Thepsy

chol
ogi
cal
per
spect
iveofbehav
ior

behavi
oralper
spect
ivei
sthepsychol
ogi
calappr
oachthatsuggeststhatt
hekeyst
o
under
standi
ngdevel
opmentareobser
vabl
ebehaviorandexter
nalsti
mulii
ntheenv
ironment
.

Behavi
orism i
satheor
yoflearni
ngandlear
ningt
heori
esfocusonhowwer espondt
oeventsor
fact
orsthatmotiv
ateouract
ions.Theset
heori
esprov
ideanexpl
anat
ionofhowexperi
encecan
changewhatwedo.

Behav ior
ism emer gedear lyinthe20t hcent ur
yandi tbecameamaj orforceinAmer i
can
psy chologistsuchasJohnBWat son( 1878-1958)andB. FSkinner(1904-1990) ,
behavior
ism
rejectedanyr ef
erencet omi ndandv i
ewedov ertandobservabl
ebehav i
orast hepropersubject
mat terofpsy chol ogy.Throught hesci entif
icstudyofbehav i
or,itwashopedt hatl
awsof
l
ear ningcoul dbeder iv
edt hatwoul dpromot ethepredicti
onandcont rolofbehav i
or.Russi
an
psy chologistIvanPav l
ov( 1849-1936)i nfl
uencedear l
ybehav i
orism i
nAmer i
ca.Hiswor kon
condi ti
onedl earning,popul arl
yref err
edt oasclassicalcondi
ti
oni ng,
providedsuppor tf
orthe
not i
ont hatlearningandbehav i
orwer econtroll
edbyev entsi
nt heenv i
ronmentandcoul dbe
expl ai
nedwi thnor eferencet omi ndorconsci ousness.

Astudyonhumanbehavi
orhasreveal
edthat90%oft hepopulat
ioncanbecl
assi
fi
edi
ntof
our
basi
cper
sonal
i
tyt
ypes.Opti
mist
ic,
pessimist
ic,
trust
ing,andenvi
ous.

Histori
call
y,t
herearetwobehav i
oral
psychologyt heori
es:methodologicalbehaviori
sm and
radi
cal behavi
ori
sm.Themet hodologi
calt
heor yistheorigi
nalbehaviori
sm establi
shedby
Wat son,witht
hegoal ofpredict
ingandcontroll
ingbehav i
orwhiletheradicalbehav i
ori
sm
spearheadedbyB. FSkinner,agr
eeswi t
hthegoal ofthefor
merbutal soaccept sthatorgani
sms
havei nmatebehavior
s.

Despit
eit'
seminence, behavi
oralpsychologyhasbeencr i
tici
zedf orbeingaonedi mensi
onal
approachtounderstandinghumanbehav ior,asitdoesn' ttakei nt
oaccountotherf act
ors,
such
asfreewil
l,t
houghts,feeli
ngsorculture.Freudar guedthatbehav i
orism wasli
mitedbecauseit
di
sregardtheunconsciousmi nd'
sthought s,feelingsanddesi reswhileCarlRogersandother
humanisti
cpsychologistsbel
ievedittober igidbecausei treli
esheav i
l
yonconclusionsderi
ved
fr
om animalstudi
esanddoesnotconsi derper sonal agency .

Nonethel
ess,behav i
ori
sm hasadvancedourunder
standi
ngofnumerousbehavi
orsandledto
avari
etyoftechniquesthatcont
inuetobenefi
tthef
iel
d,suchasbehav
ioranal
ysi
s,behav
ior
modeli
ngorav ersionther
apy.

Rel
evantexampl
es

1.Neweyetr
ackingexperi
mentscandev
elopanunder
standi
ngofhowwel
ear
nthr
ough
posi
ti
veandnegati
vefeedback.

2.I
tisof
tenbehav
iorpsy
chol
ogyt
hatshapeshowpeopl
ebr
eakbadhabi
tsorcr
eat
enewones
e.
gmanybooks,ar
ti
clesandt
ipst
haty
our
eadaboutmaki
ngorbr
eaki
nghabi
tsar
ebasedon
behav
ior
alpsy
chol
ogy.

3.Get
ti
nganewcarwi
l
lmot
ivat
eat
eenagert
ogr
aduat
ehi
ghschool
.

4.Get
ti
ngmoneywi
l
lmot
ivat
eanadul
ttogot
owor
kev
ery
day
.

5.Aper sonwhocontri
butesi
deaisprai
sedfordoi
ngso,
eveni
fthei
deaisn'
tonethati
s
feasi
blebecausethepersonknowshi
sorhereffor
tswer
eappr
eciat
edtheindi
vi
dualgl
adl
y
conti
nuescontri
buti
ngsuggesti
onsandideas.

6.Eachti
meachil
ddoesadesir
abl
ebehavi
orthepar
ent
sgivesthechi
l
dar
ewar
dsuchas
sweetorcandy
.Thi
swil
lmot
ivatet
hechi
ldtodogoodbehav
ior.

7.Compani
esoft
enoff
erpayr
aisest
oemployeeswhoexhibi
texcel
l
entper
for
mance.Thehope
ofarai
secanser
veasamotiv
ationf
orempl
oyeestodotherejobwell
.

Themet
hodol
ogi
stpsy
chol
ogi
stusef
ort
hest
udy

Met
hod#1.Obser
vat
ionMet
hod:

Thebasicmethodofpsychol
ogy,
asisthecasewi thanyscience,i
sobservat
ion.Ear
ly
psychol
ogist
str
iedt
ostudyandexplai
nbehaviourbyjustobservi
ngthebehavi
ourandacti
vi
ti
es
oforgani
sms.Onthebasi
softhei
robservat
ion,theytr
iedtofi
ndexplanat
ions.

