Lesson 7 - Functionalism

Question 1

In the late 19th century, what was the influence of Darwin’s perspective?

Answer 1

Darwin’s perspective was well accepted in England, Germany and North America
• Darwin’s influence: Understanding the role of natural selection and the adaptive value of certain traits and behaviours

Question 2

What was Titchener’s view on studying the function of the mind? What was his own view, structuralism, about?

Answer 2

Titchener: you cannot understand the function of something until you know its structure
• Structuralism = the truest way to understanding the mind
• Argued exploring the function was futile of at the very least misguided

Question 3

How come the abandon of structuralism and Darwin’s theory led to the Functional protest?

Answer 3

Lost interest in the structure of consciousness - prefer to understand it’s function
• How the mind functions and how it is used to adapt to the environment
• Focus on practical, real-world consequences
○ What does the mind do?
○ How does it do it?
• Focus on the description and measurement of individual differences
• Inclusion of animal psychology -given that Darwin suggested that there was not a big difference between humans and animals

Question 4

Name some characteristics of Functionalism

Answer 4

• Did not have a single form
  
  • Was never a well-defined school
  • Did not have one recognized leader
  • Had no agreed-on methodology, but the work of Functionalists shared common themes
  • Put an emphasis on mental functions, real-world problems, how people function in/adapt to environments
  • Its goal was to find the adaptive value of consciousness
  • Information came from various species
  • Practical science
  • Goal was able to apply findings to the improvement of the human condition
  • Researched the “why” of mental processes
  • Accepted both mental processes and behaviour

Question 5

William James was diagnosed with Neurasthenia, what is that?

Answer 5

A nervous exhaustion which resulted in insomnia, hypochondria, headache, skin rash, nervous exhaustion, and “brain collapse”
• Today we would consider it chronic fatigue syndrome
• Often affected intellectual, militants and upper-class people probably due to overwork

Question 6

How differently were the male and female sufferers of neurathenia treated?

Answer 6

Female Sufferers: were suggested to spend 6 weeks in bed without any work, reading, or social life, and gain large amounts of weight by eating a high fat diet
Male Sufferers: were suggested to go out West and test their willpower to reinforce masculinity which had been weakened by the feminizing effects of the nervous illness

Question 7

How did the materialist perspective of the time and the belief in the lack of free will influenced James?

Answer 7

The materialist perspective of the time and the belief in lack of free will implied that James was powerless against his depression
He read an essay on free will by Charles Bernard Renouvier
• Noted that he was experiencing a “crisis of meaning”
• Then decided to take an idea from the essay: that opting to choose one particular thought over another can signify free will
• Decided that his first act of free will would be to believe in free will

Question 8

Define pragmatism

Answer 8

• Pragmatism: the stance that the truth of an idea should be judged according to its practical consequences

Question 9

What is the shift in methodology that is observable during the shift from structuralism to functionalism?

Answer 9

James agreed with the determinist perspective to study human behaviour, but he thought it was limited
• Left room for the meta-physical
• Sought alternative methods to study aspects of thought and behaviour that do not lend themselves to lab testing

Introspection: must be a basic method and result could be verified by appropriate checks and by comparing the findings obtained from several observers

Question 10

Name the major difference between structuralism and functionalism

Answer 10

Major difference between structuralism an functionalism: the functionalist movement would not be restricted to a single method

Question 11

What did James suggest in his book “A New Look at Consciousness” regarding radical empiricism?

Answer 11

• Radical Empiricism: Pragmatic Philosophical Stance
  * Suggests that we don’t just perceive sensations but rather objects in relation with other objects and all of this experience is important

Question 12

What are the 2 things that mental life includes according to James?

Answer 12

Mental life needs to include:
• The Phenomena, or the immediate experience
• The conditions which brought about this experience
• The conditions are important because no experience can ever be replicated exactly
• The stimulus may be the same, but the conditions may be different and will give a different experience

Question 13

Why did James hate Wundt?

Answer 13

James’ disdain for Wundt was as an experimenter and likely he would not have taken issue with völkerpsychologie
• Accused Wundt and others of committing the psychologist’s fallacy: Reading into an experience whatever their systematic position tells them should be there

* He believed Wundt's suggestion of how the mind worked based on participant's experience, was artificial and self-serving 
* He disagreed with Wundt's reductionist approach of having participants introspect during their phenomenal experience

Question 14

How did James perceive selective attention and consciousness?

