Compare and Contrast the Work of Harlow and Skinner Essay

One of the studies was conducted by Harlow in 1959 who wanted to study the mechanisms by which new-born rhesus monkeys bond with their mothers. He tested the learning theory by comparing attachment behaviour in the monkeys given wire surrogate mother producing milk with those given a soft towelling mother producing no milk.

Behaviour/mannerisms can convey symbolic meaning within a structure or field and thus create a pattern of recognised behaviours or actions. These become embodied and dictate the way a person conducts themseleves within a certain field. (p69-70)

This essay will compare and contrast two theories of behaviour management by Carl Rogers and BF Skinner and argue ways in which one of these theories could be implemented for a particular context and practice. Roger’s theory is based on a humanistic approach, while Skinner’s theory takes a behaviourist approach; each theory has both benefits and shortcomings. Their views form opposite ends of the learning spectrum. These theories will be examined as their respective works address the underlying issue of how children learn to behave.

The third major development in the evolution of behavior modification was the publication in 1953 of B. F. Skinner's Science and Human Behavior. This work heralded a philosophical shift from the search for inner causes of behavior to an emphasis on the measurement and modification of observable behavior.

One may think of behavior as something that is something fairly straightforward with a singular cause, for example, the thought of a dog wagging a tail due to it receiving a treat. Even though this belief is held by many people, it is a common misconception. Behavior in and of itself is actually determined by multiple different facets. This is shown in the movie 12 Angry Men that portrays a variety of psychological phenomenon to highlight this.

Harlow gathered 16 rhesus monkeys, placing some with a cloth covered monkey that did not produce food, and some with a wired monkey that dispensed food. With this presence, it was found that the newborns didn’t die as they had the cloth to cuddle. It was found that the monkeys would rather cuddle the cloth covered monkey rather than the wired one which produced food, just to establish a sense of contact comfort, which was much more important for the attachment of the monkeys. Harlow also followed monkeys which had been deprived of a ‘real’ mother at birth and found the wire mother reared monkeys were dysfunctional but those with the cloth covered one didn’t develop normal social

Harry Harlow 's research on monkey 's support 's Bowlby 's theory of attachment as he investigated ‘the nature of human love and affection ' (Cherry, 2016) through monkeys. This shows Harlow 's experiments demonstrated the importance of early attachments, emotional bonds and how attachment increases a healthy development. Harlow 's experiment consisted of ‘two wired surrogate mothers and an infant monkey separated from their mother hours after birth. One of the wired monkeys had a soft terrycloth around it and the other one only had food attached with to it. ' (Cherry, 2016) This was set up to find out which wired monkey the baby monkeys would be attached to more. Harlow 's study showed that ‘the

B.F. Skinner’s theory of Operant Conditioning has at its foundation a desire to demonstrate a “cause and

Precise information is derived from these observations due to the scientific fact that infant monkeys and human infants “exhibit no fundamental differences“. Harlow’s research primarily revolved around the study of infant rhesus monkeys and their level of desire to bond with surrogate mother monkeys. Two surrogate mothers were equally available to each baby monkey. Observation of tolerance was recorded as each monkey passably chose between a welded-wire surrogate mother and a surrogate mother covered with terry cloth. Results showed that an equal number of monkeys fed from each of the surrogate mothers, however, they spent more time with the cloth mother as they would climb and cling to her. These results significantly disclose the resemblance between humans and monkeys because human infants also covet soft and cuddly toys, blankets, apparel, stuffed animals, etc.

The heartbeats, the movements of our head are behavior. The way we eat, the way we drink, the way we walk, we talk, are behavior. The construction of a bridge, the composition of a song are behavior. The fantasies of a child, the dreams of a adolescent, the illusions of an alcoholic are behavior. Although we are all familiar with human behavior, a little do we understand or we can explain about it.

Skinner’s theory observes individuals from the point of view of the behavior that they demonstrate. The key weakness of this theory is its attempt to explain the behaviors of an individual solely through visible phenomena. Critics sometimes accuse behaviorists of denying that ideas and thoughts exist (Jensen & Burgess, 1997). The major opposition that behaviorists face is that behavior of a person cannot be understood without including the mental activity of the individual. Critics have accused behaviorists of focusing only on behavior and ignoring the role of physiology, neuroscience, and genetics (Weiss & Rosales-Ruiz, 2014). Sometimes the reactions that people demonstrate have are not related their experience and therefore they have another

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

Harlow’s theories and research show that the affection between a caregiver and the child is very important in order for the child’s development. Studies today seem to show that children who receive affection from their caregiver have a better chance of growing socially and physiologically. Harlow's work revealed the importance affection and social interaction and led to healthy development ideas for children, and influenced practices in raising children, particularly in orphanages and other institutions that provided care to children. The monkeys in Harlow’s study did suffer from heavy emotional damage and many would agree that he committed animal cruelty. The monkeys that he worked with and intentionally kept them socially deprived were placed

According to Gewirtz and Peláez-Nogueras (1992), “B. F. Skinner contributed a great deal to advancing an understanding of basic psychological processes and to the applications of science-based interventions to problems of individual and social importance.” He contributed to “human and nonhuman behavior, including human behavioral development, and to various segments of the life span, including human infancy” (p. 1411). One of Skinner's greatest scientific discoveries was “single reinforcement” which became sufficient for “operant conditioning, the role of extinction in the discovery of intermittent schedules, the development of the method of shaping by successive approximation, and Skinner's break with and rejection of stimulus-response

According to Boeree, C, George (2006), B. F. Skinner’s “entire system is based on ‘operant conditioning’”. Behaviourism is determined by the environment and is “concerning with the effect of external events such as reward or punishment for behaviour” (Duschesne,