What did Carr mean by an adaptive act? How did Carr contribute to the development of functionalism?
A famous book known as the study of the mental activity was written by the Harvey Carr. According to him, activity of the brain is found associated with processes like retention, evaluation, organization, fixation as well as the acquisition of the experiences and the subsequent use of these experiences for the guidance of conduct. As per the definition given by the Carr, the learning process is the major concern of the functionalists. Adjustment of the environment can be done with the tool called as the learning.
Carr has given the concept called as the adaptive act, which consists of the three major components including, a motive, which act as a trigger for the behavior, organisms environmental setting and the resulted response against the satisfaction of the motive. Carr s postulates also shown the effect of the evolutionary theory on the functionalism.
For the survival of an organism fulfilling of the needs is the basic requirement. Need acts as the motivator against the satisfaction of the act. Behavior and the perception both are equally important for adapting in accordance with the environment. Other than the adaptive act, Carr was also interested in the measurement of the intelligence, affection, volition and human nervous system.