Abstract
The year 1913 marks the birth of the most radical of all psychological concepts, that of "Behaviorism" (Moore, 1921). Since the original behavioral theories were studied by scientists such as Edward Thorndike and John B. Watson, there have been many variations of the behaviorist view that have surfaced over the years. In this paper I will attempt to give a detailed description of the history of behaviorism including information about some of the most influential men associated with this movement. I will also explain the methodologies associated with behaviorism such as classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and other controversial theories and views.
Behaviorism The atmosphere surrounding the psychological
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Watson then extinguished the fear by presenting the rat without the loud noise. Through the years since John Watson initially fathered the theories behind behaviorism, there have been many theorists who have questioned his radical practices and elaborated on his methodologies. Yet, through the many controversies and skepticism, the theories of our modern day humanistic and more eclectic behaviorism are still deeply rooted in the early works of Watson. Another of the key players in the development of the behaviorist theory and, like Watson, most known for his work in classical conditioning is Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936). In fact, Pavlov is famed for first introducing classical conditioning in 1903. Pavlov's most famous experiment where he demonstrated classical conditioning involved a dog, food, and a bell. "Before conditioning, ringing the bell caused no response from the dog. Placing food in front of the dog initiated salivation. During conditioning, the bell was rung a few seconds before the dog was presented with food. After conditioning, the ringing of the bell alone produced saliva" (Dembo, 1994). During this experiment, Pavlov coined several terms to define the stimulus-response associations that he discovered. The initiation of salivation due to the presence of the food was an unconditioned association. The phrase unconditioned association refers to the fact that the dog did
Behaviorism on learning and memory occupies an important position in the history of psychology. John B. Watson is the father of behaviorism while B.F. Skinner is the most famous behaviorist of the twentieth century. Watson’s methodological behaviorism means that it is only the behaviors of an individual that can be objectively observed. Skinner’s radical behaviorism emphasized that behaviors of human and animals are blindly influenced by environment. In this case, Watson and Skinner share similar views of behaviorism. For instance, they believe that the proper objectives of behavioral research include prediction and control (Staddon and Bueno, 1991). However, there are remarkable discrepancies in their views of human equality and freedom. Watson promoted the progressive process of human equality by maintaining concept of “tabula rasa”, whereas Skinner insisted that freedom is an illusion, so that he provided the adverse effect to the dictatorial institution. The fact is that the potential ambiguity produces a strong influence on people’s thinking and has a practical significance on society.
Pavlov’s discovery of classical conditioning was a complete accident (Hock, 2009, p. 66). Pavlov was doing physiology research with salvation’s role with digestion when he discovered classical conditioning. In his research, he had dogs with their salvation glands redirected to their cheek in order to test the amount of saliva produced when presented with different foods. Pavlov then noticed that the dogs would salivate before they even got the food. He then discovered that the dogs had associated the worker’s footsteps with the food. So, when the dogs hear the footsteps they know that food is on the way so they begin to salivate.
Classical Conditioning is a type of learning process of an individual when they come in contact with certain stimuli. According to Pavlov, a Russian psychologist, he developed several experiments on learning and he discovered that classical condition is the basic form of learning for an individual. However, according to Pavlov, behaviorism is the view that psychology should be the main objective science that studies behavior without including mental processes of an individual in the investigation. Behaviorism is more about the person’s behavior and how they were influenced to act a certain why, including their surroundings. Thus, from this learning process many behaviorist believes that the basic laws of learning are similar for all different species, including humans. Furthermore, the two major characteristics that distinguish classical conditioning from operant conditioning is that in classical conditioning, an unconditioned response is an event that happens naturally in response to some stimuli such as salivation. Another characteristic is an unconditioned stimuli, which is a process where an individual naturally discovers something without learning the process and reacts to the unlearned response, For instance, when someone put food in there mouth this causes salivation. A conditioned stimuli in classical
Theorist John Broadus Watson (1913) was the first behaviourist to coin the ideas around behaviourism. He used contiguity to explain ideas and said that practice could strengthen ones learning. His approach to behaviourism was very parsimonious, using only a strict few simples to explain a variety of phenomena, e.g. ‘The Little Albert’ experiment’. The idea round the experiment was that by pairing a white rat (CS) with a loud bang (UCS) one could induce fear (UCR) which is known as classical conditioning. With these observable events Watson’s was able to influence many theorists and their contributions to behaviourism.
