Step 1: Understanding the Question:
The question asks us to identify which of the listed conceptual systems were proposed or adopted by the early founders and followers of functionalist psychology.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
• Functionalism was heavily influenced by evolutionary ideas regarding adaptation and utility.
• A. Synthetic philosophy: Formulated by Herbert Spencer, this philosophy attempted to synthesize all scientific knowledge through the lens of evolution, which served as a foundational inspiration for American functionalism.
• C. Social Darwinism: Also popularized by Herbert Spencer, Social Darwinism applied evolutionary concepts of "survival of the fittest" to human societies and institutions, which was closely integrated into the early functionalist worldview.
• B. Stimulus error: This concept was proposed by Edward Bradford Titchener, a leader of the rival Structuralist school, to warn introspectors against describing physical stimuli rather than raw conscious experience.
• D. Tropism: Formulated by Jacques Loeb, tropism is an objective, mechanistic behavioral concept explaining forced movements in plants and animals, associated with early behaviorism.
• E. Law of exercise: Formulated by Edward Thorndike, this is a behavioral law of learning, not a concept defining functionalism as a school of thought.
• Therefore, Synthetic philosophy (A) and Social Darwinism (C) are the concepts directly linked to the evolutionary foundations of the functionalist school.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The concepts proposed by the followers and intellectual precursors of functionalism are A & amp; C Only.