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Beginnings of modern psychology
Contributors in behaviorism
Contributors in behaviorism
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Throughout the history of psychology, there have been many influential psychologists. Each of these psychologists left their own individual and unique mark in psychology and the world in general. A psychologist is clinically defined as a person who studies the mind and behavior and specializes in diagnosing and using "talk therapy" in treating emotional disturbances, mental illnesses, and behavioral problems. One of the many influential psychologists in American psychology is John B. Watson, Father of Behaviorism. Watson is best known for his life, behaviorism, career achievements and Little Albert Experiment.
John Broadus Watson was a 20th century psychologist whose main focus was the study of behaviorism. Watson was born on January 9, 1878 in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, his mother was quite religious and looked down on several things that Watson had opposed to follow along with throughout his teens. With some connections his mother Emma had Watson was accepted to Furman University in South Carolina. While enrolled in school Watsons academic life had completely made a 360 change and he ended up graduating with his master’s degree at the age of 21. Upon completion of his master’s degree Watson next enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Chicago where he started mainly focusing on his behaviorist theories in psychology.
As Watson continued to study behaviorism he seemed to be heavily influenced by Vladimir Bekhterev and Ivan Povlov who were both studying classical conditioning. After only three years Watson had majored in psychology and neurology with a minor in philosophy under many scholars which included Angell, Donaldson, and Dewey. Watson ended up earning his PhD at the University of Chicago where Watson fina...
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...moved away and the question had always remained as to what had happen to the child? Was there a grown man out in the world living with the fear of white furry objects? In 2009 psychologists had discovered that the child had died at the age of 6 of hydrocephalus which goes to question if “Little Albert” had in fact been the healthy and normal boy that Watson had presented in the beginning of the experiment.
Watson had come up with a new psychological study which consisted that of behaviorism. His new study of adjustive behavior had been primarily said it had nothing to do with the conscious content in one’s mind. Watson believed that animal and human seem to just adapt to the environment around them and results in their behavior can be predicted to a certain extent. Watsons’ goal was to come up with a technique in which the leaders of society can control behavior.
Many people attribute modern psychology to psychologist such as Sigmund Freud, Ivan Pavlov, and B.F. Skinner. Though, they were a part of developing modern psychology, many forget to recognize important founders such as William James. According to King, Viney and Woody, James came from a family with a strict father, raised in tolerance. James and his father had many encounters because of their different views. They were a wealthy and cultured family. James attended Harvard, studying a broad spectrum of just about everything. He finally received his medical degree in 1869, but then became depressed and anxious about life. He was not fond of medicine and was then offered to teach a course in the Relations between Psychology and Physiology. He was also the founder of Harvard’s first psychology laboratory. James then began to teach psychology as well as writing the first U.S. psychology text, Principles of Psychology, in 1890; this book was the main psychology textbook for many years to come (p.284). James was well known for his philosophy, which he explored many areas. For example individualism, which he believed that circumstances shape individuals and then individuals shape the world also that we understand reality only through individual experiences. Pluralism was another view which he believed that there are many ways to understand the world, and a variety of methods and topics to study. Also, for James pragmatism was a belief that if an idea worked it was valid; these ideas should have “cash value” as he stated. He meant that these ideas should be useful and apply them to the real world. Although philosophy was a major part of his work, he was also known as the American founder of psychology (King, Viney &Woody 2013, p.286). Wi...
Watson did not debrief either Albert or his parents about the nature of the study. The study’s purpose was to induce an emotional response of fear into this young child. Watson both physically and mentally harmed the child, possibly leaving Albert emotionally traumatized by the experiment. To add,
Watson. Behaviorism is the “science of behavior” (Pearson) and it disregards the consciousness issue in psychology at the time and focused instead on the observable behavior. Watson believed that all behavior is learned, and he tested that theory with the experiment called “Little Albert”. In the case study, it is stated that her eating disorder started after her parents started fighting her junior year of high school. That would mean the root of her problem originated with her parents
Looking at a story, the key word, story, we looked at the little albert study. Albert B, or Little albert was a boy who back in 1920, that was studied by a behaviorist John Watson. It was study in which a loud noise, like a loud bang on a bar, happened behind Little Albert, when he was given some type of small furry object or other objects. Watson showed that the research went very well, when in reality, that may not have been the case, and the identity of Little Albert is not fully known.