Classical conditioning was stumbled upon by a Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov. His unexpected discovery led him to win a rightfully earned Noble Prize. Classical conditioning is defined as “a form of learning in which reflex responses are associated with new stimuli (Coon & Mitterer, 2016, p. 201).” This form of learning is also called Pavlovian conditioning or respondent conditioning. He found a connection between the stimuli for his dogs’ salivation during his experiment. To begin explaining classical conditioning, it is best to explain how Pavlov conducted his research. He began his experiment by ringing a bell, which was a neutral stimulus (NS) for his dogs. A neutral stimulus is defined as “a stimulus that does not evoke a response (Coon & Mitterer, 2016, p. 201).” Directly after, he put meat
Using examples of both classical and operant conditioning, discuss the contributions and limitations of learning theory for the understanding of behaviour (Schacter et al., 2nd Ed, Chapter 6, also see Chapter 1 for historical context)
In Pavlov’s classical experiment, the dogs were experimentally conditioned to associate a ringing bell with food by the presentation of these events at the same time. As a result, after this response had been experimentally conditioned, a ringing bell, alone, was sufficient to induce the dogs to salivate in anticipation of food.
Classical conditioning was discovered by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov 1902. Classical conditioning suggests that all behaviour is learnt through association. Pavlov discovered this through his works with dogs. It was also believed that classical conditioning can lead to the development of phobias. This was demonstrated by Watson and Rayner 1920 with the case of little Albert (gross p162).
An apparent advantage of behaviorism is that it has the ability to clearly define behavior and measure changes in behavior. According to the law of parsimony, the fewer assumptions a theory makes, the more credible it is. Therefore, behaviorism looks for simple explanations of human behavior from a very scientific viewpoint. One of the main assumptions from the humanistic approach is that humans have free will and not all behaviour is determined but behaviourists feel quite differently about this concept. Behaviourism was founded by John B. Watson in the year 1913. Watson once said “Psychology as a behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is … prediction and control.” Watson had hoped to eliminate internal mental states such as the unconscious since he believed that it was non-existent since it is unobservable. This is one reason why Freud criticizes behaviorism since it does not take the influence of
The founder and main contributor in the development of classical conditioning is Russian psychologists Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov, is an acclaimed man of science, who is prominently known for his investigations and experimental findings known as Pavlov’s dogs. While further exploring the canine digestive system, he
Ettinger and Reed (2013), suggested the early goal of behaviorism was to find out what rules of association and how combinations of simple things in life we do lead to complex behavior, (Ettinger, & Reed, 2013). Ivan Pavlov and Edward Thorndike were both influenced by Watson’s work. This led to new ways of investigating and clues to the rules of association, (Ettinger, & Reed, 2013). Behaviorism was profound as an influence on many American psychologists which they began to call themselves behaviorists,(Ettinger, & Reed, 2013). Behaviorism distinctive nature was see by its emphasis upon an empirical, objective science of behaviorism
He tried to connect he conditioning stimulus with the unconditioned response was the ringing of a bell. At the beginning of this experiment, Pavlov show food to the dog and of course evoke the response of salivation of the dog. Then he gave a bell was sounded in subsequent time with food being presented to the dog in consecutive sequences, This was repeated during several trials. After some time, the dog learned to associate the ringing of the bell with food and to respond by salivating. After the conditioning period was finished, the dog would respond by salivating when the bell was rung, even when the unconditioned stimulus (the food) was
Classical conditioning (CC) is a form of learning in which the subject associates a behavior with a certain stimuli. The theory of classical conditioning has been studied by many behavioral psychologists who believe that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. CC was first observed by Ivan Pavlov and his observation of dogs salivating in response to the arrival of food. Pavlov is well known for training the dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell. The implications for Pavlov’s findings are significant as they can be applied to many animals, including humans (Jarius, et al., 2015). John Watson a behaviorist, used Pavlov’s findings to further study the human relationship between environmental cues and behavior. The study of CC is an
Classical conditioning is a type of associative learning which occurs when two stimuli are paired together repetitively and therefore become associated with each other eventually producing the same response. Classical conditioning was developed from the findings of Ivan Pavlov to account for associations between neutral stimuli and reflexive behavior such as salivation. Pavlov (1927) accidently discovered that dogs began to salivate before they had tasted their food. To support his theory, he carried out experiments using dogs which involved measuring the amount of saliva they produced. In his experiments, food started off as an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) which produced salivation, an unconditioned response (UCR). They are both unconditioned as they occur naturally without being learned. The dogs were presented with a bell (NS), this provided no salivation. The bell and food were presented together and after many trails an
Many ideas were shared between Watson, Tolman, and Skinner who all played a role in the forming of behaviorism. They did, however, differ on some of their beliefs as well as their methods of study. At this time, methods of studying psychology as well as psychology in general were in the developing stages. Watson was largely credited with the foundation of behaviorism, however, he was by no means the only one to make contributions. There has been some debate as to whether Watson’s contributions were enough to make him the “founder of behaviorism.” It is important to examine contributions from several of the early