Behaviourism
Behaviourism is an approach to psychology that combines elements of philosophy, methodology, and theory (Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy). It emerged in the early twentieth century as a reaction to “mentalistic” psychology, which often had difficulty making predictions that could be tested using rigorous experimental methods. The primary tenet of behaviourism, as expressed in the writings of John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner, and others, is that psychology should concern itself with the observable behaviour of people and animals, not with unobservable events that take place in their minds (Skinner 1984). The behaviourist school of thought maintains that behaviours as such can be described scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs such as thoughts and beliefs (Baum 1994).
From early psychology in the 19th century, the behaviourist school of thought ran concurrently and shared commonalities with the psychoanalytic and Gestalt movements in psychology into the 20th century; but also differed from the mental philosophy of the Gestalt psychologists in critical ways (Gazzaniga 2010). Its main influences were Ivan Pavlov, who investigated classical conditioning although he did not necessarily agree with behaviourism or behaviourists, Edward Lee Thorndike, John B. Watson who rejected introspective methods and sought to restrict psychology to experimental methods, and B.F. Skinner who conducted research on operant conditioning (Fraley 2001).
In the second half of the 20th century, behaviourism was largely eclipsed as a result of the cognitive revolution (Friesen 2005 & Waldrop 2002). While behaviourism and cognitive schools of psychological thought may not agree theoretically, they have complemented each other in practical therapeutic applications, such as in cognitive–behavioural therapy that has demonstrable utility in treating certain pathologies, such as simple phobias, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and addiction. In addition, behaviourism sought to create a comprehensive model of the stream of behaviour from the birth of a human to their death.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorism
Theories within behaviourism
- Classic conditioning – Pavlov
- Law and effect – Thorndike
- Opperative conditioning – Skinner
- Observational Learning – Bandura
The History of Behaviourism
- Pavlov (1897) published the results of an experiment on conditioning after originally studying digestion in dogs.
- Watson (1913) launches the behavioral school of psychology (classical conditioning), publishing an article, “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It”.
- Watson and Rayner (1920) conditioned an orphan called Albert B (aka Little Albert) to fear a white rat.
- Thorndike (1905) formalized the “Law of Effect“.
- Skinner (1936) wrote “The Behavior of Organisms” and introduced the concepts of operant conditioning and shaping.
- Clark Hull’s (1943) Principles of Behavior was published.
- B.F. Skinner (1948) published Walden Two in which he described a utopian society founded upon behaviorist principles.
- Bandura (1963) publishes a book called the “Social Leaning Theory and Personality development” which combines both cognitive and behavioral frameworks.
- B.F. Skinner (1971) published his book Beyond Freedom and Dignity, where he argues that free will is an illusion.
A few YouTube clips
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ctJqjlrHA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YclZBhn40hU
References
Baum, William M. (1994). Understanding behaviourism: science, behaviour, and culture. New York, NY: HarperCollins College Publishers.
Fraley, L.F. (2001). “Strategic interdisciplinary relations between a natural science community and a psychology community” (PDF). The Behaviour Analyst Today 2 (4): 209–324.
Friesen, N. (2005). Mind and Machine: Ethical and Epistemological Implications for Research. Thompson Rivers University, B.C., Canada.
Gazzaniga, Michael (2010). Psychological Science. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 19.
Learning Theories website http://www.learning-theories.com/.
Simply Psycology website, http://www.simplypsychology.org/.
Skinner, B.F. (1984). “The operational analysis of psychological terms”. Behavioural and Brain Sciences 7 (4): 547–81.
Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy – Behaviourism, Plato.stanford.edu. Retrieved on 2013-11-02.
Waldrop, M.M. (2002). The Dream Machine: JCR Licklider and the revolution that made computing personal. New York: Penguin Books. (pp. 139–40).
Wikipedia website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorism.
YouTube website visited on various occasions.
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