Question

read the chapter on Functionalism in psychology from the book (an introduction to the history of psychology), You need to choose 8 points from the chapter which are important. write Which are those and why they are important.

Answer 1

• The theory of functionalism came about as a reaction to the structuralism theory. The earliest proponent of the theory was William James who is often referred to as the father of the functionalism theory; he based the theory on the evolutionary theory (theory of natural selection) of Charles Darwin.
• The main feature of functionalism is its focus on the "function" that human institutions, values, beliefs, and so on play within a society.
• Often associated with Emile Durkheim and later twentieth-century theorists, it seeks to explain things in terms of their interactions with other things. Organized religion, for example, might be explained in terms of how it provided society with rules and moral precepts.
• Another feature is the close association between functionalism and biology.
• The primary concepts within Functionalism are collective conscience, value consensus, social order, education, family, crime and deviance and the media.
• The theory studied the mental life and behavior of people based on their adaptation to the environment. In that, the theory concentrated less on studying the composition of the mind, and more on examining the ways in which the mind adapts to the changing environment and situations.
• This theory believed that the brain evolves for the purpose of bettering the survival of its carrier. Such that, if the characteristics of a species (including the processes of the brain) did not serve any purpose, they would not be selected to survive by nature.
• This theory influenced the emergence of theories of behaviorism and applied psychology.