In his address “The Province of Functional Psychology,” what important distinctions did Angell make between structuralism and functionalism?
James Rowland Angell also elected as the American Psychological Association’s president. During the presidential address of the James Rowland Angell “the province of the functional psychology” he contrasted between the structural as well as the functional psychology. According to him, the major concerns of the functional psychology were the mental operations instead of the elements of the consciousness.
He concluded that the mental processes arbitrate between the environment and the organisms. Organism’s survival is facilitated by the mental functions. Adjustment towards the familiar situations is mediated by the behavioral habits. Organisms confrontation towards the unfamiliar process related to the mind are aided by the adaptive processes.
Body and the mind acts as a single unit for the survival of an organism. Their separation is not possible. At the time of his presidential address, he declared the functionalism as strongest competitor to the structuralism. He supported the establishment of the functionalism as the growing school of the psychology.
He encouraged the study related to the functionalism for the development of the study in the field of the individual differences, child psychology, habit formation and the animal behavior. He was the strongest supporter of the pragmatism. He encouraged the psychological principles application in the field of the clinical psychology.