Psychology

Functionalism being the philosophy of the mind has had a great impact on the study of the science of psychology influencing it both in the direction of applied science as well as in the behaviorism direction. With functionalism, it is possible to study the subjective mind and at the same time explore behavior objectively.

Functionalisms influence on applied and behavioral trends
Functionalism as described by William James looked not only into the structure but also to the reason why people behaved in a certain way. It therefore seeks to explain the human mind in a systematic way with greater accuracy. The functionalist view of consciousness is that it exists for a given purpose. Since psychology involves studying the mind and human behavior, the functionalism trend fitted well in understanding how an organisms consciousness helps it to adapt to the environment. A good example of applied psychology as explained under functionalism is that bodily responses lead to emotional responses (Oglethorpe University, 2010).

Although behaviorism does not recognize psychology as a mind science but as a science of behavior, the functionalism trend tends to relate these two phenomenons. Functionalism does not wholly abolish behaviorism but actually bridges behaviorism with applied psychology. A functionalist will relate a certain behavior with an organisms consciousness and in the process advance behaviorism. In the above example of the body response to various encounters, the element of external environment (a characteristic of behaviorism) is still recognized as it stimulates the mind (a characteristic of functionalism) (Oglethorpe University, 2010).

In conclusion, there is no doubt that functionalism is a bridge between the study of the mind in a subjective manner and study of behavior in an objective approach. As such, functionalism advanced applied psychology and behaviorism in psychology.