NonsoNelch Blog

Behaviorism  as a movement in psychology appeared in 1913 when John Broadus Watson published the classic article 'Psychology as the behaviorist views it'. John Watson proposed that the process of classical conditioning (based on Pavlov’s observations) was able to explain all aspects of human psychology. Everything from speech to emotional responses were simply patterns of stimulus and response. Watson denied completely the existence of the mind or consciousness. Watson believed that all individual differences in behavior were due to different experiences of learning. He famously said: Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and the race of his ancestors”. (Watso

Behaviorist Approach Behaviorism (also called the behavioral approach) was the primary paradigm in psychology between 1920s to 1950 and is based on a number of underlying assumptions regarding methodology and behavioral analysis: * Psychology should be seen as a science.  Theories need to be supported by empirical data obtained through careful and controlled observation and measurement of behavior. Watson stated that “ psychology as a behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is … prediction and control ” (1913, p. 158). * Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion.  Observable (i.e. external) behavior can be objectively and scientifically measured. Internal events, such as thinking should be explained through behavioral terms (or eliminated altogether). * People have no free will – a person’s environment determines their behavior * When born