Behaviorism Case Study

Overall, Behaviorism is an important topic in today’s society. Although the main focus was in the 20th century, Behaviorism is still talked about today by many psychologists. Three important figures like Watson, Pavlov and Skinner were only a few that came up with their own experiments in order to prove that behaviorism all depends on observable behavior. Hence, Behaviorism is known to be behaviors that are acquired through conditioning in the

In Psychology there are many different learning styles. One of the more famous learning styles is operant conditioning. In operant conditioning there are two major concepts; reinforcement and punishment. By using these two concepts, behaviors can be encouraged or reduce a certain behavior. Next would be the different schedules of reinforcement that effect how often a behavior is likely to continue. Lastly the article goes on to state how behaviors can be shaped using these and other various methods.

Behaviorism was developed to study observable behavior. Because behaviorism describes the learning process it is also known as the learning theory. Behaviorists indicate that learning and development progress over time, and that the process is due to natural behavior guidelines that control responses and actions. Behaviorism theorists explain conditioning as a response that is paired with a specific stimuli, and thus learning begins. The two types of conditioning are classical and operant. These two types of theories are different in many ways, but are also extremely similar.

Behaviorism is defined as a school of psychology that takes the objective evidence of behavior (as measured responses to stimuli) as the only concern of its research and the only basis of its theory without reference to conscious experience (Merriam-Webster). B.F skinner, Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson are known as the fathers’ of behaviorism. They all had a different prospective on what makes someone learn, the one thing they had in common is reinforcement methods. Their experiments did have enough true findings to spark others to want to explore how behaviorism affects learning. Behaviorists often look at learning as a characteristic of conditioning and will promote a system of prizes and targets in education.

Behaviorism known as learning theory states that the reason why people think, act, and feel the way they do is because they learned it. John Watson in 1913 started this movement claiming that learning wasn’t just about our neutrons or your genes. It’s believed that all behavior is learned from surrounding behaviors and behavior is a result of stimulus and response. Behaviorism is also scientific but ignores biology, it has many experiments to support its theories and is highly applicable in therapy. There are three ways to apply behaviorism, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning.

According to the video entitled Behaviorism: A general overview of behaviorist learning theory, this approach to learning rejects the emphasis on the conscious and unconscious mind and focuses on the observable behavior of the subject. The principle of the behaviorism theory is that there is a direct association between a stimulus and the response an individual makes, the change in an individual’s behavior indicates that learning has occurred, and that individuals are not born with disposition to act in particular ways (Ormrod, 2012). In classrooms where the behavioral technique is used, there are often behavior modification and token reward systems in place (Campana, 2011).

There are many intriguing branches of psychology, but behaviorism captured many aspiring psychologists and young minds in the 1920s and 1930, and has been the dominant orientation since the mid 30s. Behaviorism was the radical revision of the method of psychological research. Consciousness was not accepted at the time and behaviorism called for the ban of introspection. Behaviorism is a branch of psychology that started with John B. Watson’s “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it.” Even though considered innate, researching this topic will show behavior is learned more by environmental factors through modeling and observing. The founder, Watson, created classical conditioning, and later B.F. Skinner contributed with operant conditioning. Watson’s evidence was his most famous experiment, the “Little Albert Experiment.”

As we all know behaviorism is also known as behavioral psychology. This is based on the idea that behaviors are acquired using conditioning. This occurs when a person interacts with his or her environment. Behavior can be studied in a systematic manner only considering the observable and not including the internal thoughts of the person. Behaviors are influenced by external factors from the conditioning of parents to situations in the environment. Behaviorism is concerned primarily with the observable and measurable aspects of human behavior. The behavioral approach is based on the concept of explaining behavior through observation, and the belief that our environment is what causes us to behave differently or suffer illnesses. Therefore when behaviors become unacceptable, they can be unlearned. Behaviorism views development as a continuous process in which children play a relatively passive role. It is also a general approach that is used in a variety of settings including both clinical and educational.

Behaviorism, or learning theory is one of three “grand theories” of human development. The focus of behaviorism is observable behavior, with no reference to mental processes. As a learning theory behaviorism, assumes that learning occurs via interactions with the environment, through the process of conditioning.

Behavioral psychology or behaviorism, is a school of thought that is based upon learning. Behaviorists theorize that all behaviors are learned by way of conditioning. Conditioning comes about through interface with the environment. Behaviorists believe that our individual reactions to various environmental stimuli form our behaviors. B. F. Skinner was one of the most prominent American psychologists. He was a behaviorist who developed the theory of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is the idea that behavior is shaped largely by its consequences, in the form of punishment or reinforcement, which make less or more likely, respectively, that the behavior will occur again. Operant conditioning is a means of learning that takes place through

The behavioral perspective is a theoretical perspective that says that abnormal behavior is caused by flawed learning experiences (Halgin and Whitbourne, 2013). B.F Skinner, the most common behaviorist, believed a person’s environment or anything external can influence a person mentally (AllPsych, 2011). The main point of the behavioral perspective is how the environment affects a person’s overall behavior (AllPsych, 2011). The three types of behavioral theories are classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and contiguity theory. Operant conditioning is when a person learns behaviors through reinforcement (Halgin and Whitbourne, 2013). Skinner studied operant conditioning by doing experiments using dogs that he placed in a “Skinner Box” (McLeod, 2011). Contiguity theory says that any stimulus and response that is connected will be associated with each other (Ramo and Howe-Tennant). Contiguity theory comes from the work of E. R. Guthrie (Ramo and Howe-Tennant). Classical conditioning is a learning connection between an original stimulus and a naturally evoking stimulus that causes an automatic reflexive reaction. Classical conditioning was the first type of learning to be discovered (Halgin and Whitbourne, 2013). Classical conditioning was also the first to be studied by behaviorist (Halgin and Whitbourne, 2013). Classical conditioning was discovered by Ivan Pavlov (AllPsych, 2011). During Pavlov’s experiments, he would put meat powder in dogs mouths that had tubes inserted in different organs to measure the dogs body responses (AllPsych, 2011). Pavlov found that the dogs began to salivate before the meat powder was presented to them (AllPsych, 2011). He also found that the dogs began to salivate as soon as the person feedi...

Given the patient’s situation as mentioned in the introduction, I think it is more reasonable to assume she only has certain mental states, as supported by the fourth and third doctor’s different theories on the woman’s situation, and ultimately towards the mind-body problem, which I speculate are referring to the theories of behaviorism and physicalism, respectively.

Behavior and social learning are two theories that are inherently intertwined. Behavior to some extent is taught for social reasons, and social learning can very much shape and create behaviors. While behavior is something intentionally taught, social learning can teach and reinforce many unintentional behaviors, such as dishonesty or aggression. In order to adequately discuss these two interrelated topics, theory exploration is in order.

The behaviorism theory and cognitive theory has been a long going debate. Behaviorism essentially means a type of cause and effect is how human learn whereas cognitive theory focuses on the human behaviors through their cognitive thought process.

In 1913 a new movement in psychology appeared, Behaviorism. “Introduced by John Broadus Watson when he published the classic article Psychology as the behaviorist views it.” Consequently, Behaviorism (also called the behaviorist approach) was the primary paradigm in psychology between 1920 to 1950 and is based on a number of underlying ‘rules’: Psychology should be seen as a science; Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal events, like thinking and emotion; People have no free will – a person’s environment determines their behavior; Behavior is the result of stimulus resulting in a response; and All behavior is learned from the environment. How we process these stimuli and learn from our surrounds