Functionalism

Functionalism: A school of psychology founded by William James around 1885. Extended psychology to animals and focused not on what consciousness was made up of, that is, its structure, but what consciousness did for us, how it helped us to survive. Because this school stressed what function a trait or characteristic served, it seemed natural to call it "Functionalism. So Functionalism didn't study consciousness by analyzing what it was made up of, but by asking what was its use. Still, to find out how animals were using their capabilities, they had to imagine what was in a animal's mind by introspecting for them, since the animal couldn't tell them. In other words, they would ask, "If I were that animal, why would I do what it just did?" This was called "introspection by analogy"and obviously was not very valid, since it wasn't testable or verifiable.

We still do this today with our pets. When we catch our dog on the couch and he jumps off and slinks away with his tail between his legs, we think, "Well, if I were that dog, I would feel guilty and slink off just the way he is, so he must be feeling guilty."