Psychology: History And Characteristics: The History Of Behaviorism
explanatory Essay
956 words
1. History of Behaviorism Behaviorism is the study of human and animal behavior. The idea behind behaviorism is that behavior is altered by stimuli in the environment and can be reinforced by reward or punishment. Behaviorism can be dated back to the 1800’s and has been studied by many psychologists. But the term behaviorism was known to be brought on by psychologist, John Watson, who wrote the article, “Psychology as the behaviorist views it”, that claimed behaviorism should be considered a natural science, rather than a theory. (Malone 2014) In Watson’s eyes “Psychology should embrace behavior as it’s subject matter and rely on experimental observation of that subject matter as its method” (Moore 2011)
Although John Watson was known as the first advocate for behaviorism, B.F Skinner was one of the most popular and influential psychologists that promoted behaviorism. Initially, Watson’s theory emphasized observability of public behavior only, also known as Methodological behaviorism. (Holland 1989) Methodological behaviorist do not believe that the consciousness of an individual can be measured, therefore not making it a “scientific subject matter”. It wasn’t until 1930, that private behavior, such as
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In this essay, the author
- Explains that b.f. skinner was known as the father of operant conditioning.
- Explains that behaviorism is the study of human and animal behavior, which is altered by stimuli in the environment and can be reinforced by reward or punishment.
- Explains that radical behaviorism focuses keenly on human behavior, and disregards the mental aspects behind understanding behavior. skinner's theory bases behavior as a response to environmental factors.
- Explains how skinner's rat in a box experiment was positive reinforcement. it was based on the "pizza hut book it" program, which rewarded students with pizza coupons and stickers.
Radical behaviorists such as Skinner do not incorporate mental or psychological states into their studies on behavior. (cooper) According to radical behaviorists “Private events such as thinking or sensing the stimuli produced by a damaged tooth to be no different from public events such as oral reading or sensing the sounds produced by a musical instrument.” (Cooper Heward 1992) This means behavior is made from coming in contact with an event, known as observing. Skinner states “What is felt or or introspectively observed is not some nonphysical world of consciousness, mind or mental life, but the observers own body.” (Cooper Heward
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- Behaviorism Essayexplanatory essayBehaviorism is a foundational theory in the world of psychology. However, behaviorism though it was a flourishing influential idea during the beginnings of psychology, it suffered a decline when other aspects of scientific research entered the psychology practice. Behaviorism was the scientific study of behavior. A plethora of great thinkers have made their marks with discoveries in behaviorism but B.F. Skinner was one of the most influential thinkers during the decline of behaviorism and the rise of experimental psychology.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that behaviorism was a flourishing influential idea during the beginnings of psychology, but it declined when other aspects of scientific research entered the psychology practice. skinner was one of the most influential thinkers.
- Explains that b.f. skinner was born of a lawyer and stay-at-home mother in susquehanna, pennsylvania.
- Narrates how skinner excelled and enjoyed hamilton college, a small liberal arts school in new york, where he met the famous poet robert frost.
- Narrates how skinner enjoyed writing short stories but found no positive results. his father supported him in getting a job in which he wrote the digest of the decisions and grievance brought on by coal companies and unions.
- Describes how skinner decided to change his professional life after two years of success as a writer. after leaving his passion for writing behind, he applied to harvard and studied psychology.
- Explains that skinner preformed most of his research at harvard and established himself as a firm behaviorist after reading bertrand russell’s book philosophy. the psychology department chair was against behaviorism and the ideas of john watson.
- Explains that skinner was at a disadvantage because the department of psychology was against behaviorism. crozier focused on research that was about physiology over psychology.
- Analyzes how skinner labeled his ideas of human behavior as radical behaviorism. he argued that psychology should be the study of all behavior.
- Explains skinner's belief that all behavior is determined, and operant behavior, is the idea that we expect something because we preformed a certain behavior.
- Explains that b.f. skinner uncovered the idea that one can change another’s behavior by establishing a reward based system.
699 wordsRead More - Behaviorismexplanatory essaySkinner, B. F.. About behaviorism. [1st ed. New York: Knopf; [distributed by Random House], 1974. Print.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that animals need the environment more than anything because it affects their emotions and behavior. behaviorism tests an animal's reactions to changes in their environment.
