Cognitive Functionalism

Deviance in sociology is defined as behaviour that violates or goes against the cultural norm –being non-normative (Henslin et al., 2013)

1.Compare and contrast the conflict and the functionalist perspective relative to the political system in the United States. Select one current issue such as healthcare, immigration, or one of your choosing and discuss the issue from both perspectives.

“How will your family react, if they find out how you spend your nights here?” said Gil.

Bias, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is an inclination of temperament or outlook, or a personal and sometimes unreasoned judgement. We face bias in our everyday lives when dealing with all aspects of life and not necessarily the criminal justice system. As a part of society, like conflict, bias helps our society function. While not always in a positive sense, bias does have a place in society that helps it function the way we know it today. Bias in society can be compared or categorized under the sociological perspective of Functionalism. The sociological theory of Functionalism is essentially when all aspects of society that are interdependent contribute to the functioning existence of society as a whole. If there was no bias in society,

Functionalism is one of the three systematic schools of thought alongside structuralism and behaviourism. Its main focus revolves around the functioning of the mind and its usage by organisms to help adapt to new environments. Functionalists study the collective mental processes & functions that lead to pragmatic consequences in the world (Baker et al, 2009).

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was created by Aaron Beck, a professor in psychiatry in the 1960’s (Beck, 2011). Initially, Beck sought out to prove the psychoanalytic idea that depression stemmed from anger towards oneself (Beck, 2011). However, during his research he found that misleading thoughts and beliefs were the reasoning behind depression. Beck theorized that one’s current feelings about something are derived from an initial encounter that gave meaning to that specific event. So, negative feelings about a particular occurrence can be a result of misinformation (Beck & Greenberg, 1984).

People can display themselves outwardly in a certain manner although on the inside be completely different. A person’s attitude and behavior can influence each other; a person’s surrounds will also have an impact on how the person is. An example of this can be seen in a person committing a crime such as shoplifting, the person knows this is illegal and not moral but in the right situation the person may forget his or her moral upbringing and commit the crime any way. Influences on the individual can be overpowering, causing the person to behave or act in an attitude different from the person’s normal action and behavior. People tend to suffer from

Functionalism is one of the major proposals that have been offered as solutions to the mind/body problem. Solutions to the mind/body problem usually try to answer questions such as: What is the ultimate nature of the mental? At the most general level, what makes a mental state mental? Or more specifically, What do thoughts have in common in virtue of which they are thoughts? That is, what makes a thought a thought? What makes a pain a pain? Cartesian Dualism said the ultimate nature of the mental was to be found in a special mental substance. Behaviorism identified mental states with behavioral dispositions. Functionalism holds most simply, that mental states are brain states: that mental states are constituted by their causal relations to

There are several models of abnormality in use today (Comer, 2009) lists “The Biological Model…”, “The Psychodynamic Model…”, The Behavioral Model…”, The Cognitive Model…”, The Humanistic-Existential Model…”, The Sociocultural Model…” (p.33). The biggest contrasts would be the Biological model, and the other models. Comparing the biological model, and the cognitive model will highlight those differences.

There are three different ways to analyze the United States educational system. Structural Functionalism, Which is viewed as comprehending the essential functions for society, The Conflict Theory, sees the importance of education and promotes social inequality through the hidden curriculum, lastly the Symbolic interactionism, is the interaction between the teachers and the students to develop the expectations for the student. These three perspectives have advantages and limitations in today’s educational society. An advantage that Structural Functionalism has in the educational system is helping individuals prepare to enter the workforce and being able to survive in the society. For an example, they provide the appropriate knowledge and skills so that students can attend college later on in life.

Functionalism is one of the main principles involved in sociology. Emile Durkheim developed the functionalist theory. The method analyzes different parts of society and how they function individually to create a more stable society has a whole. According to Sociology in Our Times, "Functional perspectives are based on the assumption that society is a stable, orderly system. This stable system is distinguished by societal consensus, whereby the majority of members share a common set of values, beliefs, and behavioral expectations." A functionalist society constitutes from the corresponding parts of society that carry out certain functions that strengthen the long-range stabilization of society. Institutions and structures emerge to help play a role in aiding society’s chances of survival. The organizations that add to the survival of the community include family, education, religion, government, and economy. The belief of the functionalist theory is if anything inconspicuous happens to any of the elements stated above, then all parts of society are negatively affected. Another factor that contributes to a stable functionalist society is the participation of the citizens who inhabit the community. To further the functionalist theory, Robert K. Merton divided functionalism into two different aspects of social institutions. The two functions include manifest and latent functions. Manifest functions are intended and excessively noticed by the contributors to society.

. According Thompson (2013), Functionalism understands each part of society and the community in terms of how it provides to the steadiness of an entire community. In Functionalist theory, the unlike parts of community are primarily combined of social organizations, each of which is aimed to satisfy the different needs, and each of which has specific values for the method and form of a society. The parts all depend on each other.

2. OBSERVE - Throughout the Rope course today you could hear the cognitive complexity, hear how some people expected to fall or not get as far as they did. When we were doing ships everybody was thinking of ways to get people back to where they originally were, kept of different ways to do it without stepping off. As we continue the course I realize how much more cognitive complexity plays in my life an example would be when I would play soccer, as a goalie you have to be able to picture yourself going out to get the goal or wait for them to make a shot. I had to make different scenarios of how a shot would be taken or if

Actions by individuals result from various sources: emotions, rewards, intelligence and even from spontaneous changes in feelings. The world is becoming complex every day with new things being introduced on a daily basis. Behavior is among the most dynamic elements in the lives of individuals. Time and resources have been channeled to the study of human mannerism and actions with the aim of increasing the level of understanding among people. Health and economic issues been among the drivers leading to the advances in the field. Theories such as behaviorism and the cognitive theory have been instrumental in creating answers for complex problems. The two ideas are quite distinct in their

One of the major challenges to behaviorism came from studies on observational learning conducted by Albert Bandura and colleagues. (Schunk, 2012) In contrast to Skinner Bandura’s social cognitive theory states people learn new actions merely by observing others perform them. Observers did not have to perform the actions at the time of learning. (Schunk, 2012)