Emergence of Functional Psychology - Research Paper Example

? Psychology William Monk J. R. Angell at the of Chicago, perhaps the most progressive of the functional psychologists, predicted that American psychology was ready for greater objectivity. In 1910, he commented that it seemed possible that the term consciousness would disappear from psychology, much as the term soul had disappeared. As a functional psychologist, he bases his opinion on three major points. First, he says that the interest of functional psychology is based on mental activity and its relation to the larger biological forces (David, 2013). In addition, to deal with the conditions of the environment, one has to consider the evolution of the mental operations in humans. Second, mental processes enables the organism to survive in a given environment. This is by helping it to survive in harsh environments. Third, he said that, the body is able to adapt to a certain ecosystem because of the functionalism in the mind this is to say that, the body and the mind are inseparable. Functional psychology is a general philosophy that refers to active adaptation to a given environment. Functionalism psychology opposes structural psychology. Edward Titchener the developer of structuralism of psychology defined psychology as the study of mental experience in the examination of once conscious feelings and thoughts (Kantowitz & Elmes, 2009) . The greatest concern of functionalism was on the functions of the mind and lastly to behaviorism. Behaviorism rejected the idea of introspection, which exclusively relies on mental state while the spiritual aspect relies on the soul. B.F Skinner behaviorism developer did not consider behaviorism as a learned response from the mind but a learnt response from external stimuli (David, 2013). Behaviorism states that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning, that is, through interaction with the environment. Behaviorism and functionalism cannot be integrated because behaviorism deals with a mixture of the automatic nervous system and somatic nervous system. On the other hand, functionalism deals with only somatic nervous system that is the voluntary muscle control. This is to say that, all behavioral origins begins with the nervous system. Functionalism is on the action adaptation of a person in a given environment. As stated above, Angel says that mind and body are inseparable they work together as a unit (Durand & Barlow, 2006) . Zeitgeist theory is a spirit of the time that influences culture of a certain group in a given period of time. For instance, he says that, Zeitgeist of modernism influences once fashion, art or culture especially in the 20th century. Zeitgeist ideas on leadership state that societal conditions are the ones, which influence a person to become a leader. He opposes Carley who says that leadership is because of inborn leadership characteristics (Burnham, 2009). In addition, Carley states that some people are destined to become leaders while others follow. Zeitgeist on the other hand opposes this and says that, the environment is the one that shapes one to be a leader (Steve, 2013). Zeitgeist supports functionalism because functionalism focuses on voluntary actions. People gain the leadership qualities and become leader voluntarily. This is to say that, the environment determines once actions. As Darwin theory says that organism, grow to adapt to a given environment this is to say that the growth of an organism is determined by the conditions in the environment. Development of industrial and organizational psychology focused on the scientific study of organizations, workplace, and employees. The main aim of its development was to improve the performance, health, safety, well-being, and satisfaction of the employees (David, 2013). It focused on how the training programs and management of the employees can be improved. In addition, it laid its emphases on how hiring practices, behaviors, and attitudes of the employees can be improved (Kantowitz & Elmes, 2009) . The main goal to improve all this was to improve efficiency and productivity in a given industry (Steve, 2013). This was to be carried out by using psychology through a series of training to discover individual’s similarities and differences. The main aim to apply psychology and its principles was to solve the problems, which existed. The principles involved in this form of psychology involved training employees effectively and rewarding them to encourage productivity, finding the best way of performing a task, encouraging the best way of performing a task and lastly, selecting the qualified person to perform a particular task. Functional psychology is the influence of the environment in performing tasks. It states that the mental processes affect the adaptation of an organism to a given ecosystem. This is to say that, the mind cannot be separated from the body they work hand in hand that is why there is response to an external stimuli. Industrial revolution relied on functionalism because the workers underwent through a series of training so that they can easily specialize in a given sector of the industry. Industrialization gives emphases on the goal of psychology which is the study of individuals and their adaptation (Steve 2013) . Applied psychology is the application of psychology in real life situations. This includes organization or institutions such as mental health, law, management, and education (Kantowitz & Elmes, 2009) . Another field where applied psychology is applied is in industrial and organizational psychology as discussed above, counseling psychology, clinical psychology, and forensic psychology. For instance, clinical psychology is the application of psychology to prevent psychological stress and promote personal development and the well-being of an individual (Steve, 2013). This mainly focuses on the study of the brain. Second, educational psychology determines how people learn in a learning institution and the effectiveness of the learning methods. Third, forensic psychology, which is also known as legal psychology, involves application of psychology to legal issues (Kantowitz & Elmes, 2009) . This mostly applies to lawyers when solving legal issues. We can say that applied psychology and behaviorism are related. This is because behaviorism is a scientific discipline, which focuses on the observable behaviors. For one to apply psychology you have to observe the behaviors to draw a conclusion. Applied psychology has a great impact on psychology as it involves the combination of behaviors and the min(Kantowitz & Elmes, 2009) . Consciousness is once ability to be aware of the external objects from within him or herself. In addition, it is also the maximum involvement of the mind in performing actions. That means personal intuition. Locke defines it as the perception of what passes in the mind (Durand & Barlow, 2006) . In consciousness, there is the involvement of the mind for one to determine what is in his or her external environment. On the other hand, Behaviorism means reception to an external stimulus. The external environment determines actions in behaviorism (Burnham, 2009) . That means the external environment affects actions. While using once conscience actions to be reflected in the external environment come from the mind Psychology is the study of human behaviors and mental actions. The main aim of psychology is to understand the role of individual’s mental functions and their behaviors. As stated above in functionalism, the mind and the body are inseparable this is to say that body actions are determined by the mind, just as psychology emphases in the study of how the mind affect the human behaviors. In behaviorism, all behaviors are taught and learned they do not come from one (David, 2013). This is to say that the environment determines once actions. With this, in psychology consciousness and behavior are inseparable. This is because psychology involves the study of mental activities, which result of the behavioral actions. The shift from consciousness to behavior means that the external environment will determine human actions. The actions will not be from within that is consciousness. This may affect negatively or positively once actions. People should be free to make their decisions based on personal intuition not from influence from external forces (Durand & Barlow, 2006) . Briefly, the essay above discusses Angel’s opinion on psychology. In his study on functional psychology he explains how mental processes affect the response of an organism to an external stimuli. Angel’s opinion focused on practical application of psychology as opposed to structural psychology. Functional psychology came up to criticizes structural psychology. Industrial psychology focuses on how the well being of the workers can be improved so that they can give quality and quantity output. That is why functional psychology has greatly affected industrial revolution. References David Woodward. (2013). The art of persuasion. Retrieved from: http://www.director.co.uk/MAGAZINE/2010/11_December/behavioural-psychology_64_04.html [Accessed: 29 Oct 2013]. Steve W. J. Kozlowski. (2013). Applied Psychology. Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/apl/ [Accessed: 29 Oct 2013] Burnham, J. C. (2009). Accident Prone: A History of Technology, Psychology, and Misfits of the Machine Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Kantowitz, B. H., Roediger, H. L., & Elmes, D. G. (2009). Experimental psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Durand, V. M., & Barlow, D. H. (2006). Essentials of abnormal psychology. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. Read More