Functionalism emerged as one of the most influential theoretical approaches in social anthropology during the early twentieth century. It sought to explain cultural institutions by examining the functions they perform in maintaining society and satisfying human needs. Among its principal advocates, Bronisław Malinowski developed a distinctive version known as psychological or bio-functionalism. His work transformed anthropological research by emphasizing intensive fieldwork, participant observation, and the study of culture as an integrated system. Malinowski argued that every aspect of culture exists because it serves a definite purpose in fulfilling the biological and psychological needs of individuals. Malinowski's anthropological ideas were largely shaped by his extensive fieldwork among the Trobriand Islanders of the Western Pacific during the First World War. Unlike earlier anthropologists who depended on second-hand reports, he lived among the people, learned their language, observed their daily lives, and recorded their customs in detail. His method of participant observation became a standard practice in anthropology. He insisted that anthropologists should understand institutions from the viewpoint of the people themselves, an approach he described as grasping the "native's point of view." According to Malinowski, culture