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Behaviourism Watson

- Behaviorism, as defined by John Watson, is the scientific study of observable behaviors without consideration of internal mental states. - Watson rejected concepts like the unconscious and introspection, finding them unscientific. He believed the environment completely shapes a person's behaviors and temperament. - In Little Albert Experiment, an infant was conditioned to fear a white rat and stimuli associated with it through repeated pairing with a startling noise. This supported Watson's behaviorist view of environmental conditioning of emotions.

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978 views12 pages

Behaviourism Watson

- Behaviorism, as defined by John Watson, is the scientific study of observable behaviors without consideration of internal mental states. - Watson rejected concepts like the unconscious and introspection, finding them unscientific. He believed the environment completely shapes a person's behaviors and temperament. - In Little Albert Experiment, an infant was conditioned to fear a white rat and stimuli associated with it through repeated pairing with a startling noise. This supported Watson's behaviorist view of environmental conditioning of emotions.

Uploaded by

Aimi Zahirah
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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  • Behaviourism Theory
  • The Little Albert Experiment
  • Conditioning Case Studies

Behaviourism (Watson)

• Behaviourism, according to Watson, was the


science of observable behaviour.

• Only behaviour that could be observed, recorded


and measured was of any real value for the study
of humans or animals.

• Watson's behaviourism rejected the concept of


the unconscious and the internal mental state of
a person because it was not observable and was
subject to the psychologist's subjective
interpretation.
• For example, Freud would ask his patients to
tell him their dreams. He would then interpret
the dreams and analyse what these dreams
were indicating in the person's life.

• Watson found this emphasis on introspection


and subjective interpretation to be very
unscientific and unhelpful in understanding
behaviour.
• He believed strongly that a child's environment is
the factor that shapes behaviours over their
genetic makeup or natural temperament.

• Watson is famous for saying that he could take ‘a


dozen healthy infants... and train any one of them
to become any type of specialist he might select -
doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes,
even beggar-man and thief.'
• In other words, he believed that you can
expose the child to certain environmental
forces and, over time, condition that child to
become any type of person you want.
The Little Albert Experiment
• An infant, Albert was given a white rat and his
reaction was noted to be playful. He had no
fear of the white rat.

• The next time the rat was given to Albert.


However, the psychologists made a loud noise
using a metal pipe and a hammer.

• The noise was so sudden and loud that it


made little Albert cry. They did the same thing
mutiples times.
• Finally, when they gave Albert the rat without
the noise, the child would cry at the mere
sight of the animal.

• Next, they introduced a white rabbit and as


soon as Albert saw the animal, he began to
cry. They gave him a Santa Claus mask which
also made him cry.
• Little Albert was conditioned to cry at the
sight of the white rat, but in the process, he
made the connection to anything that was
white and furry would lead to a loud noise.

• This experiment proofs the Behaviourism


theory and shows that people could be
conditioned to fear something and they can
even end generalizing the object.
Classical Conditioning in the Classroom
• If a student associates negative emotional
experiences with school, then this can
obviously have bad results, such as creating a
school phobia.

• For example, if a student is bullied at school


they may learn to associate the school with
fear.
• It could also explain why some students show
a particular dislike of certain subjects that
continue throughout their academic career.
This could happen if a student is humiliated or
punished in class by a teacher.

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