The Theories Of Behaviorist Theory

In the following essay I will be looking into the study conducted by Watson and Rayner (1920) on a small child known as ‘Little Albert’. The experiment was an adaptation of earlier studies on classical conditioning of stimulus response, one most common by Ivan Pavlov, depicting the conditioning of stimulus response in dogs. Watson and Rayner aimed to teach Albert to become fearful of a placid white rat, via the use of stimulus associations, testing Pavlov’s earlier theory of classical conditioning.

What is Watson’s Classical Conditioning? Classical Conditioning was found by Dr. Ivan Pavlov. Watson’s research was influenced by Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning Theory. Watson made a research on children’s emotions using the Classical Conditioning model. According to Watson, love, fear, and anger are the three kinds of emotions inherited by humans (Hall 1988). He believed these emotions could be learned through conditioning. He formed his hypothesis and carried out an experiment. John B. Watson’s classical condition experiment was on a child named Little Albert. This experiment was while a child was playing with a rabbit, smashing two bars to make a loud noise behind the child’s head. After hearing the loud noise the child

Founded by John B Watson in 1915 the behaviourist approach studies observed behavioural responses of humans and animals. The behaviourist approach believes we learn to behave in response to our environment, either by stimulus-response association, or as a result of reinforcement.

Behaviorism has been a major school of thought in psychology since 1913, when John B. Watson published an influential article. Watson argued that psychology should abandon its earlier focus on mind and mental processes and focus exclusively on overt behavior. He contended that psychology could not study mental processes in a scientific manner because they are private and not accessible to outside observation. In completely rejecting mental processes as a suitable subject for scientific study, Watson took an extreme position that is no longer dominant among modern behaviorists. Thus, most behaviorists view an individual’s personality as a collection of response tendencies that are tied to various stimulus situations. A specific situation

In 1913 Watson gave a lecture called “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It”. It was in this speech that Watson proposed the idea of an objective psychology of behavior called “behaviorism”. John saw psychology as the study of people’s actions and their ability to predict and control their actions. This became known as the behaviorist’s theory. During the next few years, different ideas about behaviorism was studied. (Muskingum.edu) Behaviorism came to be widely accepted among psychologists and the general public, becoming a popular field of study in the 1920’s through the 1960’s. It was a huge contradiction to the views of the eugenics movement, which claimed that heredity was the primary force determining a person’s potential and behavior. Behaviorism, with its promise of the possibility of change, and even improvement. (A science Odyssey, published by

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

In another study conducted by John Watson, we learn other terms associated with classical conditioning. Watson’s well-known experiment is referred to as "Little Albert." Albert was an 11-month-old baby. Watson showed Albert a small white mouse, which Albert liked. Then, while seeing the mouse, Watson presented a loud noise that scared Albert and made him cry. By pairing the loud noise that scared Albert with the mouse he liked, Watson was able to condition Albert to be afraid of the mouse. Every time Albert saw the mouse, he cried after acquiring the conditioned stimulus (white rat) and conditioned response (fear).

In the 1920’s, there were behaviorally inclined psychologists who did not agree with the radicalism of Watson's formulation. Many were willing to fully accept the methodology, but they did not agree to reduce the behavior to the strict formula of “Stimulus-Response.” A group of American psychologists made up of professionals such as Edward Tolman and Clark Leonard Hull developed the current of neo-behaviorism. This movement is based on the basic principles of behaviorism (environmentalism, mechanism, conditioning, non-introspective or mentalist approach) used intermediate variables such as purposes, cognitions, impulses and habits, to be able to analyze, predict and control behavior.

In 1920, behaviorist John B. Watson and his graduate student Rosalie Rayner wanted to study classical conditioning in people. Classical conditioning is when two stimuli are paired and produce an effect off of the second stimulus, but eventually produce the same effect with the first stimulus individually. Watson believed they were capable of furthering psychologist Ivan Pavlov’s research on conditioning dogs to conditioning humans. Watson was a professor at John Hopkins University and of course, that was Rayner’s alma mater. Watson wanted to justify that emotions were something learned and not inherently placed in the human mind. According to Alexander Burgemeester, Watson hypothesized that although it was uncommon for a baby to have a phobia of animals, “if one animal succeeds in arousing fear, any moving furry animal thereafter may arouse it” (Burgemeester). Both, Watson and Rayner fed off of scientist Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning experiment.

THe Behavioral perspective believes that our behavior is the result of the environment we are in. Behaviorists believe that psychologists should rely on the stimuli in the environment and our response to the stimuli. There perspective was that our behaviors are the result of our upbringing and environment. The behavioral perspective works on the molecular level to understand an individual 's behavior. They developed research generated evidence. John Watson was the founder of American behaviorism. Watson advocated that psychology is a science and it should be limited to observable, measurable behaviors. Watson studied babies and how they learned everything from their environment. He advocated that nurture was stronger than nature. Watson was famous for his experiment with Baby Albert and a white rat. Baby Albert did not fear the white at at first but began to fear it once it was associated with a loud sound. Watson proved through his experiments that parents should take

John Watson was an American psychologist, who is better known as the father of behaviorism, for he improved the way we view psychology and allows us to see it in the way a behaviorist would. Behaviorism became the leading approach in psychology due to him and his contributions to the study. While attending The University of Chicago John studied psychology and came up with many of his behaviorism theories. His inspirations were Ivan Pavlov and Vladimir Bekhterev, much of his thought process was based off of Pavlov’s animal studies.

“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

Behaviorism has been credited with providing clear predictions that can be scientifically tested and yield explanations that can be supported by evidence. For instance, in the application of Applied Behavioral Analysis in improving clients’ behaviors, the functions of individuals problematic behaviors can be evaluated and modified using behavior change principles including reinforcement. Similarly, behaviorism emphasizes the objective measurement of behaviors through providing clear and conceptual definitions, and its therapy is applicable to real life situations as in the case of anxiety. Conversely, studies incorporated into behaviorism allow for appropriate comparisons between animals and humans as in the Case of Watson’s, Thorndike’s and Pavlov’s studies respectively.

A significant piece of several psychological theories in the late nineteenth century was introspection, which is “the examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional processes” (Press, 2013). In retort to this theory behaviorism came about. Behaviorism is predominantly concerned with observable and measurable aspects of human behavior. In other words behaviorism does not look at the biological aspects but it suggests that all behaviors are learned habits and changes in response to the environment. It endeavors to explain how these particular habits are formed. Behaviorism claimed that the causes of behavior was not necessarily found in the complexities of the mind but could be observed in one’s immediate environment, from stimuli that produced, reinforced, and punished certain responses also known later on as conditioning. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that the scientist began to discover the actual systems to learning, thereby laying a foundation for behaviorism. A theorist by the name of Ivan Pavlov was a major contribution to the discovering of significant behavioral theories.

My psychologist has produced a very accurate analysis of myself. It captured the thing that drives a great deal of my behavior. It influences my actions subconsciously and helps get me be the terrific person that I am today. My assessment shows how generous I am. I give freely of my time and my possessions, and no jobs are too big for me to help with sharing comes naturally for me. My assessment also shows my behavior reveals that I’m a loving individual. I always want the best for people and depart out of my way to do little special things for them by nature I am a giver. I choose behaviorism theory because I’m more intimate with this theory, it’s the most theory that I will have to deal with more when I began the job that I am