Different Perspectives And The Key Debates Within Psychology Essay

The basic assumption of the behaviourist approach is that all behaviour is learned through experiences a person has in their environment. From this we know that behaviourists are on the side of nature in the “nature vs. nurture” debate. In comparison bio psychologists will be firmly on the side of nurture.

The essence of the behaviourist approach is that all behaviour is learned. One assumption of the behaviourist approach is that behaviour can be explained in terms of classical conditioning. This is where

I am going to look at how the humanistic and the biological approaches are used in health and social care practices and how they are applied to service provision, comparing the similarities and differences for each approach.

Behaviourism is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviours are attained through conditioning. Behaviourists believe conditioning occurs when we interact with the environment and that the environment we are in determines the way we respond to a stimulus. The behaviourist approach believes we learn behaviours through association between response and consequence. For instance, by touching a hot iron you will feel pain. Therefore, we learn from this, and know not to touch a hot iron as we associate feeling pain as a consequence of this action. There are two forms of conditioning within the behaviourist approach; classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Behaviourists believe that individuals are born without built-in mental content, known as a ‘blank slate’ and that all behaviours arise from experience or perception.

Thomas Kuhn asserts that sciences more mature than psychology have reached what he describes as a paradigm (Kuhn, 1963). A paradigm is a model, universally accepted by practitioners of a science during the period of its development (Watson, 1966). A paradigm must attract adherents away from approaches that oppose its own, and is sufficiently open-ended so that the problems it leaves can be resolved (Locurto, 2013; Kuhn, 1963). Therefore, a paradigm directs research and defines problems worth solving (Locurto, 2013). With a global acceptance among practitioners a paradigm defines the science it operates under. Kuhn (1963) recognizes that the scientific fields of physics, chemistry, astronomy, and biology all are paradigmatic. Illustrative

Since the time of psychology’s origins in the 1500 's where Leonardo da Vinci 's stated that there might be a relationship between the human brain and a person 's psychological processes, psychology history and research has grown tremendously over centuries. Some of the most important events in psychology includes: William Wundt creating the first psychology lab in Germany to the American psychiatric Association (APA) publishing the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). These events and many more have advanced the field of psychology, yet I found two other events in psychology history that caught my attention the most: G. Stanley Hall who established the first psychology lab in the United States at John Hopkins University and B.F skinner developing a theory called operant condition on animals through reinforcement and punishment. Both events are important to the growth of psychology. in the development of the discipline of psychology.

Worobey, J., & Worobey, H. (1999) . The Impactg of a Two-Year School Breakfast Program for Preschool-Aged Children on Their Nutrient Intake and Pre-Academic Performance. Child Study Journal, 29, 113-131.

Right to die, euthanasia, suicide and abortion of a child- all involve legal and psychological questions of and issues relating to death. Certain legal issues on them are settled, some are going on and some others are still uncertain. Right to die held not a part of right life under the Constitution almost two decades ago. Euthanasia has clothed with legal protection to some extent a few years ago. In the case of aborting a child, which is an instance of putting an end to one’s life to save another or otherwise, has come again to the mainstream of discussion in these days. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 permits abortion of child up to twenty weeks on grounds specified therein. But the

Life circumstances or events can predict the way that most people behave or handle situation. It is also believed that ones behavior is effected based on the positive or negative reinforcements received all throughout a persons life. Behaviorism is a psychological theory of human development that posits that humans can be trained, or conditioned, to respond in specific ways to specific stimuli and that given the correct stimuli, personalities and behaviors of individuals, and even entire civilizations, can be codified and controlled. (Behaviorism, 2016 ) This is one reason why so many Psychologists have turned to study behaviorism. Behaviorism was the primary paradigm in psychology between 1920 to 1950 and is based on a number of underlying assumptions regarding methodology and behavioral analysis. (McLeod, 2007 ) Behaviorism became one of the main focuses in psychology.

Behaviourism is a psychological approach that explains human development as learning from experience rather than a result of inborn tendencies or higher order thinking. (Moonie, 2006) The behaviourist movement began in 1913 when Watson wrote the article 'Psychology as the behaviourist views it.' Additionally, Pavlov, Thorndike and Skinner worked to develop behavioural theories of learning. They suggest that all behaviour is learned either through classical or operant conditioning. (Cardwell and Flanagan, 2012, p.50)

It has always been in our nature to be interested in the behaviour of our own species. Psychology, as the scientific study of behavioural developments, can be traced back to when philosophy was the leading way of thinking. However, once people began to apply experimental methods to better understand the complex nature of behaviour, psychology became increasingly acknowledged and documented. This essay will focus on the significant figures, such as Wilhelm Wundt, William James and John Watson, which contributed to the history of the study of psychology. It will aim to outline the main factors that are responsible for the change from the introspective method to behaviourism. Fundamentally concentrating on the differing nature of the two; from examining our own thoughts and how they affect others to investigating more observable behaviour in response to a stimulus. Furthermore, this essay will endeavour to critically evaluate why behaviourism has been favoured in America looking at the strengths and limitations of the two methods to come to an informed conclusion supporting the superiority of a behaviourist approach. These objectives will be achieved by using psychological research where appropriate.

Psychology, though a young field, is a uniquely successful one, flourishing in the twentieth century through intellectual and social expansion (Darity, 2008). From its philosophical roots to its emergence as a scientific discipline, the field of psychology has been concerned with behavior and mental processes. By its very nature, the field is diverse encompassing many subdisciplines and areas. The American Psychological Association recognizes more than 50 different divisions in the field, marked either by area of study or area of practice. Because of its diverse nature, the field has become widely applicable and valuable in many other fields. Psychology has successfully been applied to fields like

Behaviourism is usually linked to Pavlov (classical conditioning) and to Thorndike, Watson and Skinner (operant conditioning).

One of the main characteristics of psychological understanding is the approach to the theory of behaviourism. Behaviourism focuses on the action committed by an individual in response to certain situations rather than the thinking done by the individual, in simpler form, ‘the reaction’. Conditioning is a theory introduced by behaviourist, this concept discusses how stimuli’s can generate predictable responses that can be in sequence and repetitive, this contributes to the understanding of how organism behaviour can be taught and developed due to certain conditions or situations faced.

The classic paper by John B. Watson “Psychology as the behaviourist views it” (1913) saw the establishment of the theory behaviourism, which in 1920 to 1950 grew to become a dominant force within psychology. Behaviourism is shaped on a number of underlying assumptions regarding behavioural analysis and methodology. Such assumptions include the belief that behaviours are measurable, trainable and changeable. Behaviourists believe that we are born a blank slate and that our behaviour is based not on free will however, the environment we live in. Based on Pavlov’s observations, Watson stated that all aspects of human psychology were easily explaining using classical conditioning. Classical conditioning has three stages, which links two stimuli in order to create a new learning response. Many behaviourists believed that through said conditioning any person, regardless of factors such as their background, are trainable (McLeod, 2008). This belief was apparent in the following quote from psychologist John. B Watson, (1930) “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specific world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one and train him to become any type of specialist”.