A History of Psychology

Chapter 6:

Functionalism: Antecedents Influences

I. The Functionalist Protest A. concern: What do the mind do?

B. First uniquely American system of psychology

C. against Wundt's and Titchener's systems

E. Application of psychology: how people function in and adapt to different environment

II. Forerunners of Functionalism A. Darwin: On the Origin of species (1859)

B. Fechner: Elements of psychophysics (1860)

C. Galton: individual differences (1869)

D. Wundt: Principles of physiological Psychology (1873-1874)

E. Animal psychology experiments (1880s)

III. The Evolution Revolution: Charles Darwin(1809-1882)

A. his life As a boy, he showed

little indication of becoming a scientist.

Studied in Cambridge University; but he spent time drinking, singing, or playing cards

III. The Evolution Revolution: Charles Darwin(1809-1882) B. His works 1. Until a trip to observe a variety of plant and

animal life, he spent his time developing a theory of evolution

2. 1859: On the Origin of species a. data to support the idea of evolution b. variation among members of a species natural selection e. failure to adapt results in failure to survive….

III. The Evolution Revolution: Charles Darwin(1809-1882) C. Darwin's influence on psychology 1. Intriguing the possibility of

continuity in mental functioning between humans and lower animals.

2. Psychologists realized that the study of animal behavior was vital to our understanding of human behavior

III. The Evolution Revolution: Charles Darwin(1809-1882) C. Darwin's influence on psychology 3. evolutionary theory changed:

Psychology’s subject matter: from elements to functions of consciousness

Psychology’s goal: how humans and animals functioned in

adapting to the environment.

III. The Evolution Revolution: Charles Darwin(1809-1882) C. Darwin's influence on psychology

4. Broadening the methods in psychology

5. increased focus on individual differences and measuring those differences

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911) A. Individual differences before Galton

1. the topic was considered inappropriate for psychology except Juan Huarte. Huarte: The Examination of Talented

Individuals

2. had been examined by Weber, Fechner, Helmholtz

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911)

B. Galton's life 1. Bone in 1822 near

Birminghan, England

2. From a wealthy and intelligent family; his cousin is Charles Darwin

3. Possessed an extraordinary IQ (200)

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911) B. Galton's life

4. Medical training under father insistence

5. Pursued his interests in math but returned to medicine

6. After his father’s death, he pursued what he likes

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911) C. Mental inheritance

1. 1869: Hereditary Genius a. eminent men have eminent sons b. each famous person inherited a specific

forms of genius c. founded the science of eugenics; d. eminence was solely a function of

heredity, not of opportunity

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911) 2. 1874: English Men of Science

3. 1889: Natural Inheritance

4. 1901: founded a Journal, Biometrika

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911) 5. established Eugenics Laboratory at

University College, London

6. 1904: founded organization for promoting his idea on improving the mental quality of the the human race.

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911) D. Statistical methods

Adolph Quetelet (1796-1874): 1. first to apply statistical methods and

normal curve to biological and social data

Francis Galton (1822-1911): 1. assumed similar results would hold for

mental characteristics (e.g., grades)

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911)

2. developed mean and standard deviation

3. produced the correlation a) validity, reliability, and factor analysis were

from Galton’s research on correlation

b) his student Pearson developed product-moment coefficient of correlation

C). Pearson's r: for recognition of Galton's discovery of regression toward the mean

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911)

E. Mental tests 1. originated by Galton, but the term was

from McKeen Cattell

2. Assumed that intelligence can be measured in terms of sensory capacities

3. This assumption based on Locke's empiricism

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911) E. Mental tests

4. developed his own instruments to measure sensory capacities; later became a standard psychology lab equipment

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911)

E. Mental tests 5. 1884: established Anthropometric Laboratory

a. aim: the definition of the range of human capacities of the entire British population

b. human capacities: height, weight, strength of pull and squeeze, hearing, version, etc.

c. to determine its collective mental resources

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911)

E. Mental tests 6. his data reanalyzed by American

psychologists. a. They found his data were statistically

reliable (1985)

b. provided information on developmental trends on weight, arm span, breathing, and strength of squeeze.

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911) F. The association of ideas

1. two issues in association a. diversity of associations of ideas

b. the time required to produce associations

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911)

F. The association of ideas 2. Galton found

a. 40% of associations traced to events in childhood and adolescence

b. found the importance of unconscious (later impacted Freud)

c. word-association test: first experimental attempt to examine associations

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911) G. Mental imagery

1. first extensive use of psychological questionnaire (e.g., images were dim or clear.. etc)

2. determined imagery distributed normally in the population

3. Images described by women and children were more detailed and concrete.

4. found similar images more likely to occur between siblings than between unrelated persons

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911) H. Additional research

1. self-induced paranoia

2. validity of religious beliefs

3 .power of prayer

4. Society goals should be to improve human race through eugenics

IV. Individual Differences: Francis Galton (1822-1911)

5. Counting yawns and coughs at the theater or lectures as a measure of boredom

6. arithmetic by smell Assigned numerical values to odors and

learned to add and subtract by thinking of them

G. Comment 1. breadth of topics researched 2. greater impact than Wundt

V. Animal Psychology and the Development of Functionalism

A. Before Darwin: no concerns about the animal mind

B. Darwin: 1. No sharp distinction between humans minds

and animals minds 2. Mental abilities exist in animals, e.g., pain,

pleasure, or sexual passion 3. search for evidence on animal intelligence

V. Animal Psychology and the Development of Functionalism C. Wundt

1. Even animals that displayed minimal sensory capacities imply the possession of judgment and conscious inference

2. "inferior" animals had less education and training rather than necessarily lesser abilities

V. Animal Psychology and the Development of Functionalism D. Studies of animal intelligence

1. George John Romanes (1848-1894)

2. Conwy Lloyd Morgan(1852-1936)

V. Animal Psychology and the Development of Functionalism

1. George John Romanes (1848-1894) British physiologist

formalized and systematized study of animal intelligence

Darwin chose Romanes to apply theory of evolution to the animal’s mind

V. Animal Psychology and the Development of Functionalism

1. George John Romanes (1848-1894) 1883: Animal Intelligence

1. first book on comparative psychology 2. purpose: demonstrate

high level of animal intelligence its similarity of animal intelligence to human

intellectual functioning the continuity in mental development

V. Animal Psychology and the Development of Functionalism 1. George John Romanes (1848-1894)

Two methods to study animals anecdotal method: The use of observational

reports about animal behavior.

introspection by analogy: A technique for studying animal behavior by assuming that the same mental processes that occur in the observer’s mind also occur in the animal’s mind.

V. Animal Psychology and the Development of Functionalism 1. George John Romanes (1848-1894)

criticisms: short on scientific rigor the line between fact and subjective

interpretation in his data is unclear.

V. Animal Psychology and the Development of Functionalism

2. Conwy Lloyd Morgan(1852-1936) Romanes designated Morgan as his successor

proposed a law of parsimony: The notion that animal behavior must not be

attributed to a higher mental process when it can be explained in terms of a lower mental process.

He was the first scientist to conduct large-scale experimental studies in animal psychology.