Functionalism

Question 1

Goal of Functionalism

Answer 1

to understand why animals and humans have developed the particular psychological aspects that they currently possess.

Question 2

William James

Answer 2

For James, one’s thinking was relevant only to one’s behavior. As he put it in his psychology textbook, “My thinking is first and last and always for the sake of my doing.”

influenced by Charles Darwin’s (1809–1882) theory of natural selection

Question 3

Theory of Natural Selection

Answer 3

proposed that the physical characteristics of animals and humans evolved because they were useful, or functional.

Question 4

evolutionary psychology

Answer 4

a contemporary perspective of psychology that applies the Darwinian theory of natural selection to human and animal behavior