Functionalism, as I understand it, is an extremely complex psychological concept. Through my research, I have discovered that functionalism typically has several different focus areas such as structural functionalism, a sociological functionalism, and functionalism relating to the philosophy of mind. Structural functionalism focuses on “how things work rather than why” (Boshier). This theory comes from the belief that everything that has a purpose for the way that it functions. Structural functionalism focuses more on scientific beliefs rather than psychological theories. Sociological functionalism focuses on society. Herbert Spencer was a functionalist who related functionalism to living organisms, such as the human body. In the body, every organ performs a specific function. According to Spencer, so does society. Areas such as military, economics, medical, religion, etc., has a function of its own, and the more these functions differ from one another, the harder it is for the entire organism to function (Sociologija). Functionalism relating to the philosophy of mind, in my opinion, is much more complicated to understand compared to structural and sociological functionalism.

A perfect example of how adaptation works is displayed in the movie “Fight Club.” The main character, Jack, has a very boring consumer-driven life. He works very hard at his job and returns to his apartment where he gets pleasure from furnishing his apartment with his catalogue purchases. He uses materialistic objects to define who he is. Jack experiences six months of insomnia and tries to receive treatment. Through the process, he finds relief by attending support groups for various diseases. At these support groups he listens to people tell their stories and then they take turns crying. He explains the process by saying “Something happened, I let go. Lost in an oblivion, dark and silent and complete, I found freedom. Losing all hope was freedom” (Fight Club). He adapted to the environment of the support group and as a result he was able to sleep, until Marla came. Marla was a woman that started to attend all the support groups that Jack did. Marla changed Jack’s adaptation process. Jack changed his mind into a supportive man that didn’t need material objects for comfort because he was adapting to the

The theory compares the human thought process with the process of a machine.

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