Behaviourism

Beginning in the 1930s, behaviourism flourished in the United

States, with B.F. Skinner leading the way in demonstrating the
power of operant conditioning through reinforcement. Behaviourists
in university settings conducted experiments on the conditions
controlling learning and “shaping” behaviour through
reinforcement, usually working with laboratory animals such as rats
and pigeons. Skinner and his followers explicitly excluded mental
life, viewing the human mind as an impenetrable “black box,” open
only to conjecture and speculative fictions. Their work showed that
social behaviour is readily influenced by manipulating
specific contingencies and by changing the consequences or
reinforcement (rewards) to which behaviour leads in different
situations. Changes in those consequences can modify behaviour in
predictable stimulus-response (S-R) patterns. Likewise, a wide
range of emotions, both positive and negative, may be acquired
through processes of conditioning and can be modified by applying
the same principles.

Freud And His Followers

Concurrently, in a curious juxtaposition, the psychoanalytic theories
and therapeutic practices developed by the Vienna-trained
physician Sigmund Freud and his many disciples—beginning early
in the 20th century and enduring for many decades—were
undermining the traditional view of human nature as essentially
rational. Freudian theory made reason secondary: for Freud,
the unconscious and its often socially unacceptable irrational
motives and desires, particularly the sexual and aggressive, were the
driving force underlying much of human behaviour and mental
illness. Making the unconscious conscious became the therapeutic
goal of clinicians working within this framework.

Freud proposed that much of what humans feel, think, and do is

outside awareness, self-defensive in its motivations, and
unconsciously determined. Much of it also reflects conflicts
grounded in early childhood that play out in complex patterns of
seemingly paradoxical behaviours and symptoms. His followers,
the ego psychologists, emphasized the importance of the higher-
order functions and cognitive processes (e.g.,
competence motivation, self-regulatory abilities) as well as the
individual’s psychological defense mechanisms. They also shifted
their focus to the roles of interpersonal relations and of secure
attachment in mental health and adaptive functioning, and they
pioneered the analysis of these processes in the clinical setting.

The learning theory dominant in the first half of the 20th Century was
behaviourism. Throughout the 1950s and 60s behaviourism remained influential,
although since that time new theories have begun to make substantial inroads in
general acceptance. Behaviourism is an approach to psychology and learning that
emphasizes observable measurable behaviour. The behaviourist theory of animal
and human learning focuses only on objectively observable behaviours and
discounts mental activities. Behaviour theorists define learning as a more or less
permanent change in behaviour. In behaviourism, the learner is viewed as
passively adapting to their environment. Two of the most famous experiments upon
which proof of learning is based are the "Dog Salivation Experiment" by Ivan
Petrovich Pavlov and the " Skinner Box" experiment with pigeons by B.F. Skinner.

"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well informed, and my own specified world to
bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take anyone at random and train him to
become any type of specialist I might select--doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief;
and yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants,
tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors." John Watson

Behaviourism is derived from the belief that free will is an illusion. According
to a pure behaviourist, human beings are shaped entirely by their external
environment. Alter a person's environment, and you will alter his or her thoughts,
feelings, and behaviour. Provide positive reinforcement whenever students perform
a desired behaviour, and soon they will learn to perform the behaviour on their
own.

The behaviourists tried to explain learning without referring to mental processes.

The focus was on observable behaviour and how an organism adapts to the
environment. The famous "Dog-Salivation-Experiment" by Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
where he makes dogs salivate at the sound of a bell and later experiments
by Burhus Frederic Skinner (Refere nce date; 25th of April 1998) with pigeons in
the so called "Skinner Box" are very famous examples of behaviouristic learning
experiments. Despite these very "low-level" learning experiments focusing largely
on reflexes, the behaviouristic theories have been generalized to many higher level
functions as well.
The behaviorist movement began in 1913 when John Watson wrote an article entitled
'Psychology as the behaviorist views it,' which set out a number of underlying assumptions
regarding methodology and behavioral analysis:

