Take a moment to watch this quick summary of Behaviorism that revolved around its three major founding fathers. The video goes over key points and begins to bring light to specific research terms and techniques involved in behaviorism.
History of Behaviorism
Before the theory of Behaviorism began to take off, psychologists managed another facet of studying behavior through the term "introspective psychology." Psychologists such as Wundt, Kiilpe and Titchener had managed their research around "consciousness" as the subject matter as its definition of behaviorism. Born out of a religious background, the term introspective psychology revolved around observable behaviors that occurred from the manipulation of a persons common response to fear stimuli. As the fear stimuli easily conducted and controlled behavior, psychologists then focused on "consciousness" as a natural tendency. Fear stimuli, in its most primitive stage, was difficult to challenge as it could not be proven yet could not be refuted. Eventually, introspective psychology transitioned itself into tangible study where observations could be made with the naked eye or measured through physiological changes within the human condition. View the example below from John Watson's book (Watson, 1998) about an example into Introspective Psychology and think to yourself as to why psychologists such as Watson and Skinner began to look towards provable and easily observable attributes within behavior.
INTROSPECTIVE PSYCHOLOGY: An Example of Such Concepts
One example of such a concept is that there is a fearsome God and that every individual has a soul which is separate and distinct from the body. This soul is really a part of the supreme being. This concept has led to the philosophical platform called “dualism.” All psychology except behaviorism is dualistic. That is to say we have both a mind (soul) and a body. This dogma has been present in human psychology from earliest antiquity. No one has ever touched a soul, or has seen one in a test tube, or has in any way come into relationship with it as he has with the other objects of his daily experience. Nevertheless, to doubt its existence is to become a heretic and once might possibly even have led to the loss of one’s head. Even today the man holding a public position dare not question it.With the development of the physical sciences which came with the renaissance, a certain release from this stifling soul cloud was obtained. A man could think of astronomy, of the celestial bodies and their motions, of gravitation and the like, without involving soul. Although the early scientists were as a rule devout Christians, nevertheless they began to leave soul out of their test tubes. Psychology and philosophy, however, in dealing as they thought with non-material objects, found it difficult to escape the language of the church, and hence the concepts of mind and soul come down to the latter part of the nineteenth century. It was the boast of W undt’s students, in 1879, when the first psychological laboratory was established, that psychology had at last become a science without a soul. For fifty years we have kept this pseudo-science, exactly as Wundt laid it down. All that Wundt and his students really accomplished was to substitute for the word "soul” the word "consciousness.”
Watson. (1998). Behaviorism Routledge.
INTROSPECTIVE PSYCHOLOGY: An Example of Such Concepts
One example of such a concept is that there is a fearsome God and that every individual has a soul which is separate and distinct from the body. This soul is really a part of the supreme being. This concept has led to the philosophical platform called “dualism.” All psychology except behaviorism is dualistic. That is to say we have both a mind (soul) and a body. This dogma has been present in human psychology from earliest antiquity. No one has ever touched a soul, or has seen one in a test tube, or has in any way come into relationship with it as he has with the other objects of his daily experience. Nevertheless, to doubt its existence is to become a heretic and once might possibly even have led to the loss of one’s head. Even today the man holding a public position dare not question it.With the development of the physical sciences which came with the renaissance, a certain release from this stifling soul cloud was obtained. A man could think of astronomy, of the celestial bodies and their motions, of gravitation and the like, without involving soul. Although the early scientists were as a rule devout Christians, nevertheless they began to leave soul out of their test tubes. Psychology and philosophy, however, in dealing as they thought with non-material objects, found it difficult to escape the language of the church, and hence the concepts of mind and soul come down to the latter part of the nineteenth century. It was the boast of W undt’s students, in 1879, when the first psychological laboratory was established, that psychology had at last become a science without a soul. For fifty years we have kept this pseudo-science, exactly as Wundt laid it down. All that Wundt and his students really accomplished was to substitute for the word "soul” the word "consciousness.”
Watson. (1998). Behaviorism Routledge.