- Explains that behaviorists study and look for the causes, functions, complete development, and evolution of the animals. they investigate the relationship of animals to their physical settings and organisms.
- Explains that there can be many processes in studying animal behavior, and sometimes it takes a lot of dedication and time.
- Explains that animals' intelligence isn't as high as humans, but they do things more physically than mentally because of their instinct. change messes up their heads and causes their emotions to be all over place.
- Explains that behaviorism is a very important thing that is studied. behaviorists look for many key features while testing on an animal, mostly growth development and evolution.
- Cites the north carolina association, kendra cherry, and charles snowdon's "california state university, northridge."
- Explains skinner, b. f., about behaviorism, and the role of the null hypothesis in scientific research.
616 wordsRead More - Behaviorism: John B. Skinner's Approach To Psychologyexplanatory essayBehaviorism is an approach to psychology based on the proposition that behavior can be researched scientifically without recourse to inner mental states. It is a form of materialism, denying any independent significance for mind. Its significance for psychological treatment has been profound, making it one of the pillars of pharmacological therapy. One of the assumptions of behaviorist thought is that free will is illusory, and that all behavior is determined by the environment either through association or reinforcement.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that behaviorist techniques have long been employed in education to promote behavior that is desirable and discourage that which is not.
- Explains that negative reinforcement increases the probability of a response that removes or prevents an adverse condition.
- Explains that psychologist b f skinner was interested in learning and behavior. he believes that people learn to avoid negative things and strive for positive things.
- Explains that behaviorism is a form of materialism, denying any independent significance for mind. it runs concurrently with the psychoanalysis movement in psychology in the 20th century.
- Explains that simple contracts can be effective in helping children focus on behavior change. teachers and parents work together to ensure that the contract is being fulfilled.
- Explains that punishment is effective in quickly eliminating undesirable behaviors. failure to do homework results in after-school detention.
- Explains skinner's view that classical conditioning was too simplistic to explain complex human behaviour.
- Explains that punishment is the opposite of reinforcement since it is designed to weaken or eliminate a response rather than increase it.
1800 wordsRead More - Albert Bandura's Theory Of Behaviorismexplanatory essayBehaviorism 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.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that operant conditioning uses reward and punishment to control behavior. it was created by b.f. skinner.
- Explains the third-way behaviorism, which believes people learn through observational learning, by watching and imitating other people's behaviors.
- Explains that behaviorism is scientific but ignores biology, it has many experiments to support its theories and is highly applicable in therapy.
- Explains that john watson conducted an experiment called "little albert experiment" to show evidence of classical conditioning in humans.
963 wordsRead More - Behaviorism Essayanalytical essayBehaviorism is a branch of psychology that has a theoretical approach that gives emphasis to the study of behavior in place of the subject of the mind or the physiological correlates of one's behavior. Behavior is the externally visible response to a stimulus of an animal or human (Weidman). B.F. Skinner is one of the most prominent psychologists of the study of behaviorism. Skinner was on the advance of behaviorism. B.F. Skinner created a group of theories that set out to prove that subjective impetus is not what behavior in humans and animals is so much based on but that behavior is more based on possible reward received and chastisement applied to the animal or human (Newsmakers). Skinner entered into the branch of behaviorism in the 1920s. Behaviorism was still a fairly new branch to psychology at this time. However, Skinner's experiments in his libratory were broadly consideration to be electrifying and ground-breaking, illuminating an knowledge of human behavior and logistics (Newsmakers). Skinner called such behavior based on possible reward received and chastisement that was followed by the repetition of that behavior operant.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that b.f. skinner, one of the most prominent psychologists of behaviorism, created a group of theories that set out to prove that subjective impetus is not what behavior in humans and animals is so much based on.
- Analyzes how skinner clarified the principles that lay groundwork to his psychology.
- Describes b.f. skinner's operant conditioning apparatus, which is a soundproofed enclosed space fashioned with push button and levers.
