HISTORY & SYSTEMS IN
PSYCHOLOGY
PSY 237
WILLIAM JAMES
AND FUNCTIONALISM
,
,James’ life (1842- 1910)
• William James was born in New York City in 1842, the elder son in a family of emin
intellectuals who encouraged cosmopolitanism and traveled a lot to Europe.
• Fluent in both German and French.
• Early artistic talent, but switch to scientific studies in 1861, where he studied medic
at Harvard University and graduated with MD in 1869 (he never practiced medicin
• In his early adulthood, James suffered from several physical ailments (in eyes, back
stomach, and skin) and a variety of psychological symptoms which were diagnosed
the time as neurasthenia (anxiety + depression), and he even contemplated suicide
• He says his "soul-sickness" ended as he started the period of philosophical search
• James married Alice Howe Gibbens in 1878. The couple had five children, one of
whom died at age 2 (illness) causing him devastation.
, • He discovered that his true interests lay not in medicine but in
philosophy and psychology. In 1902 he writes: "I never had any
philosophic instruction, the first lecture on psychology I ever heard
the first I ever gave".
• Interacted with eminent figures ( Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bertrand
Russell, John Dewey, Mark Twain, and Pierre Janet and Sigmund
Freud).
• Spent almost all of his academic career at Harvard, teaching
physiology, anatomy, psychology and philosophy. In 1889, he was
Chairman of Psychology.
PSYCHOLOGY
PSY 237
WILLIAM JAMES
AND FUNCTIONALISM
,
,James’ life (1842- 1910)
• William James was born in New York City in 1842, the elder son in a family of emin
intellectuals who encouraged cosmopolitanism and traveled a lot to Europe.
• Fluent in both German and French.
• Early artistic talent, but switch to scientific studies in 1861, where he studied medic
at Harvard University and graduated with MD in 1869 (he never practiced medicin
• In his early adulthood, James suffered from several physical ailments (in eyes, back
stomach, and skin) and a variety of psychological symptoms which were diagnosed
the time as neurasthenia (anxiety + depression), and he even contemplated suicide
• He says his "soul-sickness" ended as he started the period of philosophical search
• James married Alice Howe Gibbens in 1878. The couple had five children, one of
whom died at age 2 (illness) causing him devastation.
, • He discovered that his true interests lay not in medicine but in
philosophy and psychology. In 1902 he writes: "I never had any
philosophic instruction, the first lecture on psychology I ever heard
the first I ever gave".
• Interacted with eminent figures ( Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bertrand
Russell, John Dewey, Mark Twain, and Pierre Janet and Sigmund
Freud).
• Spent almost all of his academic career at Harvard, teaching
physiology, anatomy, psychology and philosophy. In 1889, he was
Chairman of Psychology.
