AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -An approach to psychology that analyses mental states and behaviors in terms of their purposes, placing an emphasis on the broad capability of the human mind. Functionalism marked a major departure from conventional ‘structuralist’ ideas in psychology from the 19th century onwards.

Detailed explanation-2: -William James founded functionalism which focused on studying the purpose or function of behavior and mental processes.

Detailed explanation-3: -What is Functionalism? Functionalism is the doctrine that what makes something a thought, desire, pain (or any other type of mental state) depends not on its internal constitution, but solely on its function, or the role it plays, in the cognitive system of which it is a part.

Detailed explanation-4: -Psychology as a field of experimental study began in 1854 in Leipzig, Germany when Gustav Fechner created the first theory of how judgments about sensory experiences are made and how to experiment on them.

Detailed explanation-5: -John Dewey, George Herbert Mead, Harvey A. Carr, and especially James Rowland Angell were the main proponents of functionalism at the University of Chicago. Another group at Columbia, including notably James McKeen Cattell, Edward L.