The Behaviorist and Cognitive Approaches to Psychology

The Behaviorist and Cognitive Approaches to Psychology

In this essay I am going to explore two of the major approaches to

Psychology, Cognitive theories and Behaviorist theories. I will

discuss in some detail the two approaches, state how they compare and

illustrate the similarities and the differences between them.

John Watson, one of the founders of Behaviorism, based his theories

on the principles of learning outlined by Pavlov who suggested the

theory known as Classical Conditioning; he trained dogs to salivate

whenever he rang a bell. Dogs have a natural reflex response to

salivate when they see food, Pavlov rang a bell when the dogs were

given food and after several repetitions of this action, the dogs

began to salivate whenever they heard the bell, even when there was

not any food there. This approach rejected the idea of the conscious

mind. Albert Ellis & Aaron T Beck developed the present form of the

Cognitive approach to psychology in the 1950’s. This development

emerged from a growing dissatisfaction with the narrowness of the

behaviorist approach as it neglects complex human activities such as

planning and communication.

Behaviorists emphasize the relationship between the environment

surrounding a person and how it affects a person’s behavior. This

approach has a tendency to ignore mental processes. Behaviorists

believe that studying the brain is not ultimately the best or most

effective way to understand behavior. A person might act oddly in one

particular environment, but normal in others. Whilst cognitive

psychologists agree with the behaviorist theory that the environment

surrounding a person does have some inf...

... middle of paper ...

...hey may be thinking or feeling, if focuses on what

you can see not the emotions. It is difficult to measure the thinking

or feeling of independence and the behaviour of others, as well as the

expectations of others in any particular given situation, for example

John Watson believed that given the right environment anybody could be

made into anything.

Sources of Information

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Psychology – A New Introduction by Richard Gross, Rob McIlveen, Hugh

Coolicun, Alan Clamp and Julia Russell (Twelfth Edition)

Hilgards Introduction to Psychology by Rita L Atkinson, Richard C

Atkison, Edward G Smith, Daryl J Bern and Susan Nolen-Hoeksema

(Second Edition)

Basic Psychology by Henry Gleitman (First Edition)

www.sntp.net/behaviourism.thml

http://scs.une.edu.au/Materials/573/573_4.html