Functionalism:

Contributors
Ashish Kafle
 Functionalism
• Functionalism is the approach that focuses on the function of the
mind rather than the structure.
• Functionalism stems directly from Darwin’s school of thought,
emerging in the late 19th century as a counter to the prevailing
theory of structuralism.
• Unlike structuralism, which tries to simply understand our subjective
experience of consciousness (i.e., its structure), functionalism aims to
find meaning and purpose (i.e., the function) of our conscious
experience.
Functionalism contd…
• Functionalism was never a well-defined school of thought because it did
not have one recognized or agree upon methodology.

• Diversity in functionalism:

Functionalism at Chicago University (John Dewey; James Rowland Angell;

Harvey Carr)

Functionalism at Columbia University (James McKeen Cattell; Robert

Sessions Woodworth; E.L. Thorndike; C. Lloyd Morgan)
Functionalism common themes
• Although there was diversity in functionalism, there were some
common themes of functionalism (Some of these themes were direct
opposite to structuralism):

Functionalists opposed the search for elements of consciousness.

They instead wanted to understand the function of the mind (i.e.
focus on ‘why’ of consciousness, not the ‘what’).
They accepted both mental process and behavior as subject matter of
psychology.
They viewed introspection as a valid method of study.
Functionalism themes contd…
They wanted psychology to be a practical (applied) science and not a
pure (basic) science.

They wanted expansion of scope of psychology to include animal,

child, and abnormal psychology.

They were concerned with ‘motivation’ because of their concern with

‘why’ of mental process (and behavior).
This was because, as human needs change, human will act differently in
the same situation. So, to understand behavior, we must understand
the motivation behind behavior.
Functionalism themes contd…
They were more concerned with studying ‘individual differences’,
rather than what made individuals similar.

They were all directly or indirectly influenced by William James

(William James was strongly influenced by Evolutionary theory)
 William James
• James didn’t found functional psychology because his ideas were not fully
developed enough to start a school of thought.

• However, he presented his idea clearly and effectively, in a functionalist

framework.

• Therefore, his ideas contained seeds that grew into the school of
functionalism.
• James opposed Wundt’s approach in his book ‘principles of psychology’.
• He opposed Wundt’s goal of psychology (analysis of consciousness into its
elements).
William James: Stream of
consciousness (The subject matter
of psychology)
• Stream of consciousness was James’s idea that consciousness is a
continuous flowing process and thus any attempt to reduce it into elements
will only distort it, so it is not desired.
Characteristics of stream of consciousness
Consciousness is a continuous flow and thus can’t be divided into elements.
Consciousness is personal, so it is pointless to search for elements common
to all minds.
Consciousness is constantly changing. Therefore one can never have exactly
the same idea twice .
Consciousness is selective, i.e., among many events entering in our
consciousness only some are selected for further consideration and
others are inhibited.

Consciousness is functional, i.e., it helps individual to adapt in the

environment.
Methods of James’s Psychology
• According to James, because psychology deals with a personal and
immediate conscious experience, the method of introspection must
be a basic method of psychology.

• To supplement introspective method, James recommended the use of

‘comparative method’.
Comparative method involves analyzing different populations like
animals, infants, preliterate people and mentally ill people.
Methods contd…
• James also acknowledged experimental method as an important
method, especially for psychophysics research, research on space
perception, and research on memory.

Therefore, unlike structuralists, the functionalist movement would not

be restricted to a single method (like Wundt and Titchener)

This eclectic approach broadened the scope of American psychology.

Pragmatism
• James emphasized the value of pragmatism for psychology.
• Pragmatism is the idea that = only those ideas which have practical
applications are useful and valid ideas.
• Similarly, according to pragmatism, “truth” is not static and “truth” is
anything that works and proves effective under changing
circumstances.
Therefore, truth is forever dynamic.

