Critical Analysis Paper The functionalist theory has affected psychology for many years to come. Many psychologists have backed this theory many centuries ago. The purpose of this paper is to describe the functionalist theory, compare the work of three theorists, and analyze one contribution of each of theorist’s findings. Functionalism began in the late 19th century. Functionalism was strongly influenced by Darwin’s doctrine of evolution (Olson & Hergenhahn, 2009). The many ideas and thoughts of functionalism originated in the United States. Functionalism is the utility of consciousness and behavior in adjusting to the environment (Olson & Hergenhahn, 2009). Theorists mainly focused on how behavior is affected by the environment. One of the main theorists during the functionalist movement was John Dewey. He was a historicist and a genetic psychologist. He had a different perspective on theories because he was a historicist and a genetic psychologist.
Dewey believed that humans develop through distinct, observable stages of consciousness that correspond with the intellectual development of the race. Therefore, Dewey's inductionist and social constructivist stages are subsumed within his overall developmental scheme, the inductionist stage necessarily precedes the social constructivist stage, and the social constructivist stage necessarily incorporates the inductionist stage (Fallace, 2010, pg. 129)
This alone set Dewey aside from other theorists. He made great advances in the learning between adults and children. One of his contributions was the fact he distinguished between how children and adolescents learn and how adults construct new knowledge (Fallace, 2010). Dewey used his history background to trace the history of races and there development stages. He played a major role in how different people learn and at what ages they are capable of learning