Behaviorism Overview

Behaviorism is more concerned with behavior than with thinking, feeling, or knowing. It focuses on the objective and observable components of behavior. The behaviorist theories all share some version of stimulus-response mechanisms for learning. Behaviorism originated with the work of John B. Watson, an American psychologist. Watson held the view that psychology should only concern itself with the study of behavior, and he was not concerned with the mind or with human consciousness. He considered it paramount that men could be studied objectively, like rats and apes.

Watson's work was based on the experiments of Ivan Pavlov, and classical conditioning.

Nowadays, behaviorism is associated with the name of B.F. Skinner, who made his reputation by testing Watson's theories in the laboratory. Skinner ultimately rejected Watson's almost exclusive emphasis on reflexes and conditioning. Skinner believed that people respond to their environment, but they also operate on the environment to produce certain consequences. Thus they partiipate in a feedback loop as an important part of a larger system.

Skinner developed the theory of "operant conditioning," the idea that we behave the way we do because this kind of behavior has had certain consequences in the past.

Presuppositions of behaviorism:
1. Behaviorism is naturalistic. This means that the material world is the ultimate reality, and everything can be explained in terms of natural laws. Man has no soul and no mind, only a brain that responds to external stimuli.
2. A central tenet of behaviorism is that thoughts, feelings, intentions, and mental processes, do not determine what we do. Behaviorism views behavior as the product of conditioning. Humans are biological machines and do not consciously act; rather they react to stimuli.
3. Consistently, behaviorism teaches that we are not responsible for our actions. If we are mere machines, without minds or souls, reacting to stimuli and operating on our environment to attain certain ends, then anything we do is inevitable.
4. Behaviorism is manipulative. It seeks not merely to understand human behavior, but to predict and control it. From his theories, Skinner developed the idea of "shaping." By controlling rewards and punishments, you can shape the behavior of another person.

Other significant behaviorist researchers were Guthrie and Thorndike.

Early behaviorism in retrospect:
Behaviorist theories ultimately have been relegated to mere historical significance as early attempts to explain learning, but are generally regarded as failures not so much because the stimulus-response ideas are inaccurate, but more because they are insufficient. They could be used to explain some behavior, but their generality was extremely limited. Other kinds of explanations were needed.

Skinnerian behaviorism in retrospect:
Skinner stands out in the history of psychology as a great system-builder. Probably his greatest contribution was his description of effects of reinforcement on responses. He related these findings to individuals as well as social groups.