Answer 14

• Is personal to the individual
  
  • Is continuous
  • Cannot be divided up for analysis
  • Is always changing

Selective attention: Our mind focuses on what it deems important and disregards the rest
Consciousness is functional: it is adaptive and its purpose is to aid the individual in adapting to the environment to ensure survival

Question 15

Define instinct as James does

Answer 15

Instinct: a complex behavioural response to a specific stimulus or situation that doesn’t require learning
• Ex: We are evolutionarily primed to be afraid of things that can kill us (that is why fear of spiders and snakes is common, even though most of us never encountered venomous versions of these animals)

Question 16

Define habit as James does, as well as some tips to create new habits

Answer 16

Habits: involuntary and unconscious
• Repetitive actions that involve the nervous system and serve to increase the plasticity of neural matter
• James warned the youth about falling prey to habits, though he agreed that they can be beneficial

* Launch ourselves with as strong and decided initiative as possible in the acquisition of a new habit or the leaving off of an old one
* Never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life (don't skip more than one day)
* Seize the very first possible opportunity to act on every resolution you make, and on every emotional prompting in the direction of the habits you aspire to again
* Keep the faculty of effort alive in your by a little gratuitous exercise every day (do something you don't feel like doing)

Question 17

James was one of the firsts to study self-esteem, what equation did he find?

Answer 17

His equation: success / pretensions

Example: expected to be a straight A student (4.0 GPA) coming into Uni because you were one in CEGEP, then realizing your GPA is lower (3.5 GPA):
3.5 (success) / 4.0 (pretension) = 0.88 = self-esteem

How to increase self esteem? - Attempt less or succeed more, or at least have achievable expectations

Question 18

Explain the James-Lange theory of emotion

Answer 18

The theory states that emotion is equivalent to the range of physiological arousal caused by external events
• The 2 scientists suggested that for someone to feel emotion, they must first experience a physiological response such as increased heart rate and breathing
• The physiological response is recognized, then the person can say that they feel the emotion

Question 19

Explain James’ concept of the 3-part self

Answer 19

The self can be differentiated as the knower and the known
• It corresponds to the awakened of one’s empirical self as the object and the subject
(me and mine)

James suggested a three-part self
• Material: everything uniquely our own
• Social: recognition we get from others
• Spiritual: our inner and subjective being

Question 20

What were the contributions of Hugo Münsterberg in forensic psych?

Answer 20

Münsterberg made important early contributions in forensic psychology, which is the application of psychological principles to the legal system
• Wrote “On the Witness Stand” (1908), where he talked about:
• The fallibility of memory
• The reliability of eyewitness testimony
• Principles of lie detection
• Methods of jury persuasion

Question 21

What were the contributions of Hugo Münsterberg in industrial/organizational psych?

Answer 21

• The govt was interested by this branch of psych, therefore the funding was good
  
  • Corresponds to the application of psychological principles to business, manufacturing, and other large-group settings
  • Münsterberg published numerous books and articles on advertising, personnel selection, vocational guidance, and management techniques

Question 22

Who were James and Münsterberg’s mentees at Harvard?

Answer 22

• Mary Whiton Calkins

Robert Yerkes

Question 23

Explain Calkins’ dream analysis work

Answer 23

She and Dr. Sanford would wake themselves up at random intervals during the night to record their dreams to discuss later
• Freud cites this research as evidence supporting his theory of dreams
• Calkins disagreed with Freud that dreams were symbolic of any type of wish fulfillment
She concluded that dreams were correlated with waking life, generally the place and people we receive during the day were often manifested in dreams

Question 24

What is Calkins’ self-psychology?

Answer 24

The position that the proper subject of psychology is the study of conscious selves as they interact with their social and physical environments
• Calkins was disillusioned with the behaviourist perspective of ignoring consciousness
• Self-Psychology is personality, and introspective
Within this framework, the self, objects external to the self, and the self’s relation to the objects are all of value

Question 25

Explain the Yerkes-Dodson Law

Answer 25

Studied discrimination learning in mice with the threat of electrical shock
• Finding: there is an optimal level of arousal, neither too high nor too low, for best performance on a complex task
Ex: you know exactly how many cups of coffee you need in the morning in order to be productive

Question 26

Define the Child Study Movement, as started by Stanley Hall

Answer 26

The most popular educational movement of the late 19th century
A campaign to reform educational practices in child education, based on the scientific study of child development
• Hall would become integral in this area of research
• Strengthened the bond between psychologists and teachers

Question 27

Describe Hall’s Recapitulation theory

Answer 27

Hall believed that the normal growth of the body and mind involved a series of evolutionary stages
Children in their development repeat the evolutionary path of the human race
• Quote of Ernst Haeckel: “Ontogeny (development of an organism) recapitulates phylogeny (the evolution of the species)”
• We can track this in utero when the embryo develops gills and a tail which disappear before birth
• Each person goes through changes in both the psychological and physiological aspects

Question 28

What was special about Hall’s data collection technique?

