Unit 4 - Chapter 11 - Functionalism

Question 1

Describe the four stages of early American psychology.

Answer 1

stage 1) moral and mental philosophy.
- psychology combined with religious indoctrination.

stage 2) intellectual philosophy.
- influence of Hume & Scottish philosophers.
- psychology became separate discipline.

stage 3) U.S renaissance.
- became an empirical science
- driven by Dewey and William James

stage 4) U.S functionalism.
- combo of science, individuality and evolutionary theory.
- concern for practicality.

Question 2

Specify the eight characteristics of functionalistic psychology.

Answer 2

1) opposed search for elements of consciousness.

2) understand functions of the mind

3) wanted practical science.

4) broadening of research on animals, children & abnormal humans.

5) interest in motivation (“why”).

6) mental processes + behaviour as the subject matter.

7) ideographic (interested in what made animals different from one another).

8) directly influenced by William James.

Question 3

Describe a) William James’ crisis, (b) his book, (c) his view of Wundt’s approach to psychology

Answer 3

a) became depressed
- believed everything was out of his control
- read Renouvier’s essay on free will
- turned to pragmatism

b) wrote Principles of Psychology
- themes of pragmatism & individuality
- revolutionary for psychology

c) was critical of Wundt’s experimental methods

Question 4

Describe William James concept of stream of consciousness

Answer 4

James described consciousness as a “river” or “stream”.

Believed consciousness is;
- personal
- continuous and cannot be divided for analysis
- constantly changing
- selective
- functional/purposive

Question 5

Describe William James treatment of habits and instincts

Answer 5

• human and animal behaviour is governed by instinct.
• habits are formed when an activity is repeated.
• had a neurophysiological explanation for habits.
• is modifiable by experience.
• vital for the functioning of society.

Question 6

Describe William James (e) concepts concerning the self

Answer 6

1) empirical self = the “me” of personality, consists of;
- material self
- social self
- spiritual self

2) self as knower = the “I”, ego that is aware of empirical self.

Question 7

Describe William James theory of emotions

Answer 7

James-Lange theory of emotion: people first respond and then have an emotional experience.

Question 8

Describe William James position with respect to free will and voluntary behaviour

Answer 8

• said science requires some level of determinism.

ideomotor theory of behaviour: idea of a certain action causes that action to occur.
- “what holds attention determines action”.

Question 9

Describe William James pragmatic philosophy

Answer 9

• any behaviour must be judged by its consequences.
• what works is true = truth is dynamic.
• cornerstone of functionalism.

Question 10

Summarize William James contributions to psychology

Answer 10

• helped incorporate evolutionary theory into psychology.
• expanded subject matter of psychology.
• accepted introspection.

Question 11

Describe Hugo Munsterberg’s work in the applied fields of clinical psychology, forensic psychology, and industrial psychology

Answer 11

clinical psychology:
- treat symptoms directly.
- reciprocal antagonism: strengthen thoughts opposite to those causing problems.

forensic psychology:
- applied psychological principles to legal matter.
- said eyewitnesses can be illusions, stress can affect memory and perception.
- suggested use of lie detectors.

industrial psychology:
- topics such as personal selection, marketing, advertising techniques.
- stresses acknowledgement of individual differences.

Question 12

Briefly describe the life and work of Mary Whiton Calkins including the sex discrimination she faced, her invention of the paired-associate learning technique, and her work in self-psychology.

Answer 12

• first female pres of APA.

sex discrimination
- was refused a PhD from Harvard.
- male students protested her education.

paired-association
- used to study influence of frequency, recency, and vividness on memory.
- said frequency most important factor in memory.

self-psychology
- lead to a branch of personality theory featuring concept of the self.

Question 13

Briefly describe the life and work of Granville Stanley Hall including his (a) work at Clark University (b) interest in developmental psychology, (c) opposition to coeducation, and (d) interest in psychology and religion.

Answer 13

a) - first psych lab in U.S
- first president of Clark & the APA.
- formed the APA

b) - believed evolutionary theory is model for science.
- evolution = progress/development.
- recapitulation theory: all stages of human evolution are reflected in the life of an individual.

c) argued for sex segregated schools, said it enhances sexual sublimation and facilitates social progress.

d) believed that religious conversion during adolescence was natural, necessary, universal process.
- self love turning into love for others.

