Chapter 10 Behaviorism: the

beginnings –Part 1

@ 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage

Learning
The Psychologist, the Baby, and the
Hammer: Don’t Try This at Home! “Little
Albert” study:
The Psychologist, the Baby, and the Hammer: Don’t Try This at
Home! “Little Albert” study:

• John Watson and Rosalie Rayner conducted experiments to test

learning
• A child is distracted while Watson strikes a steel rod with a hammer
• The child reacts violently and begins crying
• Once the hammer strike is paired with previously neutral stimuli
(white rat), the stimuli begins to elicit fear response
• Watson’s conditioning works when associations are made between
stimuli and response
• Fear generalized to other fuzzy objects (e.g., dog, fur coat, Santa
Claus mask)
• Conclusion: adult fears, anxieties, and phobias are conditioned
emotional responses that were established in infancy and childhood
and stay with us throughout our lives
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt0ucxOrP
QE
John B. Watson (1878-1958)
• Founded behaviorism (did not originate it)
• His efforts are a crystallization of the ideas
already emerging within psychology
• Distinction between Watson and his
predecessors: Watson announced an intentional
goal of founding a new school
The Development of Behaviorism
• Watson: Psychic or mental concepts have no
value for a science of psychology
• Official launch of behaviorism: Psychological
Review (Watson, 1913)
• Argued for the acceptance of animal psychology
and described the advantages of using animal
subjects in psychological research Wanted
behaviorism to be of practical value; applied to
the real world as well
The Reaction to Watson’s Program
• Watson’s program was not embraced
immediately or universally
• Critics questioned his rejection of introspection
• Use of animals =By the 1920s Universities were
offering courses in behaviorism
• Term was becoming acceptable in the
professional journals
The Methods of Behaviorism
• Watson insisted that psychology restrict itself to the data
of the natural sciences (what could be observed)
• Methods: Observation with and without the use of
instruments
Testing methods:
• The verbal report method
• The conditioned reflex method
• Verbal report (instead of introspection): suggested that
speech reactions, because they are objectively observable
are as meaningful for behaviorism as any other type of
motor response
The Methods of Behaviorism
• Conditioned reflex method: Watson responsible
for its widespread use
• New methods = change in the nature and role of
the human subject in the psychology laboratory
• Subjects no longer responsible for the observing
• Role of experimenter is now more important
than the subject
• Subjects merely behaved: reinforced the view of
people as machines
The Subject Matter of Behaviorism
• Focus on elements of behavior: body’s muscular
movements and glandular secretions
• Psychology would deal only with acts that could
be described objectively, without using
subjective or mentalistic terminology

• Underlying belief: all areas of behavior would be

considered in objective S-R terms
Chapter 10 Behaviorism: the
beginnings –Part 2

@ 2012 Wadsworth, Cengage

Learning
Instincts
• Watson accepted the role of instincts in behavior
early on 1925: Watson revised his position and
eliminated the concept of instinct
• Refused to admit to his system any inherited
capacities, temperaments, or talents of any kind
• Behaviors that seemed inherited were traced to
early childhood training
• Optimistic viewpoint: children could be trained
to be whatever one wanted them to be
 Instincts
• Watson tests the grasping reflex of an infant.

(From a still photo made

from a 1919 film.)
Ferdinand Hamburger Jr.
Archives, Johns Hopkins
University
Emotions
• Emotions: physiological responses to specific
stimuli
• Physical manifestations: blushing, perspiration,
increased pulse rate
• Denies any conscious perception of the emotion
or the sensations from the internal organs
Three primary learned reactions:
• Fear-produced by loud noises and loss of support
• Rage-restriction of bodily movements
• Love-rocking, patting, caressing
Albert, Peter, and the Rabbits
• Conditioning of little Albert leads Watson to
reject the notion of the unconscious because it
could not be objectively observed
• Mary Cover Jones: conducts a study with three-
year-old Peter, who already showed a fear of
rabbits
• Successfully eliminates the fear response
through conditioning
• Precursor to behavioral therapy
behavior; free of myths, customs, and conventional behaviors Studies provide evidence that all undesirable behaviors can be eliminated, especially in childhood Theory does not bl

Thought Processes
• Watson: thought processes occur in the
absence of muscular movements

• They are not accessible to observation and

experimentation

• Attempted to reduce thinking to implicit

motor behavior
Behaviorism’s Popular Appeal
Reasons for popularity of behaviorism
• Possibility of controlled behavior; free of myths,
customs, and conventional behaviors
• Studies provide evidence that all undesirable
behaviors can be eliminated, especially in
childhood
• Theory does not blame individual for negative
behaviors
• Replace religion-based ethics with experimental
ethics
An Outbreak of Psychology 1920s
• Following behaviorism’s announcement:
General public was convinced that psychology
provided the path to health, happiness, and
prosperity
• Practical topics: curing the blues, the psychology
of crooks, fears and worries, the meaning of IQ
scores, inferiority complexes, family conflicts,
and why we drink coffee
• Teaches the public how to explore one’s mind
Criticisms of Watson’s Behaviorism
Criticized because system:
• Proposes sweeping revision
• Blatantly attacks the existing order
• Suggests that the earlier version of the truth be
discarded
• Is said to have omitted important components
(e.g., sensory and perceptual processes)
Contributions of Watson’s Behaviorism
• An effective agent of the Zeitgeist
• More objective in methods and terminology
• Overcame earlier positions in psychology
• Strong conceptual base for modern psychology
• Watsonian behaviorism was replaced by other
forms of psychological objectivism that built on
it