Question

Think about the Chicago Functionalists and the Columbia Functionalists. Which group of functionalists did more to influence the direction of psychology than the other? Explain. How might psychology be different today had one of the groups not existed?

Answer 1

• I guess Chicago functionalism was more influential than Columbian functionalism since John dewey's article "The reflex arc concept in psychology" (1896) marks the beginning of functionalist school for manyEvolutionist.He contributed to the development of educational psychology.Angell defined functionalism  nicely in his 1906 APA presidential address:functionalism interested in mental operations not conscious elements;mental processes mediate between needs of the organism and the environment and mind and body cannot be separated.
• But both groups have their own importance in our understanding of psychology.Thorndike who was columbian also made major contributions.He is famous in psychology for his work on learning theory that lead to the development of operant conditioning within behaviorism.Thorndike put forward a “Law of effect” which stated that any behavior that is followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated, and any behavior followed by unpleasant consequences is likely to be stopped.
• So if anyone of them did not exist,the field of psychology would have been incomplete withou them.Our understanding of learning and human behaviour would have been incomplete.