Question 14

Briefly describe the life and work of Francis Cecil Sumner and his student, Kenneth Clark

Answer 14

Francis Sumner
- first african american to obtain PhD in psychology.
- supported fight for african americans to get a higher education.
- taught at Howard.

Clark
- student of sumner
- research helped end segregation.
- experiment –> had children judge white vs black dolls.
- first african american pres of APA.

Question 15

Summarize Hall’s legacy at Clark University

Answer 15

• was president for 31 years
• invited Freud, Wundt & Jung to the university

Question 16

Briefly describe the life and work of John Dewey including his position with respect to a) the role of reflexes, b) his concept of progressive education, and c) his pragmatist philosophy.

Answer 16

a) stream of behaviour
- coordinated goal directed system (survival)
- stimulus & response changes with experience due to function/purposiveness.

b) created progressive education in U.S.
- learn by doing.
- education should be student-oriented.
- stimulate personal learning & problem solving.

c) abstract concepts only meaningful if they have practical value.

Question 17

Briefly describe the life and work of James Rowland Angell

Answer 17

contrasted functional and structural psychology:

• functional psych is interested in mental operations, but not in isolation.
• in functional psych mind & body are inseparable.
• in functional psych mental processes mediate between ones needs & environment.

Question 18

Briefly describe the life and work of Harvey Carr

Answer 18

central to Carr’s work is adaptive act;
1) motive that acts as a stimulus for behaviour.
2) environmental setting.
3) response that satisfies the motive.

Question 19

Describe the work of James McKeen Cattell in applied psychology

Answer 19

• thought intelligence could be measured
• said we try to apply psychological principles to everything ie churches and governments

Question 20

Describe the life and work of Robert Sessions Woodworth and dynamic psychology.

Answer 20

dynamic psychology stresses the internal variables that motivate organisms to act.

• S-O-R (stimulus, organism, response).
• mechanism = the way an organism interacts with the environment to satisfy a need, activated by drive.

Question 21

How was functionalism at Columbia different from functionalism at Chicago?

Answer 21

• took a turn under Cattell and was influenced by Galton.
• studied intelligence using sensory and motor abilities.

Question 22

Describe (a) the state of animal research prior to Thorndike (including Morgan’s canon and Washburn’s work)

Answer 22

Morgans canon;
- insistence that explanations of animal behaviour be kept as simple as possible.

• avoid antropocentrism

Washburn;
- studied animal behaviour under controlled conditions to explain observed behaviour.

Question 23

Anthropocentrism

Answer 23

attributing human processes to animals

Question 24

Describe Thorndike’s puzzle box

Answer 24

• was to systematically investigate trial and error learning
• if the cats did a certain response, the door would open and they could escape & got a reward.

conclusions –> learning is incremental, occurs automatically and the same principles of learning apply to all animals.

Question 25

Describe Thorndike’s connectionism

Answer 25

probability of a response being made for a particular stimulus is determined by;

• the strength of the neural connection between the stimulus and the response.

Question 26

Describe Thorndikes’ (d) laws of exercise and effect (including the way they were later renounced and modified, respectively)

Answer 26

law of exercise: strength of association varies with the frequency of the associations use.
1) law of use: more often used = stronger.
2) law of disuse: longer unused = weaker.

law of effect: consequences of behaviour cause that behaviour to be repeated either more or less often in the future.
- reinforcement vs punishment.
- later revised with only reinforcement being effeective.

Question 27

Describe Thorndikes’ theory of transfer of training.

Answer 27

the extent to which information learned in one situation will transfer to another situation is determined by;
- the similarity between the two situations.

Question 28

Describe the life and work of James Mark Baldwin (1861–1934).

Answer 28

• founder of social psychology and child psychology.
• baldwin effect –> link between learning and evolution.
• first psych lab in Canada.

Question 29

What happened to functionalism as a movement within psychology?

Answer 29

• Functionalism was absorbed into mainstream psychology.
• Overshadowed by success of behaviourism.