- Explains that b.f. skinner's views that humans are controlled only by outside factors in the atmosphere and his dismissal of human individuals as self-sufficient made him scandalous amongst his colleagues.
- Explains that the b.f. skinner foundation was established in may of 1988. the foundation supports the science and new works that are a result of his work.
756 wordsRead More - Behaviorism Essayexplanatory essayMany psychologists have contributed to behaviorism becoming the approach that is today. Behaviorism was first presented by the American psychologist John B.Watson. The new concept that Watson presented perceived behavior as a physiological response to environmental stimuli. He disagreed with the belief that mental processes could not be studied scientifically (Behaviorism, 2013). Watson sought to make psychology “a purely objective, experimental branch of natural science,” with conditioning as one of its chief methods (Irvine, 2007). Watson took an extreme standpoint on environmentalism and stated that personality can be created (Irvine, 2007).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that psychologists use models to depict or explain things that cannot be perceived, in order to explain, comprehend and treat mental illness.
- Explains that many psychologists have contributed to behaviorism becoming the approach that is today. the american psychologist john b. watson presented behavior as a physiological response to environmental stimuli.
- Explains that freud introduced the psychoanalytic model in the late 1800s. he described anxiety as a warning for impending danger.
- Explains how carl rogers and abraham maslow focused on the humanistic approach in psychology.
1925 wordsRead More - Aggression Essayexplanatory essayBehaviorism is a classic psychology approach to understanding an organism's social and cognitive skills. This field of psychology focuses on observable behavior including measuring types of communication and natural mannerisms. It is important to understand how individuals present and express themselves in their natural environments in order to recognize and further advance knowledge about psychological disorders. When it comes to determining and labeling psychological disorders, especially behavioral disorders, it can be tricky to make the correct diagnosis. Psychologists have to assess all of the characteristics and symptoms an individual possesses and stick to textbook definitions when it comes to properly formulating a diagnosis.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that behaviorism is a classic psychology approach to understanding an organism's social and cognitive skills. it is important to understand how individuals present and express themselves in their natural environments to further advance knowledge about psychological disorders.
- Explains that aggression is a behavioral disorder that has different levels of severity. the website study.com breaks down aggression into two subcategories.
- Explains that reactive aggression is related to a cause and effect sequence of thinking. it can be shown through various behaviors, such as physical violence, verbal hostility, sexual harassment, and destruction of property.
- Explains that it's important to understand the difference between aggression and confidence. dr. neuman wrote an article on psychology.com titled "assertiveness vs. aggressiveness."
- Explains the difference between aggression and assertion. aggression is a behavioral disorder that results in hostile or violent tendencies while assertion is simply acting confident and being prepared.
1006 wordsRead More - B. F. Skinner's Theory Of Behaviorismanalytical essayThe school of psychological thought that B.F. Skinner is most well known for is that of behaviorism. Behaviorism is the psychological theory that individuals are born as blank slates, and that all actions are essentially learned responses to environmental stimuli. Before Skinner, behaviorism had its roots in scientists and psychologists such as John Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and Edward Thorndike. Their theories and experiments of conditioning responses to external stimuli based on other stimuli were very convincing to Skinner, who began developing the school of behaviorism into an applicable ideology.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that b.f. skinner's behaviorism is the psychological theory that individuals are born as blank slates and that all actions are essentially learned responses to environmental stimuli.
- Explains skinner's theory of classical conditioning, which is an underpinning to his work.
- Explains skinner's expansion of behaviorism, which begins a theory of an organism. the operant is the behavior that occurred just before the reinforcing stimulus.
- Analyzes how skinner divided his theory into four forms of stimuli, namely positive and negative reinforcement, and positive or negative punishment.
- Explains that child spanking is a form of positive punishment because the disciplinarian, whether it be parent, teacher, or other authority figure, actively performs an action that harms the child in an attempt to deter or prevent that behavior.
- Explains that a study conducted by murray a. straus, david b. sugarman, and jean giles-sims suggests that child spanking negatively affects child behavior as he or she matures.
- Explains that 44 percent of mothers reported spanking their children during the week prior to the study and they spanked them an average of 2.1 times that week.
