Noun
any doctrine that stresses utility or purpose
a psychology based on the assumption that all mental process are useful to an organism in adapting to the environment
Source: WordNetAccording to the multiple realizability account of functionalism, even non-human systems such as robots and computers can be ascribed as having cognition. Source: Internet
Boas developed the principle of cultural relativism and Malinowski developed the theory of functionalism as guides for producing non-ethnocentric studies of different cultures. Source: Internet
Because a high-level language is a practical requirement for developing the most complex programs, functionalism implies that a non-reductive physicalism would offer a similar advantage over a strictly eliminative materialism. Source: Internet
Educational psychology has been built upon theories of Operant conditioning, functionalism, structuralism, constructivism, humanistic psychology, Gestalt psychology, and information processing. Source: Internet
Because a computer program can accurately represent functional relationships as relationships between symbols, a computer can have mental phenomena if it runs the right program, according to functionalism. Source: Internet
The Bauhaus promoted pure functionalism, stripped of superfluous ornament, and that has become one of the defining characteristics of modern architecture. Source: Internet