John B. Watson 's Theory Of Psychology

Watson’s theory was based on the ideas of classical conditioning of Ivan Pavlov who used animals for research and believed that they could be taught anything by watching and copying others. Watson further developed the theory applying it on people’s behaviour, based on the conditioning and training of behaviour and on the belief that anyone could be taught anything as we are all born with the same abilities, disregarding feelings and emotions.

The 20th century saw a response to Edward Titchener’s critique of Wundt’s experimentation. This contributed to the study of behaviorism by John Watson. Behaviorism was proposed to emphasizing the study of obvious behavior. In the final decades of the 20th century saw a rise of the cognitive science which is a interdisciplinary approach to studying the human mind. Cognitive science considers the mind as subject for investigation

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

Psychology is not just philosophical speculation and reasoning over the years it has evolved and it is now also recognised as a science, to understand what psychology is all about it is necessary to know it’s origins and the theorist who brought it out of obscurity, Sigmund Freud. He developed the Psychodynamic or Psychoanalytical perspective to enable better understanding of human behaviour these concepts will be discussed further later in this study. After Freud opened the gateway other perspectives and approaches have been developed, now with five main areas of psychology - Cognitive, Behaviourist, Biopsychology and Humanist approaches. For a comparison with the Psychodynamic theory, Behaviourist Theory will be discussed.

Examine the Historical and Ethically Controversial Case of Little Albert For many decades, psychological testing and theories has played a significant role in psychology and has always raised a concern in regards to ethics. Ethics is simply about knowing the difference between right and wrong. Therefore, in psychology, researchers have a moral responsibility to protect their participants from harm. In this week assignment, I will examine the ethical controversy that has caused many questions and concerns about the episode of John Watson and The Little Albert Experiment.

“Why don’t we make what can be observed the real field of psychology” (Watson, 1929). Watson (1878-1958) was born into a poor family in South Carolina. His mother was a religious woman, and his father drank a lot and had multiple affairs (Watson, 1999). Watson himself married twice, having two children in each marriage. He didn’t seem to have good relationships with his children – it is said that one of the main reasons for this may be because he used his children throughout his research. He studied in the University of Chicago where he later became known as the founder of Behaviourism. He wrote an essay in 1914 titled “Psychology as the Behaviourist views it” where he stated that behaviourism is an objective experimental branch of natural science (Watson, 1914). Behaviourism is a theory of learning that argues that all behaviours are acquired through conditioning (Carver & Scheier, 2012). Behaviourists believe

John Broadus Watson was born to Pickens and Emma Watson in 1878. The family was from Greenville, South Carolina.Pickens drank and cheated on his wife, which caused Pickens to leave the family in 1891. GoodTherapy’s article on John Watson says, “He had a troubled adolescence, getting arrested for fighting and disorderly behavior twice, and performed poorly academically”(GoodTherapy). John received his masters degree at the age of 21 from Furman University, in South Carolina. When John went to University

In the 1920s, American psychologist John Watson coined a novel movement of psychology known as behaviorism (Gluck, Mercado, Myers, 2011). “Inspired by the works of prominent psychologists Ivan Pavlov and Edward Thorndike, behaviorism is a discipline of psychology that places its focus on observable behaviors rather than internal consciousness”. Stemming off Pavlov’s earlier research, Watson’s experiment “Little Albert” could be considered one of his greatest psychological advancements in behavioral psychology (Green, 2009). While his controversial experiments did result in moral tensions regarding his research methods, he is still celebrated as an accomplished researcher in the field of psychology (Digdon, Powell, Harris, 2014). Considered by many the founder of behaviorism, John Watson’s works led to further psychological discoveries allowing his legacy to live on today.

There have been many contributions over time from world-renowned philosophers and psychologists to the field of psychology, but the man referred to as the Father of Modern Psychology is Wilhelm Wundt. He was the first person to become a psychologist, and he was the first person to organize a laboratory, which was at the University of Leipzig, that was specifically dedicated to studying behavioral and emotional characteristics of the mind. “Wundt was important because he separated psychology from philosophy by analyzing the workings of the mind in a more structured way, with the emphasis being on objective measurement and control.” (Father of Psychology). During Wundt’s time, workings

James B. Watson, a renowned psychologist coined for being the “father of behaviorism” has proven to be a controversial figure in psychology. In his 1920’s experiment on Little Albert, an 11-month old baby whom prior to the experiment had no outward fears, Watson was able to inflict feelings of terror by introducing a white rat with the pairing of a loud noise. Thus demonstrating classical conditioning principles. Comparing this experiment to today’s ethical standards, Watson’s groundbreaking discovery of information would be viewed as unethical due to the method of how he obtained said information. Watson didn’t protect young Albert from psychological harm rather he induced a state of fear to a once relaxed infant.

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

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).

The father of experimental psychology Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) and the founder of behaviourism John. B Watson both have opposing and corresponding views on psychology. In this essay I will compare and contrast both concepts which will include experimental psychology, introspection, operant and classical conditioning, immediate conscious, objective measurement and lab experiments.

In the beginning of the chapter, some limitations and shortcomings of introspection and behaviorism are explained and illustrated as reasons for the occurance of the “cognitive revolution.” During the late nineteenth century, Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Bradford Titchener decided that the only way to study thoughts was through introspection, or to look within oneself to study the topic of our mental lives. The primary limitation of this method lies in its nature. When studying or researching oneself, there is not another party to test the claims and perform the scientific method to prove or disprove findings. “Science” that is performed by one individual and based on one individual is simply anecdotal and opinionated. Additionally, there is no way to “introspect” on one’s unconscious self, which is a huge influence on decision making and a person’s mental makeup as whole. Due to these limitations of introspection as a research tool, many psychologists abandoned it completely on the basis that psychology would never be a science, should it progress in this manner (Cognition, pg. 9). By the first half of the twentieth century, behaviorist theory started to control the field of psychology. The study of behaviors could yield testable claims due its objective data that could be recorded by observing another human’s behaviors. The stimuli that happens in the environment around people is also objective data that could be recorded and manipulated for different tests and experiments.

During the 20th century, the practice of American psychology became an evolutionary process as theories, practices and applications developed, slowly changing the behaviorist approach; behaviorism is considered as one tactic among many approaches to understanding the mind and human behavior (Schultz & Schultz, 2012). The first stage of behaviorism developed through the work of John B. Watson, who believed that human behavior was a result of specific stimuli which then evoked a response (Schultz & Schultz, 2012). The next phase of neobehavior was fostered through the work of B. F. Skinner who believed that the foundation of psychology was a study of learning, and that behavior was explained through conditioning (Schultz & Schultz, 2012). The third period of behaviorism promoted by Alfred Bandura is neo-neobehaviorism which emphasizes cognitive processes and the observation of behavior (Schultz & Schultz, 2012).