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Chapter 12

American Functionalism

Chapter Objectives:

• Review of American intellectual climate and the dominance of American Pragmatism.
• Stress the impact of William James on American psychology.
• Functional Psychology as expressed at the University of Chicago and Columbia University.
• Functionalism as a transition to the twentieth-century systems of psychology; as an American intellectual marker.

Chapter Summary

Functional psychology was less a system than an attitude that valued the utility of psychological inquiry. Assuming a philosophical underpinning from the pragmatism of William James and Charles Sanders Peirce, functional psychology fit well into the pioneering spirit of America. From its beginning, functional psychology had a clear emphasis on applying psychology to individual and social improvement, as was evident from the works of Münsterberg, McDougall, and Hall. The tradition of British natural science and evolutionary theory was integrated into psychology in the views on adaptation championed by the Chicago functionalists, such as Dewey, Angell, and Carr. Mental testing and the study of human capacity constituted important areas of investigation among the Columbia functionalists, represented by Cattell, Thorndike, and Woodworth. Although its reaction to structural psychology kept functional psychology from developing a systematic alternative model of psychological inquiry, this phase of American psychology resulted in two critical benefits. First, functionalism firmly entrenched the new science of psychology in America and imposed on it a particular American orientation toward applied psychology. Second, functional psychology provided a necessary transition from the restricted context of structural psychology to more viable models of psychology, permitting the science to progress.

Suggested topics and issues for class discussion and/or short essay examination questions:

1. What was the overriding flavor of the American interpretation of psychology in general and, in particular, of structural psychology?

2. What were the empirical and the evolutionary views that proved consistent with the American spirit?

3. Briefly describe the statistical developments after Galton, which bolstered the use of mental testing.

4. Describe the nineteenth-century revitalization of American academic institutions.

5. Describe how the identification of psychology and religion in colonial America was consistent with the prevailing beliefs of people in Europe.

6. Describe early American advances in science. What particular directions did these advances take, in contrast to science in Europe?

7. What is pragmatic philosophy, and why is it consistent with the American emphasis on the applied?

8. In what ways were William James's pragmatism based upon empiricism?

9. What were James's views on mind and body? How were these views consistent with Spinoza and expressed in James's theory of emotions?

10. How did James's views on psychology enlarge the scope proposed in structural psychology?

11. Briefly evaluate James's role in the founding of modern psychology in America?

12. How did Peirce's pragmatism reflect the psychological positions of Kant and Bain?

13. On which points did Peirce and James agree or disagree with respect to consciousness and mental activity?

14. Describe Münsterberg's distinction between causal and purposive psychology.

15. What was the difference between Münsterberg's claims from a theoretical perspective and his actual work in psychology?

16. What did McDougall mean by hormic psychology, and how did this orientation restrict his definition of behavior?

17. Describe how McDougall's views accommodated the variability of behavior.

18. Describe Hall's influence in securing the position of psychology in America.

19. How were the disparate views and activities of Münsterberg, McDougall, and Hall consistent within the functional character of American psychology?

20. What did Dewey mean by a reflex arc concept of motor behavior?

21. How did Angell define the province of functional psychology? Generally, how did functional psychology differ from structural psychology?

22. What was the role of adaptation in the functional psychology of Angell?

23. How did Carr summarize functional psychology in terms of a broadly based definition and varied methodology of psychology?

24. What were Cattell's contributions to the profession of psychology, as reflected in his views on mental activity?

1. What were Thorndike's views on mental intelligence, and how were his views consistent with the emphasis on adaptation within American functionalism?

26. What did Woodworth mean by dynamic psychology?

27. Was American functional psychology more form or attitude than substance? What were the assumptions about human activity generally shared by all functionalists?

28. Why were the basic arguments of functional psychology necessarily limiting the future of this movement?

29. What was the role of functionalism in the zeitgeist of psychology?

30. With the introduction of psychology in America through functionalism, what were the types of empiricism that found support in psychological inquiry?

Objective Questions:

1. Functional psychology was

A. a systematic proposal for the substance and method of psychology.

B. in agreement with the goals of structural psychology.

C. an attitude emphasizing the applications and utility of psychology.

D. the study of mental contents and structures.

E. more consistent with Fechner than with Wundt.

2. The formation of the American spirit was

A. incompatible with the focus of evolutionary theory.

B. indebted to Locke's empiricism.

C. indebted to Leibniz's nativism.

D. independent of European influences.

E. compatible with the view that human knowledge is limited.

3. A factor theory of mental abilities was proposed by

A. Pearson. B. Spearman. C. Thompson.

D. Burtt. E. Thurstone.

4. Alfred Binet developed

A. intelligence tests for the U.S. Army.

B. the measure of I.Q.

C. the use of factor analysis.

D. specific test items to measure various intellectual processes.

E. predictive equations to measure general and specific abilities.

5. Early American universities were

A. widespread under state support.

B. centers of liberal arts and applied sciences.

C. generally confined to training ministers and physicians.

D. independent of church support.

E. mostly agricultural schools.

6. Psychological inquiry in early America was

A. intertwined with religious belief, as in Europe.

B. based upon medicine.

C. separate from religious experience.

D. consistent with Kant's values.

E. nonexistent.

7. American science has traditionally emphasized.

A. abstract over applied.

B. technology only.

C. applied over abstract.

D. basic science only.

E. metaphysics.

8. The first learned society in America

A. was the colonial branch of the Royal Society.

B. promoted technical applications of science.

C. was controlled by the Puritans.

D. was assisted in its founding by Benjamin Franklin.

E. was assisted in its founding by Benjamin Rush.

9. Rush's views on psychology were influence by

A. Kant. B. Berkeley. C. Darwin.

D. Scottish "common sense." E. Franklin.

10. As a philosophical method, American pragmatism

A. emphasized the consequences of philosophical positions.

B. was not in agreement with empiricism.

C. was influenced by Kant.

D. reflected Comte's positivism.

E. was a comprehensive collection of doctrines.

11. William James

A. argued that psychological inquiry should be deductive.

B. did not feel that physiology was a critical factor in psychological processes.

C. was opposed to laboratory study.

D. provided an intellectual atmosphere conducive to psychology.

E. was a detailed experimenter.

12. James believe that mind and body are

A. two interacting subsystems.

B. subjective and objective aspects of experience.

C. the elements of consciousness.

D. not subject to empirical study.

E. a succession of discrete sensations bound by associations.

13. James's views on mind and body were most consistent with

A. Descartes. B. Spinoza. C. Condillac.

D. James Mill. E. Hume.

14. James argued that experience is

A. a product of sensory elements.

B. derived from innate knowledge.

C. reducible to physiological mechanisms.

D. a continuous stream of consciousness.

E. the collection of discrete memory traces.

15. According to the James-Lange Theory, emotions are

A. followed by physiological change.

B. the cause of a sequence of autonomic reactions.

C. the result of a sequence of autonomic reactions.

D. the result of sensations.

E. the cause of cognitive processes.

16. Peirce argued that the mind

A. contains innate ideas.

B. is structured by the environment.

C. is determined by experience.

D. contributes to the organization of experience.

E. is reducible to sensations.

17. In contrast to James, Peirce stressed the

A. logical consequences of ideas.

B. physiological consequences of ideas.

C. physiological basis of the emotions.

D. sensory basis of the emotions.

E. empirical basis of psychological inquiry.

18. Münsterberg distinguished psychology between

A. immediate and mediate. B. sensory and innate.

C. causal and purposive. D. active and passive.

E. empirical and rational.

19. Although nominally a structural psychologist, Münsterberg in practice emphasized

A. act psychology. B. content psychology.

C. pragmatic psychology. D. abstract psychology.

E. applied psychology.

20. McDougall's hormic psychology held that psychological activity is

A. sensory. B. physiological. C. purposive

D. unpredictable. E. reactive.

21. McDougall's limited definition of behavior included

A. preparatory aspects for new situations.

B. physiological responses to emotion.

C. sensory responses.

D. reflexes.

E. invariant responses.

22. McDougall's motivational principles stressed

A. sensations. B. emotions. C. instincts.

D. environmental determinism. E. acts.

23. Hall's interest in applied psychology led him to study

A. chromosomal changes. B. behavior.

C. physiological responses. D. reflex arcs.

E. purposive behavior.

24. Dewey's concept of the continuity of motor responses was contained in his definition of

A. physiological psychology. B. social advancement.

C. mediated experience. D. reflex arcs.

E. purposive behavior.

25. Angell's definition of functional psychology

A. accepted introspection as a valid method.

B. accepted a biological approach to study the mind's adaptation.

C. concerned the study of the elements of consciousness.

D. concerned the responses to sensory experience.

E. focused on psychological tests.

26. For Angell, functional psychology

A. studied attentional fluctuations in consciousness.

B. should not accept psychophysical data.

C. was concerned with behavior, not consciousness.

D. accepted the assumption of innate ideas.

E. was the study of sensations and reflexes.

27. For Carr, mental processes

A. are collections of discrete motor responses.

B. are elicited by self-reflections.

C. are necessarily motivated externally, but arise from the mind acting on itself.

D. are adaptive and purposive.

E. occur only in human beings.

28. One common concern of Cattell throughout his career was

A. reaction time. B. introspection.

C. sensations. D. intelligence.

E. individual differences.

29. Woodworth's dynamic psychology

A. centered on motivations.

B. was concerned with mental acts.

C. was defined as the study of the mechanisms of physiological adaptation.

D. was defined as the study of the mind acting upon itself.

E. accepted the validity of the introspective method.

30. Functional psychology

A. was a cohesive, unified system of psychological inquiry.

B. successfully introduced structural psychology to America.

C. successfully introduced act psychology to America.

D. provided a transition between structural psychology and later movement.

E. was concerned with the study of the elements of consciousness.