Answer 28

Hall used “theory-free” data collection. These were not hypothesis-driven and were criticized by other psychologists as unscientific, and having no clear way to interpret the results
• This would be the beginning of the Normative Period of Child Development

Question 29

Define what is the Normative Period of Child Development theory from Hall

Answer 29

Collecting large data samples of individuals in order to determine what is typical at this age
• Doctors and educators are then better able to:
• Spot potential problems
• Provide early interventions
Findings: children develop best when they are not forced to follow constraints, but rather to go through the stages of evolutions freely
• Before age 6: running, jumping, climbing (allowed to act like primates)
• At age 8: formal learning should begin

Question 30

What did Hall find about Adolescence? Why was it controversial?

Answer 30

This new stage marked a period of transformation and what Hall referred to as “storm and stress”
• A transitory stage between the fun and active childhood and a more civilized adulthood
• Though we know today that this is more than a transitory stage
• This stage was marked by conflict with parents and authority figures, mood disruptions, and risky behaviour

The book included topics such as growth, language, hygiene, crime, friendship, etc.
• The controversial part of this book was that it put a great deal of focus on sex
• Discussed masturbation in detail, he believed it contributed to neurasthenia, vision disturbances, and skin issues

Question 31

Hall is credited with founding 2 things, what were they? why were they neeed?

Answer 31

• The American Journal of Psychology
  
  • The American Psychological Association (or the APA) (1892)

There was a need for such an association at the time:
• It would help give some validation to psychology because only those individuals that had been properly trained could call themselves psychologists
• There would be extensive training and degrees set up for members and would help create a demand for trained professionals

Question 32

Describe the contributions of Yujiro Motora

Answer 32

• Worked with Hall at John Hopkins University
  
  • Focused on child development
  • First Japanese psychologist to earn his PhD in an American University
  • Established Japan’s first psychology lab
  • Studied the process of attention in children
  • Opened a clinic in Tokyo for underachieving children
  • Believed the reason these children were struggling was because they had difficulties inhibiting distractions
  • Found ways to help children cope with what we would now call attention deficit disorder

Question 33

What is Gesell’s maturational-developmental theory about?

Answer 33

The belief that development unfolds according to a set schedule of milestones dependent on the development of the nervous system
• If a child did not reach a specific developmental milestone, it is because their nervous system was not yet ready

Gesell's research established normative trends for 4 areas of growth and development:
	• Motor
	• Adaptive (cognitive)
	• Language
	• Personal-social behaviour

Question 34

Describe the contributions of Francis Cecil Sumner

Answer 34

• First African American to receive a PhD in psychology
  
  • Was not accepted to any doctorate program because of his race - wanted to pursue research about racial bias
  • Hall agreed to take him on
  • Brought to Howard University to begin a Psychology department (1928)
  • Argued for segregated higher education
    
    • Might have been a pragmatic way to obtain funding for African American higher education

Question 35

Which part of Dewey’s work offcicially marked the beginning of the school of functionalism?

Answer 35

Dewey’s Article: The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology (1896)

Marked the official beginning of the school of functionalism
• Discussed behaviour in terms of reflexes
• Suggested that reducing the behavioural experience into basic elements of stimulus and response is as artificial as trying to reduce consciousness to its elements
• Believed that behaviour was a stream, much like James’ consciousness

Question 36

How did Dewey modify the reflex-arc concept?

