ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces functionalism, a diverse system of psychology that emphasized adaptation and action. A central figure in this system is William James, whose ideas shaped and expanded early psychological science. James believed that anything that is a part of experience should be included in psychological studies. This included religion, education, the workplace, development, learning, and emotion. The chapter then turns to works by James’s peers, including Hugo Münsterberg, John Dewey, James Rowland Angel, James McKeen Cattell, Mary Calkins, June Etta Downey, Leta Stetter Hollingworth, Helen Wooley, and G. Stanley Hall (who served as the first president of the American Psychological Association). The chapter concludes with an examination of early applied psychology, including the early development of intelligence testing. This chapter also addresses early psychologists’ involvement in the eugenics and racism that pervaded the early intelligence testing literature.
