CHAPTER 10
BEHAVIORISM:
THE BEGINNINGS
Topics
1. John B. Watson (1878-1958)
2. The Methods of Behaviorism
3. The Subject Matter of Behaviorism
4. The Psychologist, the Baby, and the Hammer: Don’t Try This at
Home!
6. Behaviorism’s Popular Appeal
7. An Outbreak of Psychology
8. Criticisms of Watson’s Behaviorism
William McDouggall
Karl Lashley
9. Contributions of Watson’s Behaviorism
John B. Watson (1878-1958)
• Founded behaviorism (did not
originate it)
• Hisefforts are a crystallization of
the ideas already emerging within
psychology
• Distinctionbetween Watson and
his predecessors:
• Watson announced an
intentional goal of founding a
new school
John B. Watson (1878-1958)
The Development of
Behaviorism
• Watson:
• 1903-1908: Instructor, at University of Chicago
• Psychic or mental concepts have no value for a science of
psychology
• Official launch of behaviorism: Psychology as the Behaviorist
Views it. 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
Major points of Watson’s Psychology:
• Psychology is the science of behavior
• Rejected the introspective method
• Use of animals
• Psychologistsshould discard all mentalists ideas and use only
behavior concepts such as stimulus and response
• Psychology’s goal is to predict and control behavior
• Watson’s program was not embraced immediately or universally
• Critics questioned his rejection of introspection
• 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
• 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
• Focuson 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
• Four types of behavior
• Explicit (overt) learned behavior
• talking, writing, etc.
• Implicit (covert) learned behavior
• increased heart rate caused by a feared stimulus
• Explicit unlearned behavior
• grasping, blinking, sneezing, etc.
• Implicit unlearned behavior
• glandular secretions
• Underlying belief: all areas of behavior would be considered in objective
Instincts
• 1914, Watson accepted the role of
instincts in behavior
• 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
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 unlearned emotions:
• Fear-produced by loud noises and loss of
support
• Rage-restriction of bodily movements
• Love-rocking, patting, caressing
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
• Reduced thinking to sub-vocal talking
that relies on the same muscular habits
we learn for overt speech
On Childrearing Practices
Psychological Care of the Infant
(1928)
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 in 1920
• 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)
• Shows occurrence of CC in humans
Little Albert
• Conclusion: adult fears, anxieties, and phobias are
conditioned emotional responses that were established in
infancy and childhood and stay with us throughout our lives
• [Link]
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
• The rabbit cage was placed at a distance
• Each day the cage was moved closer to Peter
• Successfully eliminates the fear response
through counter conditioning
• Precursor to behavioral therapy
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)
Criticisms of Watson’s
Behaviorism (cont’d.)
• Karl Lashley (1890-1958):
• Former advocate of Watson’s behaviorism
• Two famous principles:
• Law of mass action
• Principle of equipotentiality
• William McDougall (1871-1938):
• Forceful opponent of Watson
• Known for his instinct theory of behavior: suggests there are
innate tendencies to thought and action
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
• Watsonianbehaviorism was replaced by other forms of
psychological objectivism that built on it
