What are the major themes that characterized functionalistic psychology?
Functionalism was never considered as the apparent school of thought under psychology with a singular type of methodology. Characteristics of the functional psychology include the view points of the functionalists. Functionalist’s always wanted to develop the understanding behind the functioning of the mind instead of describing the contents of the mind. Functionalist believed that the functions of the mental processes help the individual in adapting according to the environment.
Functionalist’s was very much interested in the ‘is’ of the mind instead the “is” of the structure and the function of the mind. Functionalists wanted to consider the psychology as the practical branch of the science rather considering it as the pure science. They have combined their findings for the betterment of the industry, education and personal life as well.
Functionalists praised the expansion of the psychology by including the study of the abnormal humans, animals and children. Their keen concern towards the “why” of the behavior and mental processes led to the interest in the motivation. Functionalists considered the behavior as well as the mental processes equally as a subject matter for the study of psychology.
According to them, introspection is the valid tool of research in the psychology. Functionalists was not acted as the nomothetic, they tended to be as ideographic. Functionalists were very much influenced with the William James.