- Analyzes how brigitte vittrup and george w. holden surveyed 108 children after watching videos of children being disciplined by either spanking, reasoning, withdrawing privileges, or time-out.
- Analyzes how skinner's study sheds light on the nature and efficacy of spanking a child. children with medium exposure were more likely to regard it as the best disciplinary technique compared with children with low or high exposure levels.
- Explains phillip s. hall is a licensed psychologist with 34 years of experience working with struggling parents and troubled and defiant children and adolescents. in his book, a new definition of punishment, he argues that parents should reward children’s good behavior.
- Explains skinner's theory of operant conditioning. all stimuli, be they positive or negative, have the same goal: to change or modify behavior. hall suggests positive reinforcement as more effective than spanking.
1082 wordsRead More - John B Watson Behaviorismexplanatory essayThe school of psychology created by John B. Watson that refers to the belief that behaviors can measured, altered, and trained is called Behaviorism. Behaviorism was established with the publication of Watson's classic paper "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It" (1913). (citer psychology today). Behaviors advanced to become a prevailing force in psychology, for a period of time staring in the 1920s through the 1950s. Behaviorists believe that all behaviors are an effect of conditioning. Regardless of their disposition or background, any person could be disciplined to act in a distinct form given the right type of conditioning. Behaviorist believed that all behavior could be made clear without the compulsion to contemplate their consciousness
In this essay, the author
- Explains the school of psychology created by john b. watson that refers to the belief that behaviors can measured, altered, and trained.
- Explains that many of the leading in behaviorism shared the same beliefs with some minor differences. pavlov, watson, thorndike, skinner, bandura, and tolman were pioneers of behavioral theory.
403 wordsRead More - What´s Behaviorism Theory?analytical essayBehaviorism is a theory that states that humans and animals can be explained in terms of their behavior without reference to their thoughts and feelings. How a person behaves tells us about the person and thoughts and feelings are meaningless without outward expression. There are two kinds of behaviorism that I will discuss in this essay, Psychological Behaviorism and Logical Behaviorism.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that behaviorism is a theory that states that humans and animals can be explained in terms of their behavior without reference to their thoughts and feelings.
- Explains the philosophical theory of behaviorism, which states that being in a mental state is the same as being physically.
- Explains that people can easily fake a mental state, but that does not mean they aren't feeling grief or pain. they explain how one can know that their mental states correlate with those of others.
- Argues that logical behaviorism correctly identifies the non-contingent, conceptual connection between mental and behavioral descriptions. mental phenomena can be individuated by their behavior rather than their subjective internal features.
- Explains psychogical behaviorism as a theory that states that all behavior, in humans or animals, is learned from the external environment.
- Describes classical conditioning, which is a process through which humans or animals create an associating between naturally existing stimuli and previously neutral ones which after the process becomes the conditioned stimulus.
- Explains b.f. skinner's theory of operant conditioning, which focuses on learning through reinforcements and punishments to increase or decrease a particular behavior.
- Argues that behaviorist is a one-dimensional approach that shows how external environment influences human behavior and does not account for learning without reinforcement or punishment.
- Explains that effective therapeutic techniques employ behaviorist techniques to change maladaptive or harmful behaviors in humans and animals.
- Explains that behaviorism is a reductionist theory that attempts to explain mental events in terms of observable physical events.
854 wordsRead More - John B. Watson, Father Of Behaviorismexplanatory essayWatson 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.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that john b. watson's "the little albert experiment" is one of his most famous and controversial experiments.
- Explains that watson had come up with a new psychological study which consisted that of behaviorism. watson believed that animal and human adapt to the environment around them and results in their behavior can be predicted.
- Explains that john b. watson, the father of behaviorism, was influenced by vladimir bekhterev and ivan povlov.
- Describes how watson shifted his research in animal behavior to human behavior and focused his study on children.
705 wordsRead More - Boxer's Social-Cognitive Theoryanalytical essayHarzem, Peter. “Behaviorism for New Psychology: What Was Wrong with Behaviorism and What is Wrong With it Now”. Behavior and Philosophy, 12(5), 2004. Pg. 5- 12
In this essay, the author
- Argues that boxer's social-cognitive theory relates to the triadic reciprocal determinism model in that it explains that personal characteristics and past experiences account for behavior and environment.
