American Functionalism

Psychology in America: A Feeling of Independence

• Everyone wanted to be free to do their own thing

• Different people thinking about very different things

• The need to be unconstrained by dogma was important

What is Functionalism?

• Insect analogy• How and why the mind functions• All behavior serves the purpose of survival• e.g., Darwin was a functionalist

George Trumbull Ladd (b. 1842)

• Elements of Physiological Psychology (1887)

• The SELF• The function of

consciousness?• Psychology explains the

purpose of mind• James's “Principles of

Psychology” Revisited

The ”Official" Beginning of Functionalism

John Dewey (b. 1859)

• Psychology (1886)• Moves to University of

Chicago (1896)

1896: The Reflex Arc

• A reflex is not an entity in itself, it is part of one's adaptation to its environment

• Reflexive reactions should not be broken down into component parts, e.g., the stimulus sensation and the response

The Chicago School of Functionalism

• Dewey believed that philosophy should be useful to society

• Turned to education later in his career

• Advocate of “progressive education”

James Rowland Angell (b. 1869)

• 1894: Chair at Chicago• RT experiments with a

functionalistic interpretation

• 1903: Paper that defined functionalism

Angell's Definition of Functional Psychology

• The study of mental operations as opposed to mental elements

• The psychology of the uses of the mind• Concerned with all of the relationships between the

organism and its world and with all relationships between mind and body

• No fixed agenda; no obligatory methods, no required concepts

• No theory, no program, no set of methods, or even much of a point of view

• nothing

Columbia School of Functionalism

• Cattell's research dealt with individual differences

• Cattell’s Students

Cattell’s Eugenics

• Psychology and Social Progress (1933)• Cattell called for three major modifications in

social mores and law:– The prohibition of interracial marriage and

children– Increasing the distance between people of

dissimilar race– Promoting competition and eugenic selection

Edward L. Thorndike (b. 1874)

Cat-in-the-puzzle-box experiment

• Studied measurement and taught statistics• Educational Psychology (1913)• Thorndike & Lorge word frequency counts• Eugenics fan

Robert S. Woodworth (b. 1869)

• Physiological psychologist• 1902: studied with Kulpe &

Sherrington• 1911: revised and co-

authored Ladd's book• “Motivology” – mechanism

and drive• “Experimental Psychology”

(1938)• “Contemporary Schools of

Psychology” (1931)

The Psychological Corporation

• Formed in 1921 by Catell, Thorndike, and Woodworth

• Marketed psychological tests to practicing psychologists and psychiatrists

• Psychcorp

Functionalism at Columbia

• Edna Heidbreder (1933), “The psychological scene at Columbia presents a motley aspect.... Animal psychology, the psychology of tests and measurement, the various kinds of applied psychology, the orthodox and unorthodox varieties of experimental psychology, theoretical discussions of learning, of intelligence, of measurement, and of the bearing of psychology generally--all are represented, and all go their separate ways.”

The Founding of American Psychology

• 1875: James has first lab in U.S. at Harvard• 1883: 1st PRODUCTIVE lab at Johns Hopkins

set up by Hall• 1883: 1st continuously running lab at Penn• 1888: Indiana (William Bryan)• 1888: Wisconsin (Joseph Jastrow)• 1889: Clark (Edmund Sanford)

1892: The First APA Convention

• In the 1890's, predominant mood was still structuralistic

• Program of papers:• 12 papers presented by 9 people• 5 papers dealt with historical matters or with local

events• 6 papers reported experiments on psychophysics,

sensory phenomena, and reaction time link