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Founding fathers of psychology and their views
Reflection paper about john watson behaviorism
Reflection paper about john watson behaviorism
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During the 20th century, the science of psychology developed a role that identified it as an essential of life. John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner, and Edward Tolman are a vital part of that journey transcending from the 19th century to what is now known as “modern day psychology” in 2012. In this succinct writing the contributions of each man will be revealed and deliberation to define their difference shall be incorporated herein. Although, each psychologist has commonalities in their perspectives, there is also a form of dissemination among them based on their theories and perspectives. Each theory and concept is like steps on a ladder that define prior events that lead to current day theory known as modern day psychology. Respectfully John B. Watson is the founder of behaviorism and B.F. Skinner is the founder of radical behaviorism, but Edward Tolman marches to a different drum and is known for developing cognitive theory. Herein we will compare and contrast each theory and formulate how each theory is imperative in 2012.
John B. Watson
Born January 9, 1878 John B. Watson is credited as the founder of behaviorism. Behaviorism is a theory that equates behavior to conditioning. Typical examples of behavior conditioning are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is the pairing of a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus that births an unconditioned response. Subsequently, a neutral stimulus brings a response without the natural occurring stimulus. Unified the two elements are thought of as a conditioned stimulus and a conditioned response. Watson and Skinner classical conditioning are similar because they both require a form of behavior whether negative or positive, volun...
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...ng. Tolman was also a behaviorist, but his distinction is signified by his cognitive theory. Three men, three contributions that will last forever!
In 2012 Watson’s behavior theory is still flourishing and alive. B.F. Skinner operant conditioning is utilized in many occupations and Tolman’s cognitive theory is also alive and well in 2012. In closing, theories are timeless and as we approached a new century, other psychologist will emerged to compliment or further the work of Watson, Skinner, and Tolman! Their works are here to remind us that a theory or concept can be timeless.
References:
Goodwin, C. J. (2008). A History of Modern Psychology (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
Cooper, S. (2009). Theories of Learning in Educational Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/behaviorism/Tolman
The birth of psychology was in December of 1879, at Germanys University of Leipzig (Myers, 2014, p.2). In 1960, Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener defines psychology as “the science of mental health” (Myers, 2014, p.4). However, two provocative American psychologists, John Watson and B.F Skinner, redefined psychology in 1920. They redefined psychology as “the scientific study of observable behavior” (Myers, 2014, p.4). The problem arose when psychologists realized people could not observe feeling or thought so they needed to come up with a new definition for psychology. We define psychology today as “the science of behavior and mental processes” (Myers, 2014, p.4). Psychology includes many subfields such as human development, social behavior,
Joey 's program will be based in Applied Behavior Analysis which was first introduced in 1913, when John Watson started a movement towards behaviorism with his article “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” (Miltenberger, 2012). Based on Pavlov 's observations of classical conditioning, Watson suggested that human behavior could also be explained by the same means and that the process of classical conditioning was proper subject matter for psychology. He believed all human behavior were responses to external stimuli and environmental events (Miltenberger, 2012). B. F. Skinner took Watson 's theory of classical conditioning further to include operant conditioning. The highlight of Skinner 's theory is identifying what a behavior achieves through observing the behavior. It is only after the function of behavior is identified that we can alter the consequences to increase the probability of the desired behavior 's occurrence (Miltenberger, 2012). In operant conditioning behavior is changed through the manipulation of contingencies or the use of reinforcement or punishment after the desired or undesired response occurs (Miltenberger, 2012). Skinner was able to prove through his
At Harvard, B.F. Skinner looked for a more objective and restrained way to study behavior. Most of his theories were based on self-observation, which influenced him to become a enthusiast for behaviorism. Much of his “self-observed” theories stemmed from Thorndike’s Puzzle Box, a direct antecedent to Skinner’s Box. He developed an “operant conditioning apparatus” to do this, which is also known as the Skinner box. The Skinner box also had a device that recorded each response provided by the animal as well as the unique schedule of reinforcement that the animal was assigned. The design of Skinner boxes can vary ...
Behaviorism and conditioning has its share of success stories especially when used to curb undesirable habits such as smoking and drinking, however they have also had their moments of darkness as well as seen in 1920 with John Watson and his little experiments that starred a young boy dubbed Little Albert. During Watson’s experiments to help explain conditioning, During his experiments Watson exposed Albert to a number of animals and recorded Albert’s initial reactions which were next to none at all. Watson then began exposing the same animals to Albert, and providing loud bangs that startled Albert at the same time. Eventually Albert began to cry at the sight of the animals even when they were not seen simultaneously with the loud bang.
