James, William

William James was a distinguished psychologist from Harvard University who developed Functionalism, one of the earliest scientific approaches in Psychology (along with Instrospection and Structuralism). His development of Functionalism was inspired from Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by means of natural selection. It involves the analysis of how the mind helps us adapt to our environment, an extension of anatomical evolution to behavioral adaptation. He likened the mind to a stream of consciousness that constantly adapts to changing environmental stimuli.

James strongly criticized E. B. Titchener's Structuralism and its emphasis on identifying the structure of the mind. He argues that structures keep changing, and studying about them is futile in uncovering the nature and dynamics of the mind.