Origins of Behaviorism

Origins of Behaviorism Behaviourism originated with the work of John B. Watson from 1913.

Behaviourism is based on the following sets of claims:

(1) Psychology is the study of behaviour. Psychology is not the

science of mind. This statement also forms a type of behaviourism: “Methodological”

behaviourism claims that psychology should concern itself with the

behaviour of organisms (human and non-human). Psychology should not

concern itself with mental states or events or with constructing

internal information processing accounts of behaviour. In its

historical foundations, methodological behaviourism shares with

analytical behaviourism the influence of positivism. One of the goals

of positivism was to unify psychology with natural science.

Methodological behaviourism is a dominant theme in the writings of

John Watson.

John Broadus Watson was one of the most prominent psychologist

scientists of his era, writing on applied psychology for academic

journals, business publications, and popular magazines and is

considered to be the founding father of behaviorism. John was born in

South Carolina to Emma and Pickens Watson in 1878. The Watson family

lived in Greenville, South Carolina and was extremely poor. John spent

much of his boyhood in the relative isolation and p...

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...t, as long as lots of its elements are useful and effective in

modern life. I do not agree with some ideas, like Watson’s idea that

psychology should study only observable behavior, because I think that

there is much more to human personality than behavior. I believe this

because people act different when they know they are being watched, or

even when they are in the presence of other people than when they are

alone. Some people might decide to act in a certain way to prove a

point, hide their weaknesses, or hide their true personality. So, the

scientific results might not always be reliable. Even so, I do think

that a lot of psychology hypothesis come from observing human and

animal behavior. Psychologists will constantly expand theories and

critics will continue, for as long as people will have different

opinions.