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Functionalism-an early school of thought in American psychology that sought to discover ways to improve the match between organisms, their minds, and their environments.
Graduate students must have adequate academic preparation
Fellowships for graduate students
Academic departments headed by chairs
Schools or Colleges headed by deans
Women in 19th Century Universities
Not routinely admitted despite Gilman's words to the contrary in his inaugural address
"That they are not among the wise, who depreciate the intellectual capacity of women, and they are not among the prudent, who would deny to women the best opportunities for education and culture."
The move to coeducation in prestigious American universities did not begin strongly until the 1970s although it had a long history prior
The rise of the research university was instrumental to progress in science and psychology. It provided a home for the newly established psychological laboratories. Fellowships for graduate students, too, ensured a steady supply of qualified applicants.
Opposition to Structuralism (see chapter 6) was the main cause for the rise of Functionalism. Its definition of psychology was broader and included applied areas such as clinical psychology, forensics, educational psychology, emotion, along with child and adolescent psychology. It also embraced the study of the animal mind. Closely associated with Functionalism was philosophical Pragmatism.
The 1908 meeting at Clark University introduced psychologists from Europe and North America while popularizing the newly emerging psychoanalytic approach (see chapter 12). Functionalists in the United States began to study and promote new ideas such as mental tests, statistics courses, the adaptive act, and learning. Thorndike, especially, was instrumental in positing the law of effect, S-R psychology, and learning curves. Woodworth led a rearguard action for Functionalism with his dynamic psychology. In the end, though, Behaviorism (see chapter 9) erased much of the Functionalism’s legacy to psychology for many years, at least.
INTRODUCTION
Psychology unknown in United States at mid 19th century
William James taught first course in psychology at Harvard
Americans studying in Germany brought psychology back
G. Stanley Hall, James McKeen Cattell were early examples
The Americanization of psychology
Took place quickly in late 19th century
Mostly followed Wundt's laboratory model
By the 1930s American psychology lead the world in terms of numbers and research output
American Universities Before Daniel Coit Gilman
Johns Hopkins University (1876)
Daniel Coit Gilman
German University Model
adequate undergraduate preparation
deans and departments
specialist instructors
at first, little additional attention to female students
Nearly all contemporary American universities now follow a form of the German model
SAU does too with its four colleges: Business, Education, Liberal and Performing Arts, and Science and Engineering.
Notice that I don't teach courses in other departments
Learning Objective: Consider the effect of American universities adopting the German model on the rise of psychology in the late 19th century.
Changed James's lifestyle and likely affected his health positively
Four years into writing his text James traveled again to Europe, met: Hering, Stumpf, Mach, Charcot, Wundt
First professor of psychology in USA (1889)
The "James" (the 2-volume original) and the "Jimmy" (the 1-volume, abbreviated version)
Beautifully written and full of neologisms: hegelism, time-line, pluralism, bitch-goddess success, stream of consciousness, moral equivalent of war, healthy-minded, live option
Strangely, James moved away from psychology and back to pragmantic philosophy after completing the text
Nonetheless, he remained famous as a psychologist for the rest of his life
Walking into the Fifth International Congress of Psychology (1905) he was recognized and asked to speak to the delegates
pragmatism-the approach to philosophy developed by Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and later, John Dewey that argued that truth is always a practical compromise between empiricism and idealism.
Jamesian Psychology
Cobbled together from: biology, psychophysics, experimental psychology, archeology, religion, mysticism, and parapsychology
Not really like later American Functionalists
James' Functionalism derived from evolution, introspection, consciousness
The Physiology of Emotion
The study of emotion has a long history, given its pivotal role in human behavior. James and Lange, independently, proposed the first scientific theory of emotion late in the 19th century. In their theory, today known as the James-Lange theory of emotion, an environmental event started the emotional reaction. That event was followed by a cognitive appraisal of the situation, and then in turn by the physiological responses associated with emotion (e.g., trembling, sweating, rapid heartbeat, and other similar ones). Two other major theories of emotion followed the James-Lange theory, the Cannon-Bard theory and the Schachter-Singer theory. Research evidence has not supported the Cannon-Bard theory’s argument that the components comprising emotional responses are independent of each other. The Schachter-Singer theory posits that all physiological emotional responses are the same. Therefore, the interpretation of a particular emotion depends more upon a cognitive evaluation of the situation than anything else. Thus, they contend that any proper theory of emotion must evaluate the environmental context surrounding it. Kalat and Shiota (2012, p. 25) ask, “Isn’t it about time we decided who was right? We contend that the James-Lange theory is more or less correct, if described in modern terms . . . The data indicate that a least some emotional appraisal is quick, preceding the physiological changes and observable behavior.” Once again, James appears to anticipate modern research. The study of emotion is yet another old area of psychological interest receiving revived attention.
