"Some of us learn control, more or less by accident. The rest of us go all our lives not even understanding how it is possible, and blaming our failure on being Born the wrong way." - b. f. skinner (1948)
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American psychologist John B. Watson’s perspective on psychology came to be known as behaviorisms. Watson had a huge impact on the development of psychology and influenced many psychologists to change from studying conscious experience to studying behavior. Watson proposed that psychology should focus on the scientific study of observable behavior that could be both measured and confirmed by other researchers. The main focus of behaviorism involves the understanding and explanation of how behavior is learnt and moulded by somebody’s personal experience. Behaviorists believe that almost everything a person (or animal) does is influenced by rewards and punishments in everyday life.
Behaviourism was the primary element in psychology between 1920 to 1950 and is based on a number of major assumptions regarding its analysis. The following are a few brief explanations of the science and how it is carried out. Firstly, it is said that psychology should be seen as a science. Theories need to be supported by data and evidence obtained through careful and controlled observations and measurements of behaviour. Secondly, behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour, not internal events like thinking and emotion. People have no free will. Only a person’s environment determines their behaviour. Thirdly, there is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals. Therefore research can be carried out on animals as well as humans. And one one of the most assumptions is that when we are born our mind is a blank slate.
The illustration above shows what is called ‘operant conditioning’. The mouse pushes the lever and receives food. Therefore the mouse will continue to push the lever to get its reward. Operant conditioning was introduced by B. F. Skinner. His view was that satisfying responses are conditioned, while unsatisfying ones are not. Basically, operant conditioning is the rewarding part of a desired behaviour or a random act that approaches it. Through his research on animals, he concluded that both animals and humans would repeat acts that led to outcomes that were in their favour, and got rid of those that produced unfavourable ones. Skinners classical experiments where played out in an operant condition chamber that became widely known as the Skinner box.
Skinner played a major role in the evolution of behaviourism in psychology, with many of his experiments involving the study of bar or lever pressing by rats and pecking by pigeons. In a typical experiment, Skinner placed a malnourished or hungry animal in a Skinner box and allowed the animal to explore it. Sooner or later the animal would accidently press a bar that would immediately release a piece of food or water. After that happened a few times the animal would soon realise that every time it pressed the lever, food would be dispensed, therefore the rate that the animal pressed the lever climbed dramatically. Skinner concluded that the food acted as a kind of reward for the bar pressing behaviour. In his view, this was evidence of what he liked to call reinforcement. The principle of reinforcement states the consequences of behaviour determine whether the behaviour will be more or less likely repeated.