ABSTRACT
The functional school of psychology or functionalism demonstrated that psychology could and should study all humans in an attempt to understand the adaptive value of human affects, behaviors, and cognitions. This chapter examines the foundational ideas of the “forerunners of functionalism,” namely, Charles Darwin, Sir Francis Galton and Herbert Spencer. It aims to study two famous and influential American psychologists, William James and Granville Stanley Hall. The chapter also examines the “founders” of functionalism, John Dewey and James Rowland Angell, followed by several psychologists who promoted a more polished version of functionalism, namely, Harvey Carr, James McKeen Cattell, Edward Lee Thorndike, and Robert Sessions Woodworth. It looks at Hugo Munsterberg and Lightner Witmer, both of whom promoted the continuation of functionalism in psychology. The chapter elaborates on some contemporary functional issues in psychology and provides examples of how the functional approach remains central in psychology and related disciplines of inquiry.
