John B. Watson Behavioral Psychology Part 2 - 1415 Words

Contributions to Psychology During the zeitgeist of Watson’s early career, the focus of psychology was on the analysis of the conscious mind. During the late 1800’s, Sigmund Freud, a leader in psychology at the time, had proposed theories of psychology that focused on the conscious and unconscious mind. He explained behavior as a response to the desires of our unconscious and conscious minds, implying that individuals did not have much control over their behaviors or thoughts. In the early 1900’s, during Watson’s career, the country was recovering from the First World War. American societies were trying to cope with the feelings of loos of control that were brought about by the war. Freud’s idea of human consciousness and uncontrollable†¦show more content†¦In 1920, Watson and Rosalie Rayner, his second wife, conducted an experiment to demonstrate how inherited emotions, fear, rage, and love, could be projected onto stimuli other than the stimuli that originally elic ited the emotions. Watson and Rayner used an eleven-month-old male infant named Albert to conduct their experiment. Albert was shown a white rat, to which he expressed no fear. When Albert attempted to reach out and touch the rat, Watson hit a metal bar with a hammer, causing a loud noise. Albert expressed fear by jumping. He was then shown the rat a second time and, again, a metal bar was struck when he reached out to touch the rat, this time causing him to cry out of fear. One week later, Albert was presented with a rat again and, this time, attempted to keep away from the rat. Watson and Rayner continued to expose Albert to the rat and strike the metal bar, which caused Albert to become afraid of the rat. Days later, Albert cried at just the sight of the rat and expressed great fear (Hergenhahn Henley, 2014). Although many argue the ethical implications of Watson’s study, The Little Albert experiment clearly displayed the ability of infants to develop a fear of a neutral stimulus by pairing it with a negative stimulus. These finings were a major contribution to psychology. Not only did the researchers contribute to the practice of psychology as a science by use of the scientific method, they also gave evidence to the idea thatShow MoreRelatedFather Of Behaviorism : Broadus Watson935 Words   |  4 Pagesof Behaviorism: Broadus Watson During the late 19th century and early 20th century, psychology was defined as the study of the human mind had an emphasis on introspection (Editors of Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, 2015). After this period of time, psychologists began to criticize the validity of introspection as a method of study (McLeod, 2008). This doubt sparked new ideals and lead the field of psychology to be revolutionized. This new revolution was lead by John Broadus Watson, who is often thought ofRead MorePsychology Is The Science Of Natural Science1080 Words   |  5 PagesPsychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness -John B. Watson There are five main approaches to psychology known as â€Å"schools of thought† that make assumptions about the nature ofRead MoreThe Behavioral Perspective Of Psychology1490 Words   |  6 Pages Martinez 1 Julian Martinez Professor Roger Copeland Psychology 2301 29 August 2014 Psychology Perspectives The behavioral perspective of psychology is focused on explaining why people react the way they do to specific situations and environments. 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A talk by Watson on his manifesto in 1913 was said to be the formal founding of behaviourism where he described the principles of behaviourism and dismissed other notions. Though behaviourism did not become a highly accepted view in psychology, it did have its contributions to the overall field. Behaviourism emerged as a new field of psychology during the earlyRead MoreBehaviorism s Theory Of Psychology983 Words   |  4 Pagesconcept; that it is merely another word for the â€Å"soul† of more ancient time (Watson, 1970). However, behaviorism holds the subject matter of human psychology it focus on the behavior or activities of the human being. Etymology The word behaviorism originates from the Middle French word behavior, meaning the observable activity in human and animal. This term was coined in 1913 by the United States psychologist John B. Watson. Many of the concepts of analysis of behavior can be traced back to PavlovRead MoreThe Theory Of Classical Conditioning1360 Words   |  6 Pagesstudy, pairing the sound of a bell with food to produce salivation. After a while, just the sound alone would produce salivation. â€Å"Little Albert†, an infant that belonged to a wet nurse at the Harriet Lane Home was experimented on by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner. Watson and Rayner claim that â€Å"Little Albert† was a healthy, unemotional, and stable child. The experiment began with the introduction of a white rat, which alone, produced no fear response. At 11 months and 3 days, the rat was paired withRead MoreBehaviorism Research Paper1983 Words   |  8 Pagespersons responsible for the Behaviorism movement was John B. Watson who felt a need to restructure Psychology into a scientific psychology on the basis that behavior could be observed through stimulus and response methods and could be proven by experiments. Other schools of thought felt strong about the consciousness influenced our behavior as well and how we thought and with the help of Behaviorism and its theorists it changed how theorist saw Psychology as well as improved it. Introduction Read MoreThe Advancement Of Behaviorism : A Look At The Progression Of Behavioral Science Through Time Essay2345 Words   |  10 PagesProgression of Behavioral Science Through Time Sara Lalani Nova Southeastern University Abstract Why do people behave in the manner that they do? This is a question that has been asked since a few hundred years before the common era. Early individuals, such as Sigmund Freud, have come up with their own theories in an attempt to explain human behavior. On the other hand, Ivan Pavlov was not trying to necessarily explain human behavior, but he did set up a paradigm that inspired John B. Watson. WatsonRead More The Relevance of Behavioral Psychology to Instructional Technology1503 Words   |  7 PagesThe Relevance of Behavioral Psychology to Instructional Technology Behavioral Psychology Defined John Watson wrote a paper in the Psychological Review in