Watson’s medical training causes him to articulate his experience in careful detail, in the same manner he might articulate his diagnosis of a patient’s condition. For instance, note his description of his entry into a London opium den in 1889:
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
This quote was stated by none other than a determined man who is best known for behaviorism and the Little Albert experiment, John B. Watson. Mr. Watson’s life story intrigued me greatly to study his theory and also to write about it for my research paper. Mr. Watson didn’t have a “Brady Bunch family” where there was positivity and smiles all around in contrast; he had a hard life in his early stage but, managed to still excel in life. His work was based on the findings of Ivan Pavlov who discovered classical conditioning. (Theories of Learning in Educational Psychology , 2013) Mr. Watson made history by being the founder of behaviorism which paving the way for another pioneer of psychology Mr. Burrhus Frederic Skinner also known as B.F Skinner which discovered operant conditioning.
Watson was an American psychologist that helped path the way for other researchers in psychology. He was born on January 9th, 1878, in South Carolina. His mother was devoted to religion and she pushed her ideals and morals onto him. She prohibited smoking, drinking, adultery, and other sinful acts. This led to Watson growing up hating religion and eventually, opposing it. Also, Watson was a delinquent when he was young, he was arrested twice and did poorly academically; but, with the help of his mother and her connections, it gave him an opportunity to attend Furman University of South Carolina. This gave him a second chance and he didn’t take it for granted. Watson graduated with a master’s when he was 21. After he finished his years in Furman University, he was presented with an offer from University of Chicago, for his graduates study in psychology. Once he finished his graduate degree, he stayed there as a research
In chapter one, we discussed about John B. Watson’s theory that all behaviors were to be learned like what he did towards “little Albert” and the white mouse. There are several connections that I can make from my own experience of how John B. Watson conditioned “little Albert” mind. This can relate to myself but in case it is about seeing the dark. Ever since I was a kid my parents would always tell me that to not walk away from them especially at night. They would always scare me and say “there’s a monster there!!” or there’s a ghost and as a kid I
Behaviorism and conditioning has its share of success stories especially when used to curb undesirable habits such as smoking and drinking, however they have also had their moments of darkness as well as seen in 1920 with John Watson and his little experiments that starred a young boy dubbed Little Albert. During Watson’s experiments to help explain conditioning, During his experiments Watson exposed Albert to a number of animals and recorded Albert’s initial reactions which were next to none at all. Watson then began exposing the same animals to Albert, and providing loud bangs that startled Albert at the same time. Eventually Albert began to cry at the sight of the animals even when they were not seen simultaneously with the loud bang.
John B. Watson was born in South Carolina in 1878 (John Watson (1878-1958), 2007). In 1913 he published an article on behaviorism, “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it (John Watson (1878-1958), 2007).” This article is often referred to as, “The Behaviorist Manifesto (John Watson (1878-1958), 2007).” Watson was the president of the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1915, and during this time he was awarded a gold medal for his contributions in the field (John Watson (1878-1958), 2007).
The Little Albert experiment has become a widely known case study that is continuously discussed by a large number of psychology professionals. In 1920, behaviorist John Watson and his assistant Rosalie Rayner began to conduct one of the first experiments done with a child. Stability played a major factor in choosing Albert for this case study, as Watson wanted to ensure that they would do as little harm as possible during the experiment. Watson’s method of choice for this experiment was to use principles of classic conditioning to create a stimulus in children that would result in fear. Since Watson wanted to condition Albert, a variety of objects were used that would otherwise not scare him. These objects included a white rat, blocks, a rabbit, a dog, a fur coat, wool, and a Santa Claus mask. Albert’s conditioning began with a series of emotional tests that became part of a routine in which Watson and Rayner were determining whether other stimuli’s could cause fear.
The theory of behaviorism was later advanced by JB Watson who argued that any behavior can be instilled in a child. Watson argued that any child can be classically conditioned to become anything or to acquire any behavior. The study off classical conditioning involves presenting to an animal or organism to a conditioned stimulus. There is no connection between the conditioned stimulus and the organism. The organism is then exposed to an unconditional stimulus which is then followed repetitively with the exposition of the conditioned stimulus over a certain number of times until the organism learns to associate the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response even at the absence of an unconditioned response. In the process the organism was found to elicit an unconditional response at the exposure to the conditioned stimulus.
In conclusion, the theory of behaviorism is based on observable behaviors for easier quantification and data collection. Effective techniques such as behavior intervention and discrete trial training originate from this school of thought. The approaches are very essential in altering the maladaptive behaviors in adults and children (Cherry, 2011). Today, conditioning and the use of reward and punishment are used to help people learn accepted behavior and in other cases to help them stop problematic behavior (Coon & Mitterer, 2008). This has made behavior modification and training easy and possible. Therefore, Dr. John Watson played a tremendous role in the transition of psychology from the work of earlier scholars to the modern scholars.
There are five main contributors to behaviorism. They are Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B.F. Skinner, Albert Bandura, and Joseph Wolpe. The beh...