In: Psychology
functionalist talked about several types of cells,what were they?
Functionalist thought in the social sciences has looked towards Biology as the science which provides the most enduring model for social science. According to functionalistssich as Willia James, Talbot Parsons and Herbert Spencer, Biology provides the a conceptual guide for understanding the structure and function of social systems and to understand the processes of evolution via adaptation. Institutions such as religion, kinship and economy were seen as the organs and individuals as the cells which constitute the body of society.
Within Psychology, the functional school as propagated by William James, John Dewey and others, emphasised on the interrelationship between three elements: the environment, the nerve cells of the autonomic nervous system which triggers reflex behaviour and helps the individual in adaptation, and the somatic nervous system which Is responsible for voluntary responses. Thus, for functionalist, the all behaviour originate in the nervous system and they therefore stress on the physiological explanations for human actions.