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    James Rowland Angell was an influential American psychologist who made major contributions to functionalist psychology. He laid out the key principles of functionalism in his 1906 presidential address to the APA. Angell believed that functional psychology should study mental operations and their relationship to behavior and the environment, rather than conscious elements. He also argued that mental processes mediate between organism needs and the environment, and that the mind and body cannot be separated. While influential, some critics argued that Angell contradicted himself on his views of consciousness and its function. Overall, Angell helped define functionalism and differentiate it from structuralism.

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    PSYCHOLOGY DEPARTMENT

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    James Rowland Angell was an influential American psychologist who made major contributions to functionalist psychology. He laid out the key principles of functionalism in his 1906 presidential address to the APA. Angell believed that functional psychology should study mental operations and their relationship to behavior and the environment, rather than conscious elements. He also argued that mental processes mediate between organism needs and the environment, and that the mind and body cannot be separated. While influential, some critics argued that Angell contradicted himself on his views of consciousness and its function. Overall, Angell helped define functionalism and differentiate it from structuralism.

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    74 views3 pages

    Psychology Department

    Uploaded by

    shoaib shah
    James Rowland Angell was an influential American psychologist who made major contributions to functionalist psychology. He laid out the key principles of functionalism in his 1906 presidential address to the APA. Angell believed that functional psychology should study mental operations and their relationship to behavior and the environment, rather than conscious elements. He also argued that mental processes mediate between organism needs and the environment, and that the mind and body cannot be separated. While influential, some critics argued that Angell contradicted himself on his views of consciousness and its function. Overall, Angell helped define functionalism and differentiate it from structuralism.

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    of 3

    Contribution of James Rowland

    Angell in Functionalism
    Personal History:
    Angell was born on May 8, 1869, in Burlington, Vermont. He was born into one
    of the stellar academic families in American history. His father was the president of the University
    of Vermont. He was the youngest of three children, with an older brother and sister. 

    Angell graduated from the University of Michigan with his bachelor's degree in 1890. He worked closely
    with John Dewey, earning a master's degree under his supervision in 1891. He then went to Harvard
    University where he received a second master's degree in 1892 in psychology. He studied for a doctorate
    in philosophy in Berlin and Halle. His dissertation on the treatment of freedom in Kant was accepted, but
    required stylistic changes, which he never completed. [1] Instead, he decided to take up a post at
    the University of Minnesota He did, however, receive 23 honorary degrees during his lifetime.

    Contribution to psychology
    His most important contribution to functionalist psychology was his 1906 presidential
    address to American Psychological Association entitled "The Province of Functional
    Psychology." In this speech, he made three major points, drawing the battle lines
    between functionalism and structuralism.

    Major points:
     Functionalism interested in mental operations not conscious elements.
     Mental processes mediate between needs of the organism and the environment.
     Mind and body cannot be separated.

    Explanation:
    He was greatly influenced by the thought of  John Dewey and is closely identified
    with functional psychology

    Angell laid out his three major points about functionalism during his presidential address for the American
    Psychological Association.

     Functional psychology is interested in mental operations by way of mental activity and its relation
    to the larger biological forces. Angell believes that functional psychologists must consider the
    evolution of the mental operations in humans as one particular way to deal with the conditions of
    our environment. Mental operations by themselves are of little interest. Functional psychology is
    not conscious elements.
     Mental processes aid in the cooperation between the needs of the organism and its environment.
    Mental functions help the organism survive by aiding in the behavioral habits of the organism and
    unfamiliar situations.
     Mind and body cannot be separated because functionalism is the study of mental operations and
    their relationship with behavior. The total relationship of the organism and the environment and the
    minds function/place in this union is at question. [10]

    By stating these points, Angell drew the difference between functionalism as a study to discover how
    mental processed operate, what they accomplish that has kept them around, and the conditions in which
    they occur or the how and why of consciousness and its predecessor, structuralism, which focused on
    individual mental elements or the what of consciousness.

    Criticisms:
    James Angell did have some criticism come his way for his views. The backlash from some
    about his implication of leaving out the structuralism model in studies and having a
    completely functionalist view did not sit well amongst some of his peers. There was also the dissecting of
    his works and the assumption that he contradicted himself in his view of what consciousness was and its
    function. Some think that he portrayed consciousness as more of a deux ex machina entity in its function
    due to his claim that the function of the conscious was to appear when the organism was in trouble and
    then disappear soon after the trouble had passed. [11] In her book Primate Visions: Gender, Race, and
    Nature in the World of Modern Science, Donna Haraway writes that "Angell paradigmatically represented
    the elaborate interconnections of university, industry, philanthropy, and science policy in the development
    of the material structures and ideologies of scientific management of society." 

    References:
     Angell, J. R. (1936). James Rowland Angell. In Carl Murchison (Ed.), A History of Psychology in
    Autobiography (Vol. 3, pp. 1–38). Worcester, MA: Clark University
    Press. http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Angell/Angell_1961.html
     Arnold, F. (1907) Untitled [Review of the article: The Province of Functional Psychology]. The
    Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods, 4, 276-277.
     Dewsbury, D. (2003). James Rowland Angell, Born Administrator. In G. A. Kimble & M. Wertheimer
    (Eds.), Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology (vol. 5). APA & LE
     Hergenhahn, B. R. (2009). An Introduction to the History of Psychology. Belmont: Wadsworth
    Cengage Learning.

    _______________________

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