- Analyzes how boxer (2008) believes that personal characteristics determine behavior and environment, which agrees with the triadic reciprocal determinism.
- Explains boxer's huesmann model based on a social-cognitive perspective to handling aggressive behavior. the model includes four key sequential processing steps: (1) attending to and interpreting aspects of the social situation; (2) searching for and retrieving relevant response scripts.
- Opines that the huesmann model is an excellent model for dealing with aggressive behavior, but there are problems with its implementation with elementary, and possibly even middle-level, aged students.
- Opines that addressing the issues that cause aggressive behavior in students is a responsibility of the educator.
- Cites boxer, paul, goldstein, sara, musher-eizenman, dara, dubow, eric, and donna heretick. development issues in school-based aggression prevention from a social-cognitive perspective.
- Analyzes immordino-yang, mary helen, and antonio damasio's "we feel, therefore we learn: the relevance of affective and social neuroscience to education".
1112 wordsRead More - 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).
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how watson believes the determination of the simplicity or complexity of animal methods of learning is unfinished, and the results are unworthy until the interpretation of consciousness is clear.
- Agrees with watson's statement that human psychology has failed to become a natural science. they believe all humans have ethos, ethics, and morals.
- Explains that john watson was the president of the american psychological association (apa) in 1915, and was awarded a gold medal for his contributions in the field.
- Opines that watson's article focuses more on biology and less on psychology, but he does not make a valid point on the behavior perspective.
1064 wordsRead More - Behaviorismanalytical essayThere 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.”
In this essay, the author
- Explains that behaviorism was the radical revision of the method of psychological research. it started with john b. watson's "psychology as the behaviorist views it."
- Analyzes how john b. watson wrote "psychology as the behaviorist views it" in 1913 for a meeting at the new york branch of the american psychology association.
- Explains that classical conditioning was another division of behaviorism development by watson. behaviorists place neutral signals before a naturally occurring reflex. pavlov did this with many of his dogs.
- Explains that an experiment like pavlov's involves many factors, including an unconditioned response, a neutral stimulus, and the conditioned stimulus.
- Explains that operant conditioning was developed by b.f. skinner in 1937 and deals with modification of voluntary behavior.
- Describes john watson and rosaline raynor's "little albert experiment," which displayed classical conditioning. little albert was exposed to a rat, rabbit, monkey, masks, and burning newspapers.
- Analyzes how the "little albert experiment" shows how conditioning can lead to lasting phobias and even help treat them. teachers also use conditioning to treat anxiety in the classroom.
- Concludes that you do not need to use introspection when studying behaviors. both operant conditioning and classical conditioning are a part of many organisms' everyday life, even if they don't realize or acknowledge it.
- Cites wikipedia's "behaviorism." kendra cherry, "behavioral psychology basics." about.com psychology, 2013. robert h. wozniak.
- Explains that "behaviourism." encyclopdia britannica online academic edition.
943 wordsRead More - B. F. Skinnerexplanatory essayBehaviorism is a school of thought in psychology that is interested in observable behavior. Skinner said, “Behaviorism is not the science of human behavior; it is the philosophy of that science.“ There are various types of behavior, such as innate behavior. Innate behaviors are certain behaviors that we are born with, such as eating when we are hungry and sleeping when we are tired. Early Life Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania on March 20, 1904 to William Arthur and Grace Madge Skinner. Skinner also had a younger brother named Edmond James Skinner, born November 6, 1906. At the young age of sixteen, Edmond died of a cerebral aneurysm. .
In this essay, the author
- Describes how skinner became interested in animal behavior after seeing the performing pigeons and playing the saxophone. he met fred keller and charles trueblood, who were strict behaviorists.
- Explains how skinner used the term "operant" to identify behavior traceable to reinforcing contingencies rather than eliciting stimuli.
- Opines that skinner was one of the most important american psychologists ever. he was known as the father of operant conditioning.
- Describes b.f. skinner as one of the most influential theorists in modern psychology.
1603 wordsRead More