Origins of Behaviorism Behaviourism originated with the work of John B. Watson from 1913.
Behaviourism is based on the following sets of claims:
(1) Psychology is the study of behaviour. Psychology is not the
science of mind. This statement also forms a type of behaviourism: “Methodological”
behaviourism claims that psychology should concern itself with the
behaviour of organisms (human and non-human). Psychology should not
concern itself with mental states or events or with constructing
internal information processing accounts of behaviour. In its
historical foundations, methodological behaviourism shares with
analytical behaviourism the influence of positivism. One of the goals
of positivism was to unify psychology with natural science.
Methodological behaviourism is a dominant theme in the writings of
John Watson.
John Broadus Watson was one of the most prominent psychologist
scientists of his era, writing on applied psychology for academic
journals, business publications, and popular magazines and is
considered to be the founding father of behaviorism. John was born in
South Carolina to Emma and Pickens Watson in 1878. The Watson family
lived in Greenville, South Carolina and was extremely poor. John spent
much of his boyhood in the relative isolation and p...
... middle of paper ...
...t, as long as lots of its elements are useful and effective in
modern life. I do not agree with some ideas, like Watson’s idea that
psychology should study only observable behavior, because I think that
there is much more to human personality than behavior. I believe this
because people act different when they know they are being watched, or
even when they are in the presence of other people than when they are
alone. Some people might decide to act in a certain way to prove a
point, hide their weaknesses, or hide their true personality. So, the
scientific results might not always be reliable. Even so, I do think
that a lot of psychology hypothesis come from observing human and
animal behavior. Psychologists will constantly expand theories and
critics will continue, for as long as people will have different
opinions.
In1919, a year after World War I ended, John Watson published his work, “Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist”. In this book, Watson elaborated on his behaviorist ideas of psychology, specifically focusing on the prediction of behavior and our ability to control behaviors. This idea of prediction and control was much more scientifically based than Freud’s theory of the unconscious mind. During the countries time of confusion and uncertainty, many people welcomed Watson’s behaviorist theories, and his book ignited a change in the goal of psychology (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014).
Behaviorism is one of the many schools of psychology and it has one main overall focus. The main overall focus is it studies how a human behaves and is supposed to behave in order to detect human behavior discrepancies. As a behaviorist view, everything you see has a set behavior and should perform a certain, similar to robots. Watson stated that “psychology as a behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is … prediction and control” (1913, p.158).
This article about John Watson and Behaviorism is still of great importance to modern society and modern psychology. There is doubt to the fact that behaviorism also has lost its peak too soon, like Watson academic career faded too early during his lifetime. Watson cannot be blamed for being unsuccessful and for short living of his theory because the environment he was raised was not a peaceful and offering no secure attachment. His father was an alcoholic and frequently got involved into fights. Watson himself has a troubled life and arrested twice. Since he was having a violent behavior so his academic thoughts were also influenced by behavior and environment. But again those with a true passion as a result of personal experience are known
When taking psychology classes I have always enjoyed learning about behaviorism because it seems so cut and dry; if someone wanted to get a clear understanding or their fellow man, all they would have to do is sit back and observe. With behaviorism there is no Id, Ego or Superego to take into account, just raw behavior. While this approach seems simple enough, I feel that it can only offer an incomplete window into seeing how people function and react with various things on a day to day basis.
Watson, J. B. (1994). Psychology as the behaviourist views it. The Centennial Issue of the
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
John Broadus Watson (1878-1958) has become well known for being the founder of behaviorism as a school of thought throughout American psychology. His view on psychology consisted of seeing it as a science of observation on behaviors. He believed that one must first observe a behavior in a certain environment or situation, then predict and determine the connection between the two. Much of his theory was based on the work of Ivan Pavlov’s observations through classical conditioning. Watson claimed that the process of classical conditioning could be used to explain any behavioral factor in human psychology. Classical conditioning involves the pairing of two different stimuli in producing a learning response from the participant. His belief on the topic was that single differences in behavior were caused by different experiences of learning.
The history of psychology dates back to the times of the ancient Greeks, and Chinese philosophers 4,000 years ago. During this time span numerous thinkers had strived to answer the riddle of the human mind. This paper will focus on the development of Humanistic Psychology primarily from the 1950’s to the present day. Humanistic Psychology had played an important role in the shaping of todays clinical applications for mental health. Also known as the Third Force, humanistic approach had offered a unique explanation for describing and assessing human behavior, which ran contrary to both behaviorism and psychodynamic theory that was popular at the time. In congruence with the emphasize on internal development this paper will highlight the history
Introspection and behaviorism used to be two very popular styles of research. Introspection is the process of observing one's own mental, or emotional processes. Whereas behaviorism is the theory that both human and animal behavior can be changed by conditioning. These styles created a new way for researchers to expand their theories. While this style of research was prominent for several years, the psychology community soon began to realize that they both had certain limitations.
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.
The History of Psychology In order to discuss Psychology's history, it is important to understand that psychology still does not have one unifying approach unlike the natural sciences; even the definition of Psychology and what it truly means is still undecided. However I shall attempt to review chronologically its philosophical origins, include how the science of Physics and Biology were placed in history and how they influenced research and determined the development of Psychology as its recognised today. Beginning with the philosophers Plato and Aristotle (between 428- 347) in ancient Greece, they began to ask questions on learning, motivation, memory, dreaming and perception. Reluctant to measure, Plato and Aristotle believed the truth could be discovered through self-analysis.
Behaviorism must be seen as a methodological proposal of explaining the behavior of organisms from the lowest to the highest. Explaining human and nonhuman behavior by reference to scientific laws and the theories expressed of physical states, events, and entities. Because modern psychology emerged roughly in the mid-19th century, information of behaviorism was gathered in its early stages by introspection (looking at your own inner states of being; your own desires, feelings, and intentions) then linking them to the outside observable state.
Behaviorism is a learning theory or a developmental theory that measures observable behaviors that are produced by the learner’s response to stimuli. On one end of the spectrum behaviorism is known as an attitude. At the other end, it is known as a doctrine. According to the behavioral views of human development, behaviorists argued that to focus attention on unobservable constructs, such as emotions, thoughts, or the unconscious, was an unscientific approach.(Craig & Dunn, Ex.: 2010)
Behaviorism used learning concentrates entirely on observing, measuring, and modifying behavior. Since Watson, Pavlov, and Skinner began this theory teacher can better discipline their students. Using operant conditioning teachers can use positive reinforcement to get all the students to behave during class. There are few drawbacks to this theory, but there are drawbacks to everything in life.
In handling his students’ inappropriate behavior, Mr. Swan should follow this approach. If the students continue to talk loudly, use tools inappropriately, and hit at each other, he should use a punisher. These behaviors could include the verbal or nonverbal communications for the purpose of stopping behaviors or even a detention. When the students start doing well, they should be reinforced and rewarded for doing good. Reinforcement improves student motivation and it will be effective in helping Mr. Swan handle these students’ inappropriate behaviors.