Final answer:
True. William James, associated with the perspective of functionalism, saw mental activities as adaptive functions assisting an organism's survival within its environment.
Step-by-step explanation:
James saw mental activities as serving some adaptive function: True. William James, a prominent psychologist and a key figure in the development of functionalism, believed that mental activities were adaptive responses that helped organisms survive in their environments. Drawing from Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, James and others like John Dewey and Charles Sanders Peirce, argued that psychological processes had evolved to serve functions crucial for the survival and reproduction of the species. Functionalism suggests that mental activities contribute to an individual's fit with their environment, emphasizing the importance of understanding the role or function of behavior and cognition in adapting to various circumstances.
James's perspective proposed that psychology should not just focus on the structure or components of the mind, as in structuralism, but rather on how the mental activities of the whole mind contributed to the practical adaptation of an organism within its environment. Introspection was one tool James advocated for understanding mental processes, but he also supported the use of objective measures such as recording devices and the examination of anatomical and physiological evidence to study mental activities.