Answer 36

Basic, linear, stimulus-response theory does not account for the learning process
Therefore a stimulus-response theory that is interconnected in a circular fashion is more appropriate
• I see the flame - i touch it - it hurts - i avoid touching it again

Three elements of the reflex must be considered as a coordinated system directed toward a goal, usually related to the survival of the organism
• Sensory processes (observing the flame)
• Brain processes (it’s beautiful but it might hurt me)
• Motor response (avoid touching it)
This concept begins functionalism with the suggestion that behaviour nor consciousness could be reduced to elements

Question 37

Explain Dewey’s concept of experiential learning

Answer 37

Created the progressive style of education in the US, in which students are encouraged to learn by experience
Education was a way to gain
• Knowledge
• Decision making
• Life skills
In this model,
• The teachers should serve as a guide to obtaining knowledge
• Considered more liberal
• Reformative to the existing educational system
• Has adaptive value: more generalizable and of better use in real-world scenarios
• Beneficial in helping students:
• Realize their ultimate potential
• Use their knowledge to impact society in a positive way

Question 38

James Angell illustrated functionalism in a clearer fashion. What were the 3 main themes that he explored in his books?

Answer 38

Wrote the textbook: Psychology: An Introductory Study of the Structure and Functions of Human Consciousness
The function of consciousness is to improve the organism’s chances of survival
• 3 major themes of the functionalist movement illustrated in the book (1906)
• Functionalism focused on mental operations
• Consciousness was considered utilitarian and its purpose was mediating the needs of the individual with the demands of the environment
• Functionalism focused on the mind-body issue in its totality

Question 39

Explain Harvey Carr’s concept of experiential learning (adaptive acts), as well as the metaphor of a wild animals’ encounter

Answer 39

Adaptive acts are made up of:
	• A motive/stimulus
	• An environmental setting
	• A response
Ex: hungry - go to the fridge - get snack

Whatever behaviour you engaged in to have this need satisfied will result in you learning to behave that way again, the next time the need arises
• However, different environments mean different behaviours
• What happens if you are not at home / don’t have access to a fridge?

Often gave the example of encountering a bear in the wild; will elicit a different behaviour than encountering one that is in an enclosure
• The response is contingent on the perception of the environment
• Similarities to behaviourism
• Perspective of mental acts and perception being part of learning would go against strict behaviourism

Question 40

Name the 2 Chicago U alumni

Answer 40

Helen Bradford Thompson Woodley

Louis Leon Thrustone

Question 41

Describe the main contributions of Helen Bradford Thompson Woodley

Answer 41

Used Galtonian type testing of sensory, motor, an cognitive tasks in order to dispute the variability hypothesis
• Argued that environmental factors such as training or social expectations were at the root of any differences between genders

Question 42

Describe the contributions of Helen Bradford Thompson Woodley in child labour laws

Answer 42

Thompson’s study
Studied the city of Cintinnati’s school district
Investigated the effects of child labour on later development

Conducted a 5 year study to compare
• 750 children in school and
• 750 children who left school at age 14

Findings: Education can increase children’s IQ. Children benefit from being in school
• Passed revised compulsory school attendance and child labour laws for Ohio

Question 43

What were Louis Leon Thurstone’s contributions on intelligence testing?

Answer 43

Thurstone used Charles Spearman’s factor analysis
• A statistical technique for reducing a large number of observed variables to a small number of underlying variables

Spearman postulated that a general factor, or g, worked through specific intelligences to produce abilities on specific tasks
• Thurstone suggested 7 primary mental abilities

Seven Primary Mental Abilities

1. Spatial Ability: ability to perceive complex spatial relations
2. Perceptual speed: ability to detect visual details quickly
3. Numerical ability: ability to make mental and other numerical computations
4. Verbal Comprehension: ability to understand the meaning of spoken and written language
5. Word fluency: ability to retrieve and use vocabulary rapidly
6. Memory: ability to retrieve information efficiently
7. Reasoning: ability to induce a general rule from a few instances

Question 44

Summarize Cattell’s contributions in Columbia U

Answer 44

Brought Galtonian type testing to Col. U
Editorships and ownerships of journals
Advanced the discipline of psych (especially functional psych)
Mentees:
• Edward Lee Thorndike
• Robert Sessions Woodworth
• Will both further advance the field of functionalism in education and industry

Question 45

Summarize Woodworth’s work

Answer 45

Disliked the constraints imposed by membership in any school of thought
Did not call himself a functionalist
Interested in differences
Devised a questionnaire to assess emotional stability (1917)
• Shell Shock Symptoms
• Heart palpitations, insomnia, and uncontrollable weeping (now known as PTSD)

Question 46

What was Woodworth’s personal data sheet?