Did not train many students (unlike Wundt, see below)
In other words he had a profound influence on American psychology despite leaving the discipline
Functionalism-an early school of thought in American psychology that sought to discover ways to improve the match between organisms, their minds, and their environments.
Hugo Münsterberg
German
Influenced by a Wundt lecture, became a psychologist, earned PhD from Wundt at Leipzig
Earned MD degree at U. of Heidelberg
Taught at U. of Freiburg
Performed research in psychophysics, but work criticized by Titchener and Müller
They believed he did not emphasize emotion enough
Met James in Paris
James was impressed by him
Three years later he came to Harvard to take James' place
He stayed at Harvard for three years then returned to Germany
Eyewitness Testimony
Münsterberg was the first psychologist to research the fallibility of eyewitness testimony and the coerced extraction of confessions. But, his research had little influence on how police interrogated witnesses following crimes or on how they interrogated suspects. It was not until after the dogged efforts of Elizabeth Loftus (1979) that psychological research actually led to changes in police practices in interviewing witnesses (Wells, Memon, & Penrod, 2006) and minimizing the possibility of false confessions due to coercion (Napier & Adams, 2002).
Incidentally, my college algebra teacher, William Kelso Morrill, died before the end of the term. For a while he lectured to us while laying down on the lab table at the front of the classroom. A graduate assistant finished the course as a lecturer.
Last of the "European imports" to America until Nazism
Münsterberg was the last prominent European "import" into American psychology
By the end of World War I American universities were producing enough new psychologists to fill the emerging positions in academe
When Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, another large number of psychologists left Germany to escape persecution (see chapter 11)
Learning Objective: Interpret the importance of Münsterberg’s emphasis on applied psychology to the role and position of applied psychology today.
Went to Germany, studied with Lotze at University of Göttingen and Wundt at University of Leipzig
Fellowship at Hopkins, lost it in conflict with Gilman (fellowship went to John Dewey)
His emphasis on behavior over introspection was ground breaking
fellowship-a form of payment for students by which part or all of tuition and/or other expenses are paid by the school. In return, fellows provide hours of service, usually by teaching or conducting research, in exchange.
Back to Leipzig and Wundt (ganz Amerikanisch)
Cattell told Wundt that he would be his assistant, a position new to Wundt
That prompted Wundt to declare Cattell's approach and attitude as typically American
In the future Cattell lived up to that characterization differentiating American from European psychology
Returned to the United States and taught psychology at Bryn Mawr College
Led him to link statistics and psychological research
Statistics (with Galton)
Psychology majors today realize that their curricula will nearly always include at least one course in statistics. Cattell was the first to offer that course in the United States, and such courses have been an integral part of psychology curricula ever since.
Women were not excluded, there were 19 women out of 5,500 entries
He later correlated eminence with psychology departments. The National Research Council publishes a similar list
Both lists follow:
Cattell 1910
NRC 2010
Columbia University (16.5)
1 Stanford University
Harvard University (6)
3.5 University of Michigan (tie)
Clark University (51.5)
3.5 Yale University (tie)
Cornell University (14.5)
3.5 UCLA (tie)
University of Chicago (21.5)
3.5 University of Illinois (tie)
University of Iowa (35)
6 Harvard University
Wellesley College (not ranked)
7 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Wisconsin University (14.5)
9.5 University of Pennsylvania (tie)
Stanford University (1)
9.5 University of California-Berkeley (tie)
Indiana University (21.5)
9.5 University of California-San Diego (tie)
9.5 Carnegie Mellon University (tie)
Note that only Stanford and Harvard are on both lists.
Galton's British Men of Science (and inspiration for Cattell) credited heredity for human eminence
Unlike Galton, Cattell was an environmentalist, schooling important
Cattell’s methods for measuring scientific productivity and performance have been modified since his day. Xie (2011) decried those new methods: number of publications, citations, patents and metrics such as Hirsch’s h index. He added (n.p), “There doesn't appear to be a good solution that will work across all scientific disciplines. We know that none of the measurable factors effectively paint a complete picture of a researcher's success. (Godin, 2007, p. 719) suggested, “Money devoted to R&D [research and development] is now the preferred statistic.” Cattell’s directory, however, was another pioneering use of statistics intended to promote the growth of science and psychology.