John B. Watson
Progressing to 1913, we are introduced to John B. Watson whom brings us the first edition of behaviorism, more commonly known as S-R behaviorism. As definitions of "behaviorism" become increasingly difficult to pinpoint, one thing that is agreed upon within natural sciences is that behaviorism determines the "subject of human psychology is the behavior or activities of human being. Consciousness is neither definable nor a usable concept" (Watson, 1998) Behaviorism now focused on observable response and physiological change in condition when a prescribed behavior occurs. The focus of Watson's study can be broken down into 2 parts - Stimulus and Response. |
Stimulus
From birth to death, organism (animals, humans, etc.) are subject to millions of stimuli from our surrounding environments. While many stimuli are rooted in the specific location in which it occurs, it can be defined as an effect that is applied to one of your senses (touch, smell, hearing, taste, etc.) in which it causes a reactionary response. Stimuli can be culturally influenced or standard through nature. The "fear" stimuli mentioned earlier is an example of standard stimuli in that a child that faces a near death experience from a fall, or car accident, induces fear into the child. The stimuli is the approach of the vehicle or the g-force when the child is falling. An example of a culturally influenced stimuli is the tune of an ice cream truck. In western culture, an abundance of people know the soft jingle behind the ice cream truck and when heard (stimuli), it causes the listeners to turn and look for the truck. |
Response
Responses follow the stimulus, but must not be confused with immediate action. A response can be any reaction to the stimulus in which Watson breaks it down into "external" and "internal" response. An example of external response is defined by observable movement or motion. When two individuals get into a fight, one individual will throw a punch at the other (stimuli) and the response would be for the person to raise their arm to block the punch. The external response is the motion of the arm moving into place to block or receive the punch. On the other hand, we also have an internal response which is a physiological change to the organisms current state that may be able to be tracked through instruments other other tools of measure. The person receiving the punch, upon their block, may experience an increase in heart rate, blood pressure or awareness due to the adrenaline and environment they're placed in. While these responses may not be visibly through the eye or difficult to notice, they would easily be measured through tools such as heart rate monitors and brain scans. |
B.F. Skinner Through 1904-1990, B.F. Skinner develops Watson's traditional S-R Behaviorism into what we call Radical Behaviorism or behavior analysis. There is an increased focus in verbal behavior and epistemology principles. Skinner followed the 8 basic principles to behaviorism: 1. Behavior 2. Analytic Concepts 3. Behavior (Public and Private) 4. Opposition to Mentalism 5. Selection by consequences 6. Verbal behavior as an Operant Behavior 7. Pragmatism 8. Social Activism (Moore, 2011) |
Behaviorism in its most current form is a study that translates psychology into neuroscience and serves to understand behavior by its relationships and not by definition. Skinner and other behavioral analysts conduct their research and produce their theories with the application of observable behaviors and monitor physiological changes to understand the relationship between an organism and its environment. The interactions we see between these two conditions is what we “define” as behaviorism. However, the origins of these behaviors delves into a further line of study such as nativism, cultural upbringing in which you can find further information in extended research through this article which relates Vygotsky's theory to Behaviorism.
In a nutshell, Behaviorism is the study of behaviors that occur as a result of a relationship between an action and response protocol. Analysis whom study behaviors seek to answer why people behave a certain way as a result of stimuli and response, and attempt to apply behaviorism in terms of conditioned behaviors and reproduce observed results.
As you continue through this presentation of Behaviorism, we link the theory to applications and it becomes evident how behaviorism has occurred throughout your life and experiences whether intentional or not. Behaviorism can occur when raising a child, deciding how you survey a disaster scenario or even when you sit down to read a book.
In a nutshell, Behaviorism is the study of behaviors that occur as a result of a relationship between an action and response protocol. Analysis whom study behaviors seek to answer why people behave a certain way as a result of stimuli and response, and attempt to apply behaviorism in terms of conditioned behaviors and reproduce observed results.
As you continue through this presentation of Behaviorism, we link the theory to applications and it becomes evident how behaviorism has occurred throughout your life and experiences whether intentional or not. Behaviorism can occur when raising a child, deciding how you survey a disaster scenario or even when you sit down to read a book.