Answer 46

Developed a written form of the questions routinely used by psychiatrists to asses emotional stability
Generated his test items by surveying hundreds of case reports of diagnosed men
Composed hundreds of questions and administered them to a group of non-neurotic subjects
• Called the Woodworth Personal Data Sheet

Example questions
• Were you considered as a bad boy?Do you feel that nobody quite understands you?
• Have you hurt yourself by masturbation (self-abuse)?
• Do you think you have hurt yourself by going too much with women?
It was considered one of the earliest self-report measures of neuroticism and one of the first objective personality tests

Question 47

what was the stance of Woodworth on dynamic psych?

Answer 47

Woodworth would be somewhat at odds with the rising behaviourists in proposing a dynamic psych

Dynamic psych: concerned with the influences of causal factors and motivations on feelings and behaviour
Focus: conflicts involved in adaptive and maladaptive goal directed behaviour
• Example: approach-avoidance conflicts involve the dynamic interaction of competing needs, motives, fears, and goals
Argued: the upcoming behaviourist ideology emphasized the stimulus-response (SR) links as the explanation for learning
Suggested: The mechanism of behaviour was a function of both environmental stimuli and the makeup of the organism

Question 48

Summarize Thorndike’s contributions

Answer 48

Early American psychologist
• Pioneered learning theory and educational psych
• Dedicated to making the school experience as useful as possible
• Sought to devise better teaching and testing methods
• Suggested that there was no such thing as transfer of training
• Wrote “Educational Psychology”
• Wrote books for pupils, school dictionaries and spelling lists
• Devised tests for assessing children’s progress

Question 49

What was Thorndike’s goal with teachers?

Answer 49

Goal: Convey to educators what was already known of human nature and individual differences
• He also devised one of the first college entrance exams

Question 50

Explain Thorndike’s involvement in the Psychological Corporation

Answer 50

During WWI: he participated in the intelligence testing of Army recruits
Helped establish the army alpha and army beta tests with Robert Yerkes

Thorndike, Woodworth and Cattell formed a psychological corporation (1921) responsible for constructing personality and vocational tests for educational, industrial, and governmental clients
• Published the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale (1939)

Question 51

Explain Leta Hollingworth’s work with Coca-Cola

Answer 51

Harry Hollingworth (Leta’s husband)
• Hired by the Coca-Cola company to prove that caffeine was not harmful
• Hired Leta to conduct the research
• Earned enough to finance her PhD

Research: a series of 3 studies completed in 40 days
• 20 tests: cognitive, sensory and motor abilities
Results: a mild stimulant for motor and cognitive performance. No evidence of negative effects on mental and motor performance as alleged by the govt
The methodology behind the Hollingworths’ research was to prove that the caffeine in Coke was not harmful

Question 52

Explain Leta Hollingworth’s work with giften children

Answer 52

Hollingworth went on to conduct 30 studies on gifted children
• Children above 180 IQ (1942)
• The most in-depth study of profoundly gifted children

Those children were at risk of under-stimulation, lack of connection, and emotional challenges
• She created special programs and classes for the highly gifted
• Demonstrated techniques for teaching them effectively and strategies for their affective development
• Adapted classrooms to meet the needs of children

	* Hollingworth's classroom
		* Moveable desks, 
		* Physical education
		* Art and music appreciation
		* Health and nutrition
		* Modern languages
		* General science
		* Crafts
		* Field trips, etc

Question 53

describe Florence Goodenough’s work in the measurement of intelligence field

Answer 53

raw-a-man test: asked to draw a person, as best as they can, with no time limit
*The drawings of bright children more than 10 yrs old or those who have had drawing lessons will result in an invalid evaluation of the child’s intellectual potential

Scoring of Draw-a-man
2 classes of drawings
A: Preliminary stage in which the figure cannot be recognized as a human figure
• Score 0: aimless uncontrolled scribbling
• Score 1: lines somewhat controlled - approached crude geometrical forms
B: All drawings can be recognized as attempts to represent the human figure
• Each point is scored + or -
• One credit for each point score + and no half credits given

Mental age
Depending on the score
• Score of 2: mental age of 3 yrs and 6 months
• Score of 40: mental age of 13

* The test was quick and took 10 minutes to administer, and the IQ could be calculated afterwards
* Recommended for 4-10 yrs old
* Had a reliability coefficient of .80-.90
* Had a 0.76 correlation coefficient to the Stanford-Binet Intelligence scale
* Became a means to assess emotional disturbance more than intelligence

Question 54

What was Goodenough’s time sampling method?

Answer 54

A complete understanding of childhood could only be gained through extensive observations of children in daily life
• Method: parents record information about their children at regular intervals in order to collect a large data set in a more natural environment