Learning Objectives: Critique modern methods of judging scientific productivity.
Mental tests, but not predictive: hand strength, pain sensitivity, reaction times
Cattell coined the term "mental test"
He used some of the same kinds measurements as did Galton:
Went to Wellesley College and left his religious upbringing behind
Read James' text and went to Harvard
Took courses with James (Münsterberg was back in Germany then)
Animal research (see movie)
Moved to Columbia, started working with cats in puzzle boxes (very Rube Goldberg).
Years later, his son (R. Thorndike, 1991, p. 145) wrote about his father’s mechanical ability, “if you look at pictures of the equipment that he used in his original animal experiments you realize that they would have shamed Rube Goldberg.” (Rube Goldberg (1883–1970) was an American cartoonist who drew incredibly convoluted and inane machines designed to accomplish simple tasks with great difficulty.)
Teaching Objective: Explain how many writers in the popular media reverse the meaning of “steep learning curve.” [In other words, a "steep learning curve" indicates rapid learning, a good thing in most instances. Today, too many use those words to indicate, wrongly, that learning is difficult. In reality, "a shallow learning curve" should be used instead to indicate difficult learning tasks.]
First American university to house independent sociology department
Psychology was housed in philosophy department: philosophy, education, psychology
June Etta Downey on psychology faculty (second assistant)
Became head of University of Wyoming psychology department
Titchener coined the word "functionalist"
The University of Chicago became the birthplace of Functionalism
In 2020 the Board of Trustees of Teachers College, Columbia University voted, unanimously, to take Thorndike’s name off of one of its buildings. In an announcement from the president and trustees, they stated: “While Thorndike’s work was hugely influential on modern educational ideas and practices, he was also a proponent of eugenics, and held racist, sexist, and antisemitic ideas.” They added that Teachers College was not erasing Thorndike’s name from its history, and that the former building plaque would be moved elsewhere on campus. The college’s history, they added, should be faced with honesty, bravery, and with humanity.
Functionalism-an early school of thought in American psychology that sought to discover ways to improve the match between organisms, their minds, and their environments.
Father was president of the University of Vermont and later became president of University of Michigan
Angell studied with James at Harvard
Went to Germant to study with Wundt but he had no places left, so studied in Halle at University of Berlin
Never finished writing his PhD because of job opening at University of Minnesota
Soon after, Dewey brought him to University of Chicago
In 1906 he was elected president of the American Psychological Association
In his presidential address he defined Functionalism (1907)
psychology is about mental operations (NOT the description of mental elements)
psychology is about the utility of consciousness
psychophysics is part of psychology
psychology includes: animal, developmental, and clinical psychology
Or, in his own words:
If we now bring together the several conceptions of which mention has been made it will be easy to show them converging upon a common point. We have to consider (1) functionalism conceived as the psychology of mental operations in contrast to the psychology of mental elements; or, expressed otherwise, the psychology of the how and why of consciousness as distinguished from the psychology of the what of consciousness. We have (2) the functionalism which deals with the problem of mind conceived as primarily engaged in mediating between the environment and the needs of the organism. This is the psychology of the fundamental utilities of consciousness; (3) and lastly we have functionalism described as psychophysical psychology, that is the psychology which constantly recognizes and insists upon the essential significance of the mind-body relationship for any just and comprehensive appreciation of mental life itself.
Dewsbury (2003, p. 62) noted, “Like the functionalist approach, today’s psychology is broad and inclusive, rooted in biology, and both behavioral and cognitive.”
Harvey Carr
Born on an Indiana farm
Became a teacher
Enrolled at University of Colorado and then at Chicago University; studied with James Rowland Angell and John B. Watson
Studied under John B. Watson and understood why he became a behaviorist
Taught high school, normal school, and Pratt Institute before returning to Chicago as a faculty member
He became the main spokesman for Functionalism
His functionalist approach competed with Titchener's Structuralism and Watson's Behaviorism
Functionalism was victorious over Structuralism: ideas about animal psychology, mental testing, educational psychology, psychopathology prevailed
Behaviorism, however, wiped out Functionalism and its grip on the mind, animal or human
The adaptive act
Proposed to combat Behaviorism
Consisted of:
a motivating stimulus
a sensory stimulus
an activity
Panther at the zoo story
One day when I was in graduate school I was guiding a tour for children at the Baton Rouge Zoo when word went out that the black panther was loose. While getting a bath in a squeeze cage, the soapy panther had slipped out through the bars. The character of the tour and the behavior of the teachers and children immediately changed. They no longer wished to see the panther! Carr would have noted that the loose panther now aroused a very different adaptive response.