• So, for pragmatism, arriving at an idea was not the end of a search for
knowledge, but only a beginning.
Pragmatism contd…
• Just like pragmatism explained about ideas and truth, pragmatism
believes that no one methodology (or model) can ever hope to
capture all relevant information.
If such methodology or model even exists, then it would be too
complicated.
• Therefore, we must accept the parallel existence of different models
(methods) even though they may seem contradictory.

• James, following pragmatism, urged to use introspection and

experimentation, along with study of animals, infants, mentally ill,
and preliteratae people.
Theory of Emotions
• According to James, emotion is caused by our perception of the
physiological changes that happen after seeing a threat.
i.e., for eg: You see a bear – Then this causes bodily reactions – Then
these bodily changes are experienced as emotions.
Simply stating, we are frightened because we run.
• Before James proposed this theory of emotion, it was traditionally
believed that the perception of the event causes us to experience
emotion and this leads to action.
• i.e., we are frightened, then we run.
Free will
• Although William James noted that the notion of determinism was
essential for (any type of science) psychology to be a science.

• However, he also believed that science is not everything.

• James believed that for certain approaches to the study of humans,

the assumption of free will is important.
• According to James’s ideo-motor theory of behavior, an idea of a
certain action causes that action to occur.
• He believed that in the vast majority of cases, ideas of actions flowed
immediately and automatically (habitually or reflexively) into
behavior.
• This automatic process continues unless mental effort is expended to
purposively select and hold an idea of interest in consciousness.
• According to James, at any situation where an idea comes to mind,
we have ideas of various behavioral possibilities. These possibilities
are developed from previous experiences.
• From the ideas of various possible actions, one is selected for attention,
and that is the one that causes behavior and continues to do so as long
as the idea is attended to.

• The will spends energy to hold the idea of interest in consciousness,

thus inhibiting other ideas

• This effort and eventual selection of one from many ideas of action we
are interested in doing is done by the “will”.

• Therefore, “what holds attention determines action”.

• It is by controlling our ideas of behavior that we control our actual
behavior.
• Because ideas cause behavior, it is important to attend to those ideas
that result in behavior deemed desirable under the circumstances.

• So if we combine James’s theories of will and emotion =

What we think determines what we do, and what we do determines
how we feel.
From this, one can follow the rule: “Act the way you want to feel”
The self
• James suggested that a person’s sense of self consists of three components
(or aspects)

The material self = Everything that we call uniquely our own (our body,
family, home, style of dress, etc.)

The social self = How we present ourselves to other people

James believed we have many social selves (i.e., we present different sides of
ourselves to different people; we are different with different people)

The spiritual self = Our inner or subjective being

• James was among the first to examine the circumstances under which
people feel good or bad about themselves.

• He concluded that a person’s self-esteem is determined by the ratio of

things attempted to things achieved (success).

• It should be noted that, according to James, one could increase self-

esteem either by succeeding more or attempting less: “To give up
pretensions is as blessed a relief as to get them gratified”
Habits and Instincts
• James believed that much animal and human behavior is governed by
instincts (reflex actions).

• But he also believed that such instinctive behavior can be modified.

Such modification comes from experience

• Likewise, James also believed that new instinct-like patterns of

behaviors can be developed by the organism through learning.

• James called these learned patterns of behavior as “Habits”.

• Therefore, according to James, habits are formed by the repetitions.

• James believed that habits have functional property because:

