CRITICISM ON

"Structuralism , Functionalism and Gestalt Psychology"

FUNCTIONALISM:

Functional psychology or functionalism refers to a general psychological philosophy that

considers mental life and behavior in terms of active adaptation to the person's
environment.

WILLIAM JAMES :

"Consciousness is a Continuous flow"

The mind is constantly weaving, association , revisting experience and making

connections . All activities of the mind help us survive as a species .your awareness is a
blend of experience, memories and feelings.

Functionalism turn out to be an alternate model to structuralism . William James is known

as the Founder of Functional Psychology. Beside him there were some other functionalists
like james rowland angell and john dewey. William James used Darwin's Theory of
Evolution by natural selection as a tool to explain his idea about the behavior of organisms
and consciousness. Functionalists were inclined to study how our mind adopt to our
changing enviorment . Our mental aspects ae constantly changing . functionalisms also
throw light upon the social system and its adaptability According to this our society is
stable due to its ability to adapt to the changing environment .

"The Greatest Discovery Of My Generation Is That A Human Being Can Alter His Life By
Altering His Attitudes"

By using an Example of mpuse trap we can explain functionalism . there are many types
of mouse trapa avaiable in market with different specifications . A mouse trap can be seen
with many different functions relating this to functionalism our mind can be studied in
different aspects.

CRITICISM:

· IGNORING CONFLICTS: In the 1960's , functionalism was criticized for being unable
to account for social change or for structural contradictions and conflit.

· NEGLACTING NEGATIVE ASPECTS : Functionalism neglects the negative aspects of

society. it ignores inequalities including race, gender , class , which cause tension
and conflict.

· NO ACTIVE CHANGE : Critics like Italian Theorist Antonio Gramsci says that
functionalism doesn't engage people in bringing up any social change in a society.
 humans are portrayed as vulnerable to their social enviornment.

· CALLED UNSCIENTIFIC : Some critics think that James William did not carried out
experiments to explain his Theory . it was criticized for not being psychological .

History

Functionalism didn’t gain its name until the 20th century, but the earliest theory that
could be considered a kind of functionalism was Aristotle’s theory of the soul. Unlike
most of his contemporaries, Aristotle did not believe that the soul existed independently
of the body, nor that it was identical to the material of the body or brain. He seemed to
consider the soul identical to what we call “consciousness” and to be made of its
functional capacities, such as its ability to think. Aristotle’s view may conflict with some
versions of functionalism because he believed that an organ’s functionality was created by
its physical form. This is consistent with some modern versions of functionalism.

Thomas Hobbes, in the 17th century, voiced a point of view remarkably like modern
computational functionalism. He claimed that mental activity was made out of
computations, and an entirely mechanical process, even though he had never heard of a
computer.

REFERENCE :
2. (https://philosophyterms.com/functionalism/)

3. David L.Anderon

4. 123helpme.com

5. gradefixer2019.com

6. Temba mumsaka ( Author)