The Use of Behaviorism in Our World

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B.F. Skinner once said, “The real problem is not whether machines think but whether we do”. Behaviorism is the theory that both humans and animals behavior can be explained through conditioning. This simply means that the behaviorism is study of why people do what they do.

James B. Watson was born on January 9th, 1878 in South Carolina. Watson entered Furman University when he was sixteen years old. He graduated with his master’s degree after five years. He studied psychology at the University of Chicago; earning his Ph.D. in 1903. Soon after in 1908 Watson began teaching psychology at the John Hopkins University and stayed there till 1920. During this time he also gave a seminal lecture at Columbia University in 1913 titled Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It, where he spoke about the position of a behaviorist. Watson left his job as a teacher in 1920 for a career in the advertising industry. He helped make psychology a natural science rather than a philosophy branch. He also adopted Ivan Pavolv’s conditioning. His main observation was on stimulus and response relationship.

Another behaviorist is B. F. Skinner. He was born March 20th, 1904 in Pennsylvania. As a child, Skinner liked to invent and build things. He got his bachelors degree in English literature in 1926 from Hamilton College. After graduating he spent some time as a struggling writer. He was inspired by the writings of Watson, which led him to leave his career as a novelist, and went to Harvard University to study psychology. In 1945, Skinner moved to Bloomington, Indiana becoming the Psychology Department Chair for the University of Indiana. Later on in 1948, he joined the psychology department at Harvard; which is where he stayed for the rest of his life. ...

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...e behaviorism is an important subject for anyone to study for any job as well. It could be very useful.

All together behaviorisms have had an impact on society. It has to do with every job we do, and every career path to choose from. There is a lot we can take from the studies of behaviorism.

Works Cited

Cherry, K. James B. Watson Biography (1878-1958). Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/watson.htm

Cherry, K. B. F. Skinner Biography (1904-1990). Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/bio_skinner.htm

Coon, D., Mitterer, J. (2013) Psychology Joliet Junior College. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.

Moore, J. (2013). THREE VIEWS OF BEHAVIORISM. Psychological Record, 63(3), 681. doi:10.11133/j.tpr.2013.63.3.020

Moore, J. J. (2011). BEHAVIORISM. Psychological Record, 61(3), 449-465.

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