They simplify the movements required to achieve a result
Increase the accuracy of behavior
Reduce fatigue and,
Reduces the need to consciously attend to perform actions.
• James offered five ways to follow in order to develop good habits and
eliminate bad ones:
 Create (or place yourself in) circumstances that encourage good
habits and discourage bad ones.
Don’t act contrary to the good habit you want.
Don’t attempt to develop good habits in parts (or slowly) – Do it
completely at a time.
Don’t only intend to develop good habits. Just Do it.
Force yourself into acts that are beneficial to you.
((Fundamental principle = Act the way you want to become))
Contribution of James to Psychology
• James helped incorporate evolutionary theory into psychology.
• By stressing what is useful, he represented a major departure from
the pure psychology of both voluntarism and structuralism. He thus
paved way for applied psychology.
• He expanded research techniques in psychology by not only accepting
introspection but also encouraging any technique that promised to
yield useful information about people.
• By studying all aspects of human existence—including behavior,
cognition, emotions, volition, and even religious experience— James
also expanded the subject matter of psychology.
• James’s eclectism is very much in accordance with postmodernism.
• James’s ideas are not only considered foundational for functional
psychology and pragmatic philosophy, but can be seen in behaviorism,
cognitive science, and existential-phenomenological psychology, as
well as clinical psychology.
 Hugo Munstenberg
• Münsterberg felt very strongly that psychologists should attempt to
uncover information that could be used in the real world.
• With his efforts, Münsterberg did much to create what is now
referred to as applied psychology.

• Munstenberg’s applied psychology

• In an attempt to understand the causes of abnormal behavior,
Münsterberg saw many mentally ill people.
• He applied his “treatment,” which consisted mainly of causing his patients to
expect to improve, to cases of alcoholism, drug addiction, phobia, and sexual
dysfunction, but not to psychosis.
• He felt that psychosis was caused by deterioration of the nervous system and
could not be treated.
• Along with the suggestion that individuals would improve as the result of his
efforts, Münsterberg also employed reciprocal antagonism, which involved
strengthening the thoughts opposite to those causing problems.
•
• Although Münsterberg was aware of Freud’s work, he chose to treat symptoms
directly and did not search for the underlying causes of those symptoms.
• Münsterberg said of Freud’s theory of unconscious motivation, “The story of
the subconscious mind can be told in three words: there is none”
• Münsterberg was the first to apply psychological principles to legal matters,
thus creating forensic psychology.
• Among other things, he pointed out that eyewitness testimony could be
unreliable because sensory impressions could be illusory, suggestion and stress
could affect perception, and memory is not always accurate.
• Münsterberg urged that psychological methods replace the brutal
interrogation of criminals.
• He believed that harsh interrogation could result in false confessions because
some people want to please the interrogators, some need to give in to
authority figures, and some very depressed people may feel a need to be
punished.
• Münsterberg published his thoughts on forensic psychology in his best-selling
book On the Witness Stand (1908). In this book, he described an apparatus
that could detect lying by observing changes such as those in pulse rate and
respiration.
• Others would follow Münsterberg’s lead and later create the “lie detector.”
• Münsterberg’s Vocation and Learning (1912) and Psychology and Industrial
Efficiency (1913) are usually considered the beginning of what later came to be
called industrial psychology.
• In these books, Münsterberg dealt with such topics as methods of personnel
selection, methods of increasing work efficiency, and marketing and advertising
techniques.
• To aid in personnel selection, for example, he recommended defining the skills
necessary for performing a task and then determining the person’s ability to
perform that task.
• In this way, one could learn whether a person had the skills necessary for doing a
certain job adequately.
• Münsterberg also found that whether a task is boring could not be determined
by observing the work of others.
• Often, work that some people consider boring is interesting to those doing it.
• It is necessary, then, to take individual differences into account when selecting
 Granville Stanley Hall
• Recapitulation theory
• Hall’s idea that the psychological development of a child (from
childhood to adulthood) repeats the history of human race (from stone
age to modern age).

• Therefore, child’s development recapitulates (or Summarizes briefly)

the development of human race.

• In the development process, child develops from a near-savage state in

infancy and childhood to a more rationalized, civilized human being in
the adulthood.
• Studying child’s development is studying the summary of human race
development.

• Hall’s ideas were influenced by Darwin’s notion of evolution.

