THE BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE

Context  :  Early 1900’s 
Domain  :  Overt Human Behaviors and External Environment
Founder  :  John Watson 
     
Catalyst  :  Influence of John Lock’s philosophy of Tabula Rasa (clean slate)
“who we are is a product of the environment” 
“the mind is merely an illusion” 
     
Method  :  Objective/Measurable Observation
Experimentation 
       
Contribution  :  a) made Psychology a legitimate science  
b) cleared the causal role of environment in understanding behaviors   
c) S  R paradigm   
d) importance of learning (as a function of environment) over 
heredity and intangible internal factors 
Criticisms  :  a) methods are too rigid, too laboratory (lack external validity … 
though high internal validity) 
b) S  R paradigm can be too mechanistic 
c) ignored human will, freedom, cognition, emotions, etc. 
  

 
John Broadus Watson 
(1878‐1958). 
 
- Acknowledged as the father of behaviorism  The little Albert Experiment which led to
- Advocated the use of experimental methods in  the precursor of Classical Conditioning
psychology 
- Was first to design a scientific study on physiological 
responses to sexual arousal at Johns Hopkins University 
which led to a scandal and his ultimate dismissal to the 
academic community 
- Together with Rosalie Rayner, they contributed to the 
understanding of phobia (see the Little Albert 
experiment) 
- Also studied infant reflexes with Rosalie Rayner 
- Practiced advertising at J. Walters Thompson Ad Agency 
where he advised advertisers to appeal to the emotions 
(love and fear) of the customers, use of celebrities, and  Watson and Rayner studying infant reflexes
use of testimonials 
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Edwin Burket Twitmyer 
(1873‐1943) 
 
- befamed from his experiment on the variability of 
patellar tendon reflex  from which he devised an  Twitmeyer’s apparatus that led to his
independent discovery of classical conditioning
apparatus that delivered a light tap below the 
knees of his research subjects in order to elicit this 
reflex (this eventually led to his independent 
discovery of classical conditioning) 

Ivan Petrovitch Pavlov 
(1849‐1936) 
  Pavlov’s Experiment that accidentally led to
- a Russian physiologist who serendipitously  the discovery of Classical Conditioning
discovered classical conditioning 
- reputed for being an “absent‐minded” professor

Edward Lee Thorndike 
(1874‐1949) 
Law of Exercise – “Other things being equal, exercise
strengthens the bond between situation and Response”
Law of Effect – “The greater the satisfyingness of the
state of affairs which accompanies or follows a given
response to a certain situation, the more likely that
response is to be made to that situation in the future”
The Puzzle Box: The frequency of the cat
pulling the lever increases as the cat learns to
associate the behavior with positive
consequences: the opening of the door and
being able to get out of the box. This
contraption became the precursor of the
Skinner Box.
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Burrhus Frederic Skinner  The Skinner Box: where the rat “learns” to
pull the lever so that food pellet will drop
(1904‐1990)  into the dispenser.
 
- continued and elaborated Watson’s ideas and  
theories 
- introduced the S  R paradigm  
- popularized animal experimentation 
- developed operant conditioning  
- emphasized behavior modification or the role of 
reinforcements and punishments in shaping and 
modifying behaviors 
- founded his own school of experimental research 
psychology—The Experimental Analysis of Behavior 
- established Radical Behaviorism as a philosophy in 
Behavioral Psychology  The air crib (also known as the baby tender
- strongly adhered to Behaviorism until his death  or the “heir conditioner”) with Deborah
  (Skinner’s daughter) in it. Skinner’s other
daughter, Julie, was no longer subjected in
- some inventions:   this experiment.
 
a) the cumulative recorder to measure rate of 
responding as part of his highly influential work on 
schedules of reinforcement  
 
b) the air crib which is an easily‐cleaned, 
temperature and humidity‐controlled box 
designed to assist in the raising of babies and 
control their environment  
 
Yvonne Blue, Skinner’s wife, with their
c) the teaching machine was a mechanical device  daughter on the baby tender. Deborah later
whose purpose was to administer a curriculum of  claimed that this experiment had no effect
programmed instruction. It housed a list of  on her.
questions, and a mechanism through which the 
learner could respond to each question. Upon 
delivering a correct answer, the learner would be 
rewarded 

The teaching machine, a mechanical

invention to automate the task of
programmed instruction
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Albert Bandura 
(1925‐present) 
 
- a former behaviorist who established learning by observation 
(learning through imitation and modeling) 
- strengthened the influence of the social environment on human  Bandura’s famous Bobo Doll Experiment
showing how children imitate aggressive
behaviors  behaviors from adults
 
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY – states that behavior is 
determined not only by environmental conditions but 
also by how thoughts modify the effects of environment 
on behavior. 
 
- Renowned for his Bobo Doll Experiment 
- broadened the scope of behaviorism by looking on the ways in 
which the mind processes information about the environment 
(how the mind interprets information from the environment)