Behaviorism
Behaviorism was the first study of psychology that looked at human behavior and how humans essentially learned (Ormrod, 1995). When describing behaviorism and it’s main ideas, it can be characterized as a type of psychology that examines the overt, observable actions and reactions of an individual. Behaviorists view the mind as a “black box†ignoring the possibility of thought and consciousness. Instead of studying the mind, behaviorists examine the unbiased, environmental conditions that influence a person’s behavior. John B. Watson, to many, is the founder of Behaviorism as a school of experimental psychology. Psychologists that most impacted the development of the behaviorist theory were Ivan Pavlov, who research on classical conditioning, Edward Lee Thorndike, John B. Watson, who rejected introspective methods and sought to reduce psychology to experimental methods, and B.F. Skinner who studied operant conditioning.
Influences on behaviorism
In the beginning of the twentieth century behaviorism became the main movement in psychology. It was a utilitarian study of psychology, focusing on predicting and controlling behavior. Behaviorism was developed first in the United States with the English school of thought being most influential. Behaviorists were trying to take psychology away from studying the consciousness, and transform it into a science similar to that of biology of physics (Ormrod, 1995). Behaviorism began within the field of animal psychology, but quickly spread to all aspects of human psychology. Both structuralism and functionalism were popular views in psychology when behaviorism became a school of thought. However, the views on the development of behaviorism between the two previous schools of psychology differed. Functionalism, which believes psychology should study the function of thought and the mind, saw behaviorism as a way for their movement to advance (Schultz, 2008).
Behaviorism was first seen in psychology when Ivan Pavlov, a
Influences on behaviorism
In the beginning of the twentieth century behaviorism became the main movement in psychology. It was a utilitarian study of psychology, focusing on predicting and controlling behavior. Behaviorism was developed first in the United States with the English school of thought being most influential. Behaviorists were trying to take psychology away from studying the consciousness, and transform it into a science similar to that of biology of physics (Ormrod, 1995). Behaviorism began within the field of animal psychology, but quickly spread to all aspects of human psychology. Both structuralism and functionalism were popular views in psychology when behaviorism became a school of thought. However, the views on the development of behaviorism between the two previous schools of psychology differed. Functionalism, which believes psychology should study the function of thought and the mind, saw behaviorism as a way for their movement to advance (Schultz, 2008).
Behaviorism was first seen in psychology when Ivan Pavlov, a
References: Graham, George (2007). Behaviorism. Retrieved March 29, 2010, from Standford University, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Web site: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism/#8. Hall, Geoffrey. (2009). Watson: The Thinking Man 's Behaviourist. British Journal of Psychology, 100 (Suppl), 185 -187. doi:10.1348/000712609X413656 Ormrod, Jeanne, E. (1995). Human Learning. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Schultz, D.P., & Schultz, S.E. (2008). A History of modern psychology. Belmont CA: Thomson Learning Inc. Watson, J. B. (1994). Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 101(2), 248-253. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.101.2.248