(Thus, he was also called the ‘Darwin of the mind’)

• According to recapitulation theory, during prenatal development, a

single-celled organism develops into a newborn child whose
capabilities are equal to lower class mammals.
• In childhood, there is still evidence of impulsiveness, cruelty, and
immorality, which was the characteristics of earlier less civilized stage
of human development.

• According to Hall, if these primitive impulses were not given space for
proper expression, they would be carried on to adulthood.

• Hall therefore encouraged parents and teachers to create situations in

which these primitive impulses could be expressed.
 John Dewey
• Despite the fact that functionalism was never a well-defined school of
thought, as structuralism was, its founding is commonly attributed to
John Dewey (1859–1952), even though James, Münsterberg, and Hall
certainly laid important groundwork.
• Reflex Arc (Dewey’s analysis of reflex action)
• Dewey wrote “The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology” (1896), which
for many marks the formal beginning of the school of functionalism.
• Boring (1953) referred to Dewey’s 1896 article as “a declaration of
independence for American functional psychology”
• While discussing the concept of reflex actions, Dewey’s primary
argument was that reflex action should not be analyzed by dividing it
into its elements. (The elements of reflex action - sensory processes,
brain processes, and motor responses).

• According to Dewey, this type of analysis was artificial and misleading.

• The three elements of a reflex, said Dewey, must be viewed as a

coordinated system directed toward a goal, and this goal is usually
related to the survival of the organism.
• Dewey took a child touching a candle flame as an example.
• The analysis of such behavior in terms of reflexes claims that the child
sees the flame of a candle (S) and grasps it (R). The resulting pain (S)
then elicits withdrawal (R).
If this analysis is assumed, then, next time also the child will see the
flame and grasp it (because seeing the flame is the stimulus and
grasping is the response)
This means nothing changes, nothing is learned.
• However, this is not what happens in reality.
• In reality, the experience of being burned changes the child’s perception
of the flame, and he or she will avoid it next time.
• This, according to Dewey, could happen only if the child was still
observing the flame while being burned and withdrew.
• Thus, according to Dewey, the response (burning) has influenced the
perception towards the stimulus, as such that now the stimulus gives a
different response (i.e., of avoidance).

• Therefore, perception and movement (stimulus and response) must be

considered as a unit and not as a composition of individual sensations
and responses (they are no longer individual processes, as one
influences the other).
• By explaining how the traditional explanation of reflex action is not
correct, he rejected the notion of ‘reflex arc’, and favored a “circular”
or “circuit” explanation.
• In this circular system, the response changes our response to the
stimulus.
• For example, at first, the flame was a stimulus which caused child to
touch it (response) but due to the consequence (the burn) now the
flame (i.e., the stimulus) will no longer give the previous response
(i.e., touching it). Response has influenced the nature of the stimulus.
• Dewey urged that all behavior be viewed in terms of its function—to adapt the
organism to its environment.

• To study elements of the adaptive act in isolation causes one to miss the most
important aspect of the act: its purposiveness.

• Dividing behavior (eg., reflex action) into elements was no more justifiable than
dividing consciousness into elements.

• Showing the influence of James’s Principles, Dewey claimed that there is a stream
of behavior just as there is a stream of consciousness.
 Robert Session Woodworth
• Dynamic Psychology
• It is Woodworth’s system of psychology which was concerned with
how feelings and behaviors are influenced by causal factors and
motivations.

• His dynamic psychology focused on cause-and-effect relationships,

and his primary interest was in the forces that drive or motivate
human beings.

• He believed that psychology’s goal should be to determine why

people behave as they do.
• According to him, psychological knowledge must begin with an
investigation of the nature of the stimulus and the response; that is, with
objective, external events.

• But when psychologists consider only the stimulus and the response in
attempting to explain behavior, they miss what may be the most important
part of their study—the living organism itself.

• A stimulus is not the complete cause of a particular response.

• The organism, with its varying energy levels and its current and past
experiences, also acts to determine the response.
• Woodworth chose the symbols S–O–R (stimulus– organism–response) to
designate his theory in order to emphasize the importance of the organism.
• This was different from the S-R (Stimulus-Response) relationship that other
psychologists were focusing on.

