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Cal Poly Pomona PSY 410 - CHAPTER 10 FUNCTIONALISM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

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Chapter 10 – Functionalism AT the university of chicago and columbia universityFunctionalistsJohn Dewey (1859-1952)John DeweyDewey at Johns Hopkins & Mich.Dewey’s FunctionalismW. James’s Reflex Arc ExampleDewey’s View of EducationDewey’s Lab SchoolDewey’s Later LifeJames Rowland Angell (1869-1949)James Rowland AngellAngell’s FunctionalismFunctionalism and DarwinHarvey A. Carr (1873-1954)Robert Sessions Woodworth (1869-1962)Woodworth’s Psychometric StudiesOverlapping DistributionsPsychometric Studies (Cont.)Imageless ThoughtsMotivational PsychologyA Page from his BookTechnical VocabularyEdward Lee Thorndike (1874-1949)Thorndike’s ChickensCats in a Puzzle BoxChange in Behavior for One CatPuzzle Box RefinementsSome of his Puzzle BoxesThorndike’s CriticsThorndike and EducationThorndike’s Mental MeasurementsThorndike’s Applied ResearchMore Applied ResearchThorndike’s HonorsCHAPTER 10 – FUNCTIONALISM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO AND COLUMBIA UNIVERSITYDr. Nancy AlvaradoFunctionalistsUnlike the Structuralist and Gestalt schools, Functionalism did not have a single leader.Functionalism was intended to be an inclusive, pragmatic, useful American psychology.Major American functionalists are:John DeweyJames Rowland Angell & Harvey A. CarrWoodworth & Thorndike were sympathetic to it.Today, nearly all psychologists are functionalists.John Dewey (1859-1952)Dewey was not only a psychologist but also an important philosopher and educational innovator, social critic and commentator.He represented New England values all his life.After graduating from Univ. of Vermont, Dewey taught public high school for 2 years.Teachers taught all subjects – there were no required qualifications.Discipline was physical, kids were expected to sit quietly until called, learn by rote and ask no questions.John DeweyDewey at Johns Hopkins & Mich.Dewey was a grad student under G. Stanley HallClassmates were Woodrow Wilson & Cattell.Following graduation he became an instructor at the Univ. of Michigan, teaching philosophy & psychology.He wrote “Psychology” in 1887, which was overshadowed by W. James “Principles…”in 1890.He published an assessment of language development in children, one of his few empirical studies, in 1894.It was probably based on his own children.Dewey’s FunctionalismIn 1894, Dewey became chair at Univ. of Chicago.Dewey’s dept included psychology & pedagogy.In 1896 he published “The Reflex Arc Concept in Psychology” emphasizing the adaptive value of mind and consciousness.He criticized stimulus-response and sensation-idea dichotomies, saying that responses and ideas always occur in a functional context (child reaching for flame).We must consider how the response adjusts to the environment, the stimulus’s “psychological value.”Suppose now (these assumptions being granted) that we have a baby before us who sees a candle-flame for the first time, and, by virtue of a reflex tendency common in babies of a certain age, extends his hand to grasp it, so that his fingers get burned. So far we have two reflex currents in play: first, from the eye to the extension movement, along the line 1-1-1-1 of Fig. 3; and second, from the finger to the movement of drawing back the hand, along the line 2-2-2-2.If this were the baby's whole nervous system, and if the reflexes were once & for all organic, we should have no alteration in his behavior, no matter how often the experience recurred. The retinal image of the flame would always make the arm shoot forward, the burning of the finger would always send it back. But we know that 'the burnt child dreads the fire,' and that one experience usually protects the fingers forever. W. James’s Reflex Arc ExampleDewey’s View of EducationDewey considered himself a “democratic evolutionist.”Culture, education, government make people different than other species, ensuring ability to compete for all.All people should have an equal chance – to accomplish this, educational reform was critical.Dewey wrote “The School and Society (1899) with psychology as the basis for sound educational theory and practice, meeting 4 child needs:Conversation, curiosity, construction, artistic expression.Dewey’s Lab SchoolDewey established a university-based “laboratory school” to study how children think and learn.140 students, 23 teachers, 10 grad student assistants.A model for similar lab schools on college campuses.Education must foster growth and keep the mind flexible – opposed to rote and drill learning.The educator’s role was to foster divergent thinking, not transmit dogma.Lessons were presented in some context (e.g., cooking & math together).Dewey’s Later LifeIn 1904, Dewey went the Columbia University.He was a charter member of the APA and president in 1899. He was the 4th psychologist elected to the National Academy of Sciences.He founded the first teacher’s union in NYC.With Cattell, he founded the AAUP & was its first president.He supported the ACLU & NAACP.He remains influential despite never doing an expt.James Rowland Angell (1869-1949)Angell took over leadership in Chicago when Dewey left. Angell was Dewey’s student in Michigan, then studied with W. James & Munsterberg at Harvard, then met Wundt, Ebbinghaus & Helmholtz. He wrote a doctoral dissertation on Kant but was never awarded his degree due to poor German.His teaching positions led to becoming Acting president of the Univ. of Chicago in 1918.James Rowland AngellAngell’s father was president of the University Michigan, his brother Frank founded psychology labs at Cornell and Stanford Universities, his brother Alexis became a professor of law at the University of Michigan and later a judge, and his brother-in-law was head of the history department at the University of Michigan. His maternal grandfather was a professor of mathematics and later president of Brown University.Angell’s FunctionalismAngell described functionalism as a protest movement in his Presidential Address to the APA.He saw functionalism as the study of mental operations or functions, not mental elements.Functionalism studies thinking, not thoughts.The structuralist asks “What is mind?” The functionalist asks “What is mind for?” Consciousness is adaptive.Functions are studied under real life conditions.Functionalism assumes a


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