The University of Chicago and Columbia University

A Center for Functionalism

John Dewey

Experience understood in a naturalistic context

In field, not lab; natural environment

James Rowland Angell

Functional Psychology

“The identification and description of mental operations rather than the mere stuff of mental experience.”

Harvey A. Carr

Argued that psychology is primarily concerned with mental activity; experience and behavior

James McKeen Cattell

Initially developed mental tests
- Not correlated with anything
 Greater success as an editor
Helped to mainstream Psychology

Robert Sessions Woodworth

Expanded experimental psychology
-          Dynamic Psychology
Emphasized importance of understanding behavior by combining theories of motivation, perception, learning and thinking
Clarified the notion of the experiment and separated it from correlational work

Mary Whiton Calkins

First woman president of the APA

Psychology: “The science of the conscious self”
Emphasized personalism - Search for self- knowledge
Developed pair-associate method to study memory
Conducted early studies of dreaming

Leta Stetter Hollingworth

Empirically challenged the Variability Hypothesis
Also demonstrated that the abilities of women are not affected by the menstrual cycle

Variability Hypothesis

Men are in all ways more variable than women

Helen Wooley

Alfred Binet

Developed the first usable test of intelligence with Theodore Simon

Goal: To identify schoolchildren who may need extra assistance

Lewis Terman

Brought Binet’s intelligence tests to the U.S.
- Standford-Binet Intelligence Scale

Robert M. Yerkes

Developed 1^st group- administered intelligence test
- Army Alpha and Army Beta

Critique of Functionalism

Has not survived in an organized fashion
Accused of being vague
Eclecticism makes it difficult to make clear statement of functionalism
Research focused more on applied than basic (Why a behavior happens)