of
behavior-regulatory, social-regulatory, and internal-regulatory functions for the person as well as
action tendencies that match situational demands. Although functional theorists include many
components in the generation of particular families of emotions–for example, concerns, cognitive
appraisals, bodily reactions, and action tendencies–they emphasize that these components are
organized around functional significances for the person. These theorists would also be careful to
differentiate between different nuances of a particular emotion, such as discriminating between
the fear of being robbed and the fear of dying from cancer, although these nuances may belong to
the same emotion family. Hence, according to functional theorists, emotional processes are
evoked with reference to motives and concerns of the developing person and as such undergo
quantitative and qualitative change in development.

Conclusion

The functionalist perspective believes in social agreements to create a stable society. The
theory advocates for a society to be united in all its values, customs as well as beliefs. In this
way, many societies are able to enjoy the continuous flow of normal activities in a normal
society. This theory is very efficient especially in cases where things go the right way as they
are planned. The functional perspective theory ensures that the society maintains order that
will help them grow in all sectors. In this way, everyone works for the good of society at
large.