American Functionalism Flashcards
(24 cards)
Who coined the term ‘functional psychology’?
Titchener, ironically.
Which schools of thought influenced functional psychology?
British empiricism - the Lockean tabula rasa model of men born equal and societies as organic units moving towards their own improvement; evolutionary theory (as an explanation of American progress)
Functionalism in America may be viewed as a transitional stage between…
Structuralism and Behaviorism
Pearson and Galton founded which statistical journal?
Biometrika, 1901
Who applied Pearson’s statistical analyses to intelligence testing?
Charles Spearman
Who first used factor analysis?
L.L. Thurstone
Who developed the first widely used standardized intelligence test?
Alfred Binet (1857-1911)
Who suggested the division of mental by chronological age to calculate IQ?
William Stern (1871-1938) - German psychologist
What prompted the large scale use of intelligence testing in America?
WWI - a selection device for drafting youth in 1917
Who was instrumental in founding the American Philosophical Society?
Benjamin Franklin, 1744
Describe Pragmatism
From the Greek πρᾶγμα (pragma), “deed, act”. Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory.
The three points of William James’ pragmatism.
- Theoretical positions should be judged by their consequences.
- A theory should be at least tentatively accepted if it asserts a useful, satisfying effect in organizing experience.
- Experience is not reduce to either the elements of consciousness or the mechanical laws of matter. (it is a continuous flow of subjective events)
The James-Lange theory of emotions
James (1884) & Lange (1885) - we experience emotion when we become aware of the automatic reflex actions with which our body has responded to emotional stimuli.
Which pragmatist integrated diverse philosophies to produce an eclectic theory of consciousness?
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)
Main influences on the writings of Peirce.
Kant - unifying sensory experience through a priori categories; and Bain - British associationism.
Which German psychologist and philosopher wrote on the applications of psychology to social, commercial, and educational issues?
Hugo Muensterberg (1863-1916)
Fist efforts in Forensic psychology.
Munsterberg, ‘On the Witness Stand’(1908); also developed the precursor of the polygraph in his lab.
‘Hormic’ psychology
William McDougall (1871-1938) - psychological activity defined as behavior; based on “impulse”, instincts, urges. Behavior arising from inherited instincts can be modified by experiences, especially in higher animals. Also emphasized critical social variables that influence interactions within species, and how such behaviors are instinctually based and inherited. Congruent with contemporary ethology.
Who succeeded in securing recognition for psychology as a profession?
G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924)
G. Stanley Hall’s “firsts”:
- 1st American to work in Wundt’s laboratory in Leipzig
- started 1st legitimate psychology research laboratory in America (1883)
- started the first English language journal exclusively devoted to psychology (The American Journal of Psychology)
- organized the American Psychological Association and became its first president (1882)
Where were the two centers of functional psychology?
University of Chicago & Columbia University
The Chicago functionalists:
John Dewey (psychology + evolution as a means to a social vision; pre-Gestalt emphasis on the totality of movement) James Angell (defined functional psychology as the acceptance of a biological approach to determine how the mind works in adjustments of the psychophysical person to the environment) Harvey Carr (influential textbook "Psychology",1925, emphasized motor responses, adaptive activities, and motivation. Adaptive mental processes with purpose)
The Columbia functionalists:
James McKeen Cattell (started his own company, The Psychological Corporation, to market psychological expertise and measurement instruments)
Edward Lee Thorndike
Robert S. Woodworth (influential textbook, ‘Experimental Psychology’, 1938,1954; a “dynamic” psychology, focusing on motivation.
Women in early American psychology:
Mary Whiton Calkins (established a laboratory at Wellesley College, published an influential textbook, ‘A First Book in Psychology’ (1909), first woman president of the American Psychological Association (1905)
Christine Ladd-Franklin (theory of color vision, reconciling Helmholtz’s trichromatic and Hering & Mueller’s tetrachromatic theory)
Margaret Floy Washburn (first female Ph.D in psychology in America; pioneer in animal psychology, president of the APA in 1921; first female psychologists elected to the National Academy of Sciences)