• Therefore, Woodworth suggested, the subject matter for psychology must

be both consciousness and behavior.
• While the behavior (and the stimulus) might be observed objectively,
Woodworth believed that what occurs inside an organism can only be
known through introspection.

• Therefore, he favored introspection + experiment + observation methods for

psychology.
 James McKeen Cattell
• Cattell was strongly influenced by Galton.
• He brought Galton’s ideas and testing to America.
• Cattell did basic research in such areas as reaction time, psychophysics,
and mental testing.

• Cattell followed Galton in assuming that intelligence could be measured

by studying sensory and motor abilities.
• In fact, he used many of the same tests Galton had used—for example,
dynamometer pressure, least noticeable difference in weight, and
reaction time.
 • Mental Tests
• Cattell used the term mental tests, and while at the University of Pennsylvania he
administered a series of such tests to his students.
• He continued the testing program at Columbia and collected data from several
classes of entering students.
• The kinds of tests Cattell used in trying to measure the range and variability of human
capacities differed from the intelligence or cognitive ability tests psychologists
developed later, which use more complex mental tasks.

• Cattell’s tests, like Galton’s, dealt primarily with elementary sensorimotor

measurements, including dynamometer pressure, rate of movement (how quickly the
hand can move 50 cm), two-point skin sensitivity threshold, amount of pressure on
the forehead necessary to cause pain, just noticeable differences in judging weights,
reaction time for sound, and time for naming colors.
• By 1901 Cattell had amassed enough data to correlate the test scores
with measures of the students’ academic performance.

• The correlations proved disappointingly low, as did inter-correlations

among individual tests.

• Because similar results had been obtained in Titchener’s laboratory,

Cattell concluded that tests of this type were not valid predictors of
college achievement or, by assumption, of intellectual ability.
• Through his work on mental testing, the measurement of individual
differences, and the promotion of applied psychology, Cattell
energetically reinforced the functionalist movement in American
psychology.
 E.L. Thorndike
• Research on Trial-and-Error Learning
• To investigate the trial-and-error learning
proposed by Llyod Morgan, Thorndike used
a device called “puzzle box” and conducted
studies on cats.

• It is characterized by repeated, varied

attempts which are continued until success.
Try-Try-Until-You-(Not die)-Succeed
Thorndike: Trial and Error learning
• Trial and error learning: A type of
learning in which the organism
successively tries various
responses in a situation,
seemingly at random, until one is
successful in achieving the goal.

• Across successive trials, the

successful response is
strengthened and appears earlier
and earlier (and appears more).
(Shown in the adjacent figure)
Thorndike: Trial and error learning
• From his numerous puzzle box experiments, Thorndike reached the following
conclusions regarding trial and error learning:

Learning is incremental (That is, it occurs a little bit at a time rather than all at once.
With each successful escape, subsequent escapes were made more quickly.)

Learning occurs automatically. That is, it is not mediated by thinking.

The same principles of learning apply to all mammals. That is, humans learn in the
same manner as all other mammals.

With these observations, Thorndike was very close to being a behaviorist.

If thinking was not involved in learning, what good was introspection in studying the learning process? And if animals
and humans learn in the same way, why not simplify the situation by studying only nonhuman animals? (These were
ideas of behaviorist)
Thorndike: Connectionism
• According to Thorndike, learning occurs through the connection
between stimulus and response.

For eg, in Puzzle box experiment, the hunger of the cat acts as stimulus
resulting in the response of pulling the lever. Then the cat gets the food.
Once this connection has been established, the cat learns it and
frequently uses this connection to repeat the behavior of pulling the
lever.

