The Theory of Behaviorism

Ever heard a certain song that triggers your brain to recall something from the past. Then, you should know that you been conditioned to respond in a certain way when you hear that favorite song you known about for a long time. Throughout human history behaviorism has played a big role in the evolution of psychology. The three main characters that contributed on to the creation of behaviorism were Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner all helping behaviorism evolution into an important idea in psychology . Overall, behaviorism is very common around the world and being everywhere daily in ads or life situations.

Behaviourist approach has may strengths to its findings, there has a been a vast amount of experiments from other theorists that support the theory. However, many weaknesses can be highlighted. One is how using rewards or other means to shape behaviour can be argued that the individual is only motivated for these rewards which can encourage a shallow and materialistic style. Another limitation that can be mentioned is that that behaviourist research was widely carried out on animals, for instance Skinner’s rats, Watson’s cats and Pavlov’s dogs. We cannot compare human behaviour to that of an animal. We cannot be 100% certain that humans would act the same way as the animals experimented on (McLeod,2017). As well as this, another criticism states how even though you can change someone’s behaviour in one environment, what happens when the individual goes to a different environment where positive behaviour isn’t reinforced. O’Brien gives an example of if a teacher changed a challenging child’s behaviour at school but then the child went home to the same environment as before, the child would find it increasingly hard to stick to the changed behaviour (O’Brien 2016). I feel that I can relate to this with a child I have in my class. I have managed through positive reinforcement to change his behaviour that he showed in previous classes, however when communicating with his carer it is noted that his previous behaviour is still present in his home environment.

Behaviorism has its roots as far back as the ancient Greeks. Hippocrates (460-377 BCE), known as the father of medicine, developed humorism consisting of four humors that corresponded with four temperaments. Physicians and philosophers used this model with its four temperaments for many long years.

Behaviorism and social learning theory are examples of two mechanistic theories that focus on explaining children’s behavior. Social learning theory emphasizes observational learning and imitation. On the other hand, behaviorism is rooted in focusing on how the environment impacts development. The environment shapes the child’s development as the child strives to adapt to the environment. Both theories deal with explaining behavior and consist of similarities, but are composed of different elements of explaining behavior.

Introduction- In the field of psychology, behaviorism was one of the theoretical ideas that changed quite drastically during the 20th century. Behaviorism tried to diminish the emphasis on the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind, instead putting forward a new way to look at human behavior that is empirical (observed, quantified, and measured). Ivan Pavlov, for instance, was researching the digestive systems of dogs and led him to the discovery of classical condition, a way to modify behaviors using conditioned responses. Pavlov's views intrigued American John Watson, who pushed the idea forward in up through the 1950s. Building on these theories, but amending the model with the effects of punishment and reward, B.F. Skinner's work had a revolutionary effect on behaviorism, now called operant conditioning (Shiraev, 2010, pp. 246-54).

Secondly, The Behavioural Theory, based on Ivan Pavlov’s 1879 Classic Conditioning experiment and largely influenced by B.F. Skinner’s 1948 Operant Behaviourism Theory suggests that individual’s behaviour is

We as humans are conditioned by external stimulus whether it is responses to food, predators, or any autonomic response, but because of our status as an animal our behavior will always be derived from the environment we are situated in. Classical conditioning is used as a learning method that involves the application of new behavior while associating an external stimulus with that specific behavior as opposed to Operant conditioning which associates behavior and a consequence whether it is a punishment or a reward. Conditioning is a very valuable external reaction that allows researchers to study their subjects, and is still applied today in psychology unlike other aspects that have been degraded. The evolution of behaviorism has grown over time with radicalization by modern

People are quick to make judgements about others without knowing what that person has been through. Regardless of how a person acts, he will be judged either in a positive or negative way. Behavior is something that characterizes us as humans. I believe that as humans we have the capability to change our behavior. I support the theories made by behaviorists. Nobody is born knowing, we all have to experience in order to learn. In other words, we have to go through the process of trial and error in order to understand the consequences of our actions. Consequences are not always bad; sometimes there are positive outcomes to a consequence. The word “consequence” simply implies that there will be a result or an outcome from your actions. People’s

According to behaviorism, the focus is usually on behaviors that are objectively observable while offering a discount on the mental activities. Given that learning refers to the acquisition of new behavior, one of the common among the learning theories is the classic conditioning. Also referred to as the Pavlovian conditioning, the theory of classical conditioning is one that has been used repeatedly to provide an explanation and an interpretation of human behavior from different aspects. For instance, the theory of classical conditioning has been used to explain behaviors related to phobia, source of emotions, and feelings of nervousness among others. In this case, therefore, it is evident that classic conditioning refers to a process of learning through temporal association where two events that occur closely in a repeated manner become fused together in a way that produces the same response (Goldman,

Behaviorism was a slow revolution that proved to become a popular study within psychology that lasted through the second decade of the twentieth century and through the beginning of the cognitive science revolution (Behjamin, 2014). During this time, there had been a vast amount of academic individuals that contributed to the multifaceted studies within the context of behaviorism. Many of the studies within this movement were based on the concept that all behaviors are the result of conditioning which the individual could be trained in an identified manner regardless of their previous background. In respect to the worldview of this psychological approach, it assumes a learner is essentially passive, responding to environmental stimuli (n/a, 2016). The theory discusses that the learner begins with a clean slate and the behavior is then shaped through the use of negative or positive reinforcement or reinforcement which increase the probability that the antecedent behavior will occur again (n/a, 2016). In contrast, punishment (positive and negative) decreases the likelihood the antecedent behavior will occur again. In respect to the act of positive reinforcement, the application of a stimulus in action, negative indicates the withholding of a stimulus (n/a, 2016). Learning is defined as a change in behaviors of the learner, but in this approach, it is considered to be created with reinforcement. In regards to the benefits of allowing researchers to investigate observable

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.

It has been fourteen years since Goethals’ (2003) “A Century of Social Psychology” and seven years after Ross, Lepper, and Ward’s (2010) “History of Social Psychology”. From that time, much has changed in the historical, intellectual, and social zeitgeist that has always influenced social psychology as a field—through the latter’s desire to meet the needs and trappings of its place and time. In the same way that people interact with the situation to understand behavior and construe their social reality, the discipline (not unlike a living organism of its own) has grown and been defined by the priorities and research questions most relevant to the social issues of each point in history.

Behaviorism is a type of psychology and a theory of learning. Everything we know about behaviorism is through

On September 14, 1849, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born into a religious family in Ryazan, Russia. Having a priest as a father and a daughter of a priest as a mother affected Pavlov greatly. Ivan was the oldest and healthiest of his 10

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