In 1913 a new movement in psychology appeared, Behaviorism. “Introduced by John Broadus Watson when he published the classic article Psychology as the behaviorist views it.” Consequently, Behaviorism (also called the behaviorist approach) was the primary paradigm in psychology between 1920 to 1950 and is based on a number of underlying ‘rules’: Psychology should be seen as a science; Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal events, like thinking and emotion; People have no free will – a person’s environment determines their behavior; Behavior is the result of stimulus resulting in a response; and All behavior is learned from the environment. How we process these stimuli and learn from our surrounds
Edward Chance Tolman made many significant findings to the studies of learning , memory and motivation. By today's standards he would be considered a behaviorist. “He is best remembered for being a pioneer in cognitive psychology during a time when behaviorists dominated the field. Tolman made several significant contributions to the field of psychology. At Berkeley University he created a cognitive theory of learning, which became his trademark to the field. He thought of learning as developing from bits of knowledge and cognition about the environment and how the organism relates to it “(Kimble et al, 1991).
In conclusion, the theory of behaviorism is based on observable behaviors for easier quantification and data collection. Effective techniques such as behavior intervention and discrete trial training originate from this school of thought. The approaches are very essential in altering the maladaptive behaviors in adults and children (Cherry, 2011). Today, conditioning and the use of reward and punishment are used to help people learn accepted behavior and in other cases to help them stop problematic behavior (Coon & Mitterer, 2008). This has made behavior modification and training easy and possible. Therefore, Dr. John Watson played a tremendous role in the transition of psychology from the work of earlier scholars to the modern scholars.
The quote from the famous psychologist John B. Watson essentially sums up behaviourism. Behaviourism refers to the school of psychology founded by Watson, established on the fact that behaviours can be measured and observed (Watson, 1993). In behaviourism, there is a strong emphasis that the acquisition of learning, or permanent change in behaviour, is by external manifestation. Thus, any individual differences in behaviours observed was more likely due to experiences, and not by the working of genes. As the quote suggest, any individuals can be potentially trained to perform any tasks through the right conditioning. There are two major types of conditioning, classical and operant conditioning (Cacioppo & Freberg, 2012).
This article about John Watson and Behaviorism is still of great importance to modern society and modern psychology. There is doubt to the fact that behaviorism also has lost its peak too soon, like Watson academic career faded too early during his lifetime. Watson cannot be blamed for being unsuccessful and for short living of his theory because the environment he was raised was not a peaceful and offering no secure attachment. His father was an alcoholic and frequently got involved into fights. Watson himself has a troubled life and arrested twice. Since he was having a violent behavior so his academic thoughts were also influenced by behavior and environment. But again those with a true passion as a result of personal experience are known
Various perspectives on behavior have changed the face of psychology over the centuries. Some of the most influential of these theories on behaviorism were made by John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner, and Edward C. Tolman. The manner in which behavior is modified has become a growing debate in the aspect of which technique is more reliable and effective. The theories from these three men have become a foundation for many different schools of thought throughout modern psychology. Through their research, many modern psychologists have grown a better knowledge on why people react and behave during certain situations or in different environments. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the various theories of Watson and Skinner to that of Tolman.
Like some other psychologist, B.F. Skinner has criticized cognitive psychology in reviewed articles, providing examples and reasoning’s to justify his belief that cognitive psychology
The writings and findings of Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, and B.F. Skinner have done much for the advancement of modern psychology. Many of the important findings in psychology from their theory of behaviorism, later evolving into the social-learning theory or cognitive social-learning theory. Proponents of the learning perspective think that mentalism should be abandoned for behaviorism. Psychologists should concentrate on observation and direct measurement rather focusing on introspection.
B.F. Skinner was born on March 20, 1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, a small town where he spent his childhood. He was the first-born son of a lawyer father and homemaker mother who raised him and his younger brother. As a young boy, Skinner enjoyed building and used his imaginative mind to invent many different devices. He spent his college years at Hamilton College in New York to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in writing. Following his graduation in 1926, Skinner explored writings of Pavlov, Russell, and Watson, three influential men in the field of behavioral psychology. After two years as a failed writer, Skinner applied to Harvard University to earn his Ph.D. in psychology.
“Behavior theory consists of ideas about how human actions and emotions develop, are sustained, and are extinguished through principles of learning” (Walsh, 2010). Positive and negative reinforcement is used to help manipulate the behaviors of the individual. The theory has been used to help eliminate unwanted behaviors. In addition, behavior theory has been use primarily with children, and persons with developmental disabilities. According to Walsh (2010) behavior theory evolved in the 1960s from a field of philosophy to the field of science. Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning, which plays a major role in behavioral theory. Classical conditioning is the process of learning through ones surroundings, conditioned, and unconditioned stimuli and response. B. F. Skinner discovered operant conditioning the process of learning to influence the future responses to the environment (Clark, 2004). The two concepts has been used throughout the behavior theory to help assist clients with unacceptable behaviors that is occurring. The combination of the two concepts has been a very helpful aspect to the behavior theory. Both concepts offer a different approach or solution to the behavior of the client.
There are five main contributors to behaviorism. They are Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B.F. Skinner, Albert Bandura, and Joseph Wolpe. The beh...