Connection established between stimulus-response = Cat learned pulling lever

Thorndike: Connectionism
• Due to aforementioned reasons, Thorndike called his approach as
Connectionism.
• According to him, human mind is made up of many such connections
(he called such connections as ‘neural bonds’) between stimulus-and-
response.
• Therefore, to study human mind, we would have to find connections
of varying strength between situations and responses.

If such connections are found, then we would be able to predict what

human would think and do, and what will annoy and satisfy them in
every kind of situation
Thorndike: Connectionism
• Connectionism was similar to associationism (popularized by empiricists), but
not same.
• Associationism was about ‘association of ideas’
Connectionism was about association of stimulus and response.

• Although Thorndike developed his theory within a more objective frame of

reference, he continued to use ideas about mental processes.
For eg., he talked about ‘satisfaction’, ‘annoyance’, and ‘discomfort’ when
discussing the behavior of his experimental animals.
These terms that are more mentalistic than behavioristic.
• His objective analyses of animal behaviors often incorporated subjective
judgments about the animal’s alleged conscious experiences.
Thorndike: Laws of learning
Thorndike proposed 3 laws of learning:
• Law of readiness (One has to be ready to learn, also called the law of action
tendency)

• Law of effect
Acts that produce satisfaction in a given situation become associated with that
situation; when the situation recurs, the act is likely to recur.

Similary, if an act produces negative effect, it will not be repeated.

Thorndike’s law of effect was that reinforcement strengthens behavior whereas
punishment weakens it.
Thorndike: Law of learning contd…
• The law of exercise (or the law of use and disuse)
The more an act or response is used in a given situation, the more strongly the
act becomes associated with that situation.

The law of exercise had two parts: the law of use and the law of disuse.
According to the law of use, the more often an association (neural connection) is
practiced, the stronger it becomes.
According to the law of disuse, the longer an association remains unused, the
weaker it becomes.
Taken together, the laws of use and disuse stated that we learn by doing and
forget by not doing.
Thorndike: Revision of laws of
learning
• Through his extensive research program using human subjects, Thorndike
abandoned the law of exercise completely.
For him, exercise alone did not strengthen the connection between
situation and response, nor the passage of time weakened it.
• He also discarded half of his law of effect.
He concluded that responses leading to favorable consequences are more
likely to be repeated.
But,
Unfavorable consequences did not decrease the frequency of the behavior
(or the strength of association between stimulus and response)

i.e., reinforcement strengthened behavior but punishment did not weaken

behavior.
Thorndike: Transfer of learning
• According to transfer of learning concept, the extent to which
information learned in one situation will transfer to another situation
is determined by the similarity between the two situations.

• If two situations are exactly the same, information learned in one will
transfer completely to the other. (Positive Transfer)

• If there is no similarity between two situations, information learned in

one will be of no value in the other. (Negative Transfer). In fact, in
some cases, information learned in one situation might hamper
learning in another situation.
 Criticism of Functionalism
• Titchener and his followers argued that functionalism was not psychology at all.
Why? Because functionalism did not adhere to structuralism’s subject matter and
methods! Thus, in Titchener’s view, any approach to psychology that deviated from
the introspective analysis of the mind into elements could not truly be called
psychology.

• Structuralists also found fault with the functional psychologists’ interest in

practical concerns, thus reawakening the longstanding controversy between pure
and applied science.
The structuralists disdained any application of psychological knowledge to realworld
problems, whereas the functionalists had no stake in maintaining psychology as a
pure science and never apologized for their practical interests.
Contributions of Functionalism
Same points as mentioned in contribution of William James. (As
mentioned previously in this presentation)

Plus individual contributions.

The fate of Functionalism
• As a systematic point of view, functionalism was an overwhelming
success.
• But largely because of this success it is no longer a distinct school of
psychology.
• It was absorbed into the mainstream psychology.
• Therefore, functionalism did not necessarily die as a school of thought
(like structuralism did) but it was absorbed and converted to
mainstream psychology, i.e., applied psychology and behaviorism.
(functionalism is antecedent influence to behaviorism)