Thi st
ypeofobser vat i
oniscal l
ednat uralobservati
onornon- contr
oll
edobser v
ation.Thisterm
meanst hatt heobser v ationwasmadei nnaturalsetti
ngs,
asandwhent hebehav i
ouroccur red.
Ont hebasisofr epeat edobser vat
ions, t
hepsy chologi
stsattempt edtoformul at
egener allaws
andpr i
nciples.Anout st andingexampl eofl awsbasedonsuchnat uralobservati
onsi sthelaws
ofassociationf ormul atedbyLocke, Berkeley,
Brownandot herBriti
shphilosopher s.Atast i
l
l
deeperlevel phil
osopher striedtocombi neobser vati
onwithl ogi
candt ri
edt odev elop
psychologicaltheor i
es.Nat ural
obser v
at i
onwasempl oyedforal ongtimef orpsy chologi
cal

st
udy
.

Met
hod#2.Exper
iment
alMet
hodorExper
iment
alObser
vat
ion:

Asi ndicatedjustabove,anexper i
menti saprocedur ebywhichcer tainconditions,eventset c.
whichoccuri nnaturearearti
ficial
lycreatedandr eproducedinthel aborat
or y.Thechemi stwho
studiest heeffectofheatonachemi calinthelaborator
y,isactuall
ycr eat
ingandr eproducinga
phenomenont hatcanbeexpect edtooccuri nnat ur
eundercertainci r
cumst ances. f
act,t
hisi s
call
edsi mul at
ion.Oncethepsy chologist
saccept edtheideaofexper iment at
iont henitbecame
possiblet ocreateinthelaboratorydifferentt
ypesofcondi ti
onst hatcanpr oduceorsi mulate
anyt ypeofbehav i
ourthepsychol ogistmaydesi retostudy.Inshort,theexper imental method
i
nv olvest hecreati
onofcer t
ainst i
mul ati
ngconditionsorthepresent ati
onofcer t
ainstimulithat
woul dev okeorpr oduceacer t
ai nresponse.
Met
hod#3.Psy
chol
ogi
cal
Exper
iment
:

Mostlaypersonsandper hapsevenbegi
nnersinpsychol
ogyoftenwonderwhatapsy chologi
cal
exper
imentcanbel ike;t
heyareevenbaff
ledthatthepsychol
ogi stclai
mstobeanexper imental
sci
enti
st.
Thepsy chologi
ststudi
esthechangesinappearance,act i
on,emoti
on,f
eeli
ngetc.
Thesearether esponses.Now, j
ustasthechemistwantstodet er minet
heexacttemperatur
eof
melti
ng,thepsy chol
ogistalsotr
iestodet
erminetheexactsti
mul ati
ngcondi
ti
onsthatproduce
speci
fi
cchangesi nresponse.

Met
hod#4.Var
iabl
es–I
ndependent–DependentandI
nter
veni
ng:

Theterm‘var
iabl
e’meansthatwhi
chcanbev ar
iedorchangedort hatwhi
chchangesorv ar
ies
i
tsel
f.Letusgobackagaintothechemist
rystudentwi t
hhisexperi
ment.Her e,
whenheati s
appl
ied,t
henatur
e,col
ourandproperti
esofthemat eri
alchange.Thesti
mul usischangedand
ther
esponseschange.Theformerrepr
esent
sonet y peandthelatt
eranothertypeofvari
able.

Thefir
stv ari
ablecanbechangedbytheexperi
menteratwillandisdel
iberat
elyand
syst
emat i
callyvari
edtofindouthowthi
sisaccompaniedbychangesi nthesecondsetof
vari
abl
es.Thus, thevari
ati
onoftheoneisknownandt heotherunknown.Butthev ar
iat
ioni
nthe
secondvariableisknownt of
oll
owchangesinthefi
rstvar
iable.However
, t
hereisnosuch
defi
nit
erelationshi
pintherever
sedir
ect
ion.

Wenowgot odef i
nethetwot y
pesofvari
abl
esIndependentandDependent.TheIndependent
Variabl
eistheonewhi chissyst
emati
call
yandindependent
lyvariedbytheexper
imenterwhil
e
theDependentVariabl
eisthechangeheexpectstooccurasar esultoft
hechangeshehas
producedintheIndependentVari
abl
e.Anexamplemaymaket hisclear
er.

Met
hod#5.Cont
rol
:

Achemistbeforehearri
vesataconcl
usionabouttheproper
tyofachemicalr
epeatst
he
observat
ionanumberoft imes.Thepsy
chologistal
sohastodothesame.Hehast omake
repeat
edobser v
ationsonthesameindi
vidualandalsoondif
fer
enti
ndiv
idual
sbeforear
ri
vi
ngat
aconclusion.

Herethechemi sti
satanadvantage.Fort
unatel
yforhim al
lsamplesofthesamesubstance
drawnf r
om thesamesourcearet oaverylar
geextentsi
milar
.Butt hi
sisnottr
ueofhuman
beingswhodi f
ferver
ymuchfrom eachot her
.So,asfaraspossible,t
hepsychol
ogi
stal
sohas
toselectpeopl
ewhodonotdi f
ferf r
om eachothermuch.Otherwise,t
heresul
tsofhi
s
experi
mentmaynotbeasexpect ed.