The idea of there being a new
psychology should not be such a foreign thought; especially since we are always
discovering something new or finding some new concept. However, the fact that we have grown so much
in our knowledge of the mind and how it has developed, mutated, fallen apart,
and rebuilt itself, it only makes sense that a new type of psychology would be
born and tried to be brought up to the surface.
Angell is one of the many
psychologists who is trying to create not just a new concept, but a whole new
type of psychology; this psychology, is the Psychology of Functionalism. Functional Psychology is a general
psychological philosophy that considers mental life and behavior in terms of
active adaptation to the person's environment.
Angell himself described it as such, “It gains its vitality primarily
perhaps as a protest against the exclusive excellence of another starting point
for the study of the mind, and it enjoys for the time being at least the
peculiar vigor which commonly attaches to Protestantism of any sort in its
early stages before it has become respectable and orthodox.” Many people do not like this idea because at
the moment functional psychology is just that, an idea. People are saying things like, “The
conceptions of his purposes prevalent in non-functionalist circles range from
positive and dogmatic misapprehension, through frank mystification and
suspicion up to moderate comprehension.”
I honestly wonder if they feel this because his three influences for
this psychology seem to be Aristotle, Spencer (Psychology) and Darwin (Origin
of Species). The three points that
Angell has developed to explain his psychology are: “1.) Functionalism conceived as the
psychology of mental operations in contrast to the psychology of mental
elements or the psychology of the how and why of consciousness as distinguished
from the psychology of the what of consciousness. 2.) The functionalism which deals with the
problem of mind conceived as primarily engaged in mediating between the
environment and the needs of the organisms.
3.) Functionalism described as psychophysical psychology that is the
psychology which constantly recognizes and insists upon the essential
significance of the mind-body relationship for any just and comprehensive
appreciation of mental life itself.”
Angell in the end explains that the second and third points
correlate.
Thorndike is one of those
psychologists who wants to add psychology to education and I agree with him one
100%. After all the definition of
psychology is the science of the intellects, characters and behavior of
animals/man. That being said, why not
add psychology to education? If you add
it in, then you can help with the development of children and hopefully create
a better if not a more intellectual world in the future. Thorndike had come up with some pretty
amazing points for the methods behind this: “1.) Methods may be deduced
outright from the laws of human nature.
2.) Methods may be chosen from actual working experience as a starting
point. 3.) In all cases of psychology,
by its methods of measuring knowledge and skill, may suggest means to test and
verify or refute the claims of any method.”
Thorndike had also came up with a few “line of work” concerns such as:
“1.) the discovery of improvement of means of measurement of intellectual
functions. 2.) Race, sex, age, and
individual differences in all the many elements of intellect and character and
behavior. 3.) Incidental contributions
from studies of sensory and perceptual processes, imagery and memory, attention
and distraction, facilitation, inhibition and fatigue, imitation and
suggestion, the rate and accuracy of movement and other topics.” Something that Thorndike wanted everyone to
know that is not known by many is that, “The science of education can and will
itself contribute abundantly to psychology.
Experts in education studying the responses to school situations for the
sake of practical control will advance knowledge not only of the mind as a
learner under school conditions but also of the mind for every point of view.”
When looking at these two gentlemen
I see that they go hand-in-hand. I love
the idea of psychology in education and the fact that functionalism seems to
tie into it in that way is just phenomenal.
I mean I know I would go up to some of my teachers and talk to them
about what was going on in my life currently and they would be supportive or basically
tell me that I was dumb; so just the whole thought of psychology in the
classroom can make for your school life to be more like a family than your
family life. This might not be a good
thing per-say, but in the long run if a person has a sense of home somewhere
then maybe, just maybe, it could change their life and some of the lives around
them.
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