All behavior is learned from the environment:

Behaviorism emphasizes the role of environmental factors in influencing behavior, to
the near exclusion of innate or inherited factors. This amounts essentially to a focus
on learning.
We learn new behavior through classical or operant conditioning (collectively known
as 'learning theory').
Therefore, when born our mind is 'tabula rasa' (a blank slate

Psychology should be seen as a science:

Theories need to be supported by empirical data obtained through careful and
controlled observation and measurement of behavior. Watson (1913) stated that:
'Psychology as a behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of
natural science. Its theoretical goal is … prediction and control.' (p. 158).
The components of a theory should be as simple as possible. Behaviorists propose
the use of operational definitions (defining variables in terms of observable,
measurable events).

Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable

behavior, as opposed to internal events like thinking and
emotion:
While behaviorists often accept the existence of cognitions and emotions, they prefer
not to study them as only observable (i.e., external) behavior can be objectively and
scientifically measured.
Therefore, internal events, such as thinking should be explained through behavioral
terms (or eliminated altogether).
Psychology should be seen as a science, to be studied in a scientific manner.
Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal
events like thinking.
Behavior is the result of stimulus–response (i.e., all behavior, no matter how
complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus – response features).
Behavior is determined by the environment (e.g., conditioning, nurture).
Ignores mediational processes
Ignores biology (e.g., testosterone)
Too deterministic (little free-will)
Experiments – low ecological validity
Humanism – can’t compare animals to humans
Reductionist
Behaviorism has experimental support: Pavlov showed that classical conditioning
leads to learning by association. Watson and Rayner showed that phobias can be
learnt through classical conditioning in the “little Albert” experiment.
An obvious advantage of behaviorism is its ability to define behavior clearly and to
measure changes in behavior. According to the law of parsimony, the fewer
assumptions a theory makes, the better and the more credible it is. Behaviorism,
therefore, looks for simple explanations of human behavior from a very scientific
standpoint.
However, behaviorism only provides a partial account of human behavior, that which
can be objectively viewed. Important factors like emotions, expectations, higher-level
motivation are not considered or explained. Accepting a behaviorist explanation
could prevent further research from other perspective that could uncover important
factors.
Many of the experiments carried out were done on animals; we are different
cognitively and physiologically, humans have different social norms and moral values
these mediate the effects of the environment therefore we might behave differently
from animals so the laws and principles derived from these experiments might apply
more to animals than to humans.
In addition, humanism (e.g., Carl Rogers) rejects the scientific method of using
experiments to measure and control variables because it creates an artificial
environment and has low ecological validity.
Humanistic psychology also assumes that humans have free will (personal agency)
to make their own decisions in life and do not follow the deterministic laws of science.
Humanism also rejects the nomothetic approach of behaviorism as they view
humans as being unique and believe humans cannot be compared with animals (who
aren’t susceptible to demand characteristics). This is known as an idiographic
approach.
The psychodynamic approach (Freud) criticizes behaviorism as it does not take into
account the unconscious mind’s influence on behavior, and instead focuses on
externally observable behavior. Freud also rejects the idea that people are born a
blank slate (tabula rasa) and states that people are born with instincts (e.g., eros and
thanatos).
Biological psychology states that all behavior has a physical/organic cause. They emphasize
the role of nature over nurture. For example, chromosomes and hormones (testosterone)
influence our behavior too, in addition to the environment.

Cognitive psychology states that mediational processes occur between stimulus and

response, such as memory, thinking, problem-solving, etc.
Despite these criticisms, behaviorism has made significant contributions to
psychology. These include insights into learning, language development, and moral
and gender development, which have all been explained in terms of conditioning.
The contribution of behaviorism can be seen in some of its practical
applications. Behavior therapy and behavior modification represent one of the major
approaches to the treatment of abnormal behavior and are readily used in clinical
psychology.