Estructuralismo

William James and Functionalism : Theory of Functionalism In Education Psychology작성: Leona's E-Magazine 2010년 12월 27일 월요일 오전 12:21
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a medical doctor. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experienceand mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism. He was the brother of novelist Henry James and of diarist Alice James.

William James was born at the Astor House in New York City. He was the son of Henry James Sr., an independently wealthy and notoriously eccentric Swedenborgian theologian well acquainted with the literary and intellectual elites of his day. The intellectual brilliance of theJames family milieu and the remarkable epistolary talents of several of its members have made them a subject of continuing interest to historians, biographers, and critics.

James interacted with a wide array of writers and scholars throughout his life, including his godfather Ralph Waldo Emerson, his godson William James Sidis, as well as Charles Sanders Peirce, Bertrand Russell, Josiah Royce,Ernst Mach, John Dewey, Walter Lippmann, Mark Twain, Horatio Alger, Jr., Henri Bergson and Sigmund Freud.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_james





Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Theory of Functionalism In Education Psychology



by Sultan Muhammad

Functionalism is a theory of mind in contemporary philosophy, developed largely as an alternative to both the identitytheory of mind and behaviourism. Its core idea is that mental states (beliefs, desires, being in pain, etc.) are constituted solely by their functional role — that is, they are causal relations to other mental states, sensory inputs, and behavioral outputs. Since mental states are identified by a functional role, they are said to be realized on multiple levels; in other words, they are able to bemanifested in various systems, even perhaps computers, so long as the system performs the appropriate functions. While functionalism has its advantages, there have been several arguments against it, claiming that it is an insufficient account of the mind.



Functionalism formed as a reaction to Titchener theory of structuralism.

Titchener argue that such a functionalist analysis isincomplete without a Thorough investigation of the mental structure and functions, Titchener arguments formulate a coherent goal and helped functionalist due to which psychologist became interested in the function of mind.



Titchener was against functionalism but during describing his theory of structuralism, he explains in detail functionalism too. Before him functionalism was loosely formulatedbetween empiricism and the common–sense Mentalism of the Layman.



Functionalism was heavily influenced by the work of William James and titchener





Functionalism’s Roots



Functionalism was rooted in Darwin’s theory of evolution. Evolution is based on individual differences and the survival of adaptive features.

“Adaptation” becomes a popular approach to measuringintelligence. “Individual differences” become a valued part of mental research.

Functionalists sought to explain the mental processes in a more systematic and accurate manner, Rather than focusing on the elements of consciousness. Functionalists focused on the purpose of consciousness and behaviour.

Functionalism also emphasized individual differences, which had a profound impact on education.Mind

Mind is a complex processes like a computer, function of memory, judgment, acquire, retain, process and organize. Functionalists were interested in the “function”, the mental abilities of adapting to an environment



William James



William James commonly considered the father of U.S. psychology, Contributed to the foundation of functional psychology in the US, but he did...