John B Watson Behaviorism Essay

Behaviorism is defined as,” a school of psychology that takes the objective evidence of behavior (as measured responses to stimuli) as the only concern of its research and the only basis of its theory without reference to

John took after his father in many aspects for instance like his father he swore and drank a lot, Watsons favorite drink was bourbon whiskey. Watson was a lady’s man and like his father he loved women. With help of his teacher Gordon Moore he was able to turn his life around, with this help John was able to better his education and leave Furman University and move to the University of Chicago. When he got to the University he became interested in the field of psychology and studying animals. (Lecture notes on John B. Watson) In 1901 John got married to Mary Ickes and together they had a daughter, Mary also known as Polly and a son named John. Watson subjected his kids to a harsh upbringing and scheduled feeding and no physical affection routine. Later on in their lives his children were highly affected by their childhood. (Psych Revisited

Much like John Watson, another American psychologist named B.F. Skinner was a behaviorist who focused on conditioning. The creator of Radical Behaviorism, Skinner rejected the ideas of cognitive psychologist Edward Tolman believing instead in a form of behavior which could only be predicted and controlled. An idea very similar to fellow behaviorist Watson. Radical behaviorism suggests that behaviors are results from an organisms environment, and it is these behaviors that cause an effect that will later determine the probability of the behavior being

Though this theory mainly focuses on Skinner, another theorist named John B. Watson is mentioned. Watson believed that human behavior is the result of specific stimuli that elicited certain responses. His basic idea was that the conclusions about human development should be based on the observation of overt behavior rather than speculation. Watson was also a professor of psychology at Hopkins University and “By the time he left the field for good in the early 1930s, behaviorism had succeeded in taking center stage within American psychology” (Wozniak, 1997).

Behaviorism is the scientific approach to psychology that is distinguished by logical-theoretical emphasis as is seeks to develop reasons for behavior (Moore, 2013). The theory of Behaviorism was developed by John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner. Uniquely, this theory states that personality is plastic and can be shaped by the environment or situational influences. Another difference from previous thoughts is

Watson set the stage for behaviorism, which soon rose to dominate psychology. Watson went a little overboard in that paper. But on the good side, he attracted many enthusiastic followers, became the national interest, made headlines in national newspapers, and was the subject of many articles in popular periodicals. But then there were troubles that Watson’s experiment wasn’t considered “Science” (Behaviorism For the New Psychology)

The behaviorism perspective displays how the environment impacts the way people behave. This perspective was founded by Watson, who wanted to “revolutionize the study of human psychology in order to put it on firm experimental footing.” (http://www.iep.utm.edu/behavior/) Behaviorism shows the chemical responses in our brain are triggered by the external part of our bodies. For example, behaviorism explains why we feel pleasure when we gamble, drink, smoke. Our body releases endorphins which allows us to feel pleasure from doing these things. The first time you feel the rush of gambling is what makes you want to keep gambling, even if it is not in your best interest.

* Behaviorism: The school of psychology that views observable, measureable behavior and emphasizes the key role of the environment as a determinant of a behavior.

John Watson pioneered a new approach to viewing psychology. By making known an underutilized approach to studying psychology, John Watson opened a whole new door to researching how and why people behave the way they do. John Broadus Watson left a huge impression on the world of psychology with his new and unconventional approach of behaviorism and his Little Watson experiment.

“Behaviorism is predominantly concerned with evident and measurable aspects of human behavior. In defining behaviour, behaviourist-learning theories emphasise changes in behavior that result from stimulus-response links made by the learner. Behaviour is directed by stimuli. An individual selects one response instead

Watson is claiming in his quote from the book Behaviorism that if he could have the control of a child from birth to adulthood, he could sculpt them to be whatever he wants. “ I’ll guarantee to take… and train him to become any type of specialist.” (Watson, Behaviorism) He states that if he had the controlled world, and ideal children, he could shape their life and career completly. I disagree with this, I do not think this would be possible because children and humans in general have individual minds. Some people can not be sculpted due to rebellion and lack of desire. Desire can not be enforced.

John B. Watson was born in 1878 in a rural area outside of South Carolina. Watson had formal religious training

Although Watson was not the first to suggest an empirical and objective approach to psychological research he was the first to offer a coherent and organized program, and is often viewed as the catalyst for behaviorism, especially among American psychologists (Bewsbury, 2013). Perhaps the most famous behaviorist is B.F. Skinner (b.1904-d.1990). Skinner’s approach almost completely disregarded anything outside of observable behaviors, and his strict approach to looking at anything other than observable behaviors resulted in the development of the term radical behaviorism (Feist et al., 2013).

According to Eggen and Kauchak (2012) behaviorism is a theory that explains learning in terms of observable behaviors and how they’re influenced by stimuli from the environment. It defines learning as a relatively enduring change in observable behavior that occurs as a result of experience (Schunk,

Behaviorism is the point of view where learning and behavior are described and explained in terms