Learning Objective: If Behaviorism had not existed imagine what the growth and development of Functionalism might have led to.
Columbia Functionalism
The other center of American Functionalism was Columbia University
John Dewey had moved there from Chicago
James McKeen Cattell and Edward Lee Thorndike also were functionalists (see above)
Lifelong interests in motivation and mind-body problem
Studied: anthropometry, thinking, time perception, motor control, kinesthetic imagery
Used introspection AND other methods
In his introduction to his Experimental Psychology text, he wrote:
We have tried to maintain an eclectic approach throughout the book . . . our approach should be called “functional,” with a definite preference for objective data but no taboo against material obtained through introspection if it helps the psychologist to understand what the organism is doing in relation to the environment.
He was the first to use the terms "independent variable" and "dependent variable"
S-O-R dynamic psychologist (as opposed to Watson's S-R psychology)
The "O" stood for organism
S-O-R psychology was one of the preliminary steps towards modern cognitve psychology (see chapter 13)
He favored the word "Activity" over the word"Behavior"
He did so because Watson's Behaviorism had linked the word "behavior" and had urged the elimination of consciousness in psychology
Electic thinker, won first Gold Medal from American Psychological Foundation (1956)
He quipped, "First psychology lost its soul, then it lost its mind, then it lost consciousness; it still have behavior, of a kind."
IDEA: dynamic psychology-Woodworth's attempt to define psychology as an eclectic discipline of activity and thought that could not be approached by any single methodology.
IDEA: independent and dependent variables-Woodworth, in his Experimental Psychology text was the first to ever use the terms so familiar to psychology students today.
Against Titchener's Structuralism and Watson's Behaviorism
Behaviorism halted Functionalism's questions for 30 years
Information Processing metaphor may resurrect Functionalism's old questions
SUMMARY
Much changed in the United States following the Civil War. Johns Hopkins University, led by Daniel Coit Gilman, helped set the model for nearly all colleges and universities currently operating in the country today. Gilman implemented a revised version of the German model research university.
At around the same time, William James brought psychology to Harvard from Europe. After he published his textbooks, he became the face of American psychology. His successor, Hugo Münsterberg, emphasized applied psychology by conducting research in clinical, forensic, and industrial psychology. G. Stanley Hall was another American pioneer. His many firsts defined his career. Through his leadership of Clark University, the training of many graduate students, and the founding of the American Psychological Association, he left a permanent imprint.
James McKeen Cattell helped differentiate American psychology from its European cousin. He founded journals and conducted research along Galtonian lines. Edward Lee Thorndike was third only to James and Hall during this period. His early animal research set the stage for Behaviorism. His later contributions centered on animal learning, educational psychology and testing.
Functionalism itself was a short-lived school of thought centered at two universities: Chicago and Columbia. Chicago functionalists included John Dewey, the founder (who later moved to Columbia), James Rowland Angell, and Harvey Carr.
At Columbia, in addition to Thorndike and Dewey, was Robert Sessions Woodworth. His dynamic psychology along with his textbook in experimental psychology was influential past the midpoint of the 20th century.
Learning Objective: Appraise the differences between James’s functionalism and that of the later Functionalists.
GLOSSARY
fellowship-a form of payment for students by which part or all of tuition and/or other expenses are paid by the school. In return, fellows provide hours of service, usually by teaching or conducting research, in exchange.
pragmatism-the approach to philosophy developed by Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, and later, John Dewey that argued that truth is always a practical compromise between empiricism and idealism.
Functionalism-an early school of thought in American psychology that sought to discover ways to improve the match between organisms, their minds, and their environments.
phenomenology: the philosophical system that examines conscious experience itself directly, intentionally, and from one’s own point of view.
learning curve: a graphical representation of the progress of learning over time with the dependent variable shown on the y-axis and time shown on the x-axis.
dynamic psychology: Woodworth’s attempt to define psychology as an eclectic discipline of activity and thought that could not be approached by any single methodology.
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