Christiane R. Toralba BSED EN 2-3D SEED 3023 Prof. Erwin F.

Cipriano

Functionalism

Functional - having or serving a utilitarian purpose; capable of serving the purpose for which it was designed: Ism - a distinctive doctrine, theory, system, or practice: Meaning of functionalism Asserts that the mental processes should be regarded as functions or operations of the organism in its adaptation to and modification of the environment. Its approach is distinctly biological, thereby forming psychological basis of pragmatism and instrumentalism in philosophy. Led by Dewy and Carr, functionalists are interested in how an organism makes its adjustment to its environment, that is, either it changes or makes adaptation to it. For instance, a big river separates a barrio from the town. To be able to go to the town, the barrio folks have to learn how to swim or construct a bridge across the river This is according to the book Foundations of Education By J. Calderon Functionalism (Psychology) Functionalism is a theory about the nature of mental states. According to functionalism, mental states are identified by what they do rather than by what they are made of. This can be understood by thinking about artifacts like mousetraps and keys. In particular, the original motivation for functionalism comes from the helpful comparison of minds with computers. But that is only an analogy. The main arguments for functionalism depend on showing that it is superior to its primary competitors: identity theory and behaviorism. Contrasted with behaviorism, functionalism retains the traditional idea that mental states are internal states of thinking creatures. Contrasted with identity theory, functionalism introduces the idea that mental states are multiply realized. Objectors to functionalism generally charge that it classifies too many things as having mental states, or at least more states than psychologists usually accept. The effectiveness of the arguments for and against functionalism depends in part on the particular variety in question, and whether it is a stronger or weaker version of the theory. This article

explains the core ideas behind functionalism and surveys the primary arguments for and against functionalism. Source: http://www.iep.utm.edu/functism/#H6

Functionalism (Sociology) Structural functionalism is a broad perspective in sociology and anthropology which sets out to interpret society as a structure with interrelated parts. Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements; namely norms, customs, traditions and institutions. A common analogy, popularized by Herbert Spencer, presents these parts of society as "organs" that work toward the proper functioning of the "body" as a whole.] In the most basic terms, it simply emphasizes "the effort to impute, as rigorously as possible, to each feature, custom, or practice, its effect on the functioning of a supposedly stable, cohesive system." For Talcott Parsons, "structural-functionalism" came to describe a particular stage in the methodological development of social science, rather than a specific school of thought Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural_functionalism

- Functionalists are very POSITIVE about society and always see the GOOD in everything. They even think that crime is good for society! - They look at society on a MACRO scale [this means that they look at society on a large scale]. They want to generalise their ideas to the whole of society. For example they look at what education does for society as a whole not just certain people in society. - Functionalists also believe that society is based on CONSENSUS, this means agreement, i.e. we are all SOCIALISED [brought up] to agree on how to behave [known as NORMS] and what is right and wrong [known as VALUES]. - Functionalists believe that each part of society has a FUNCTION [a job to do] to make sure that society runs smoothly and everything stays in harmony. For example education has a function to make sure people are educated to be good at the job they will get after school. Source: http://sixthsense.osfc.ac.uk/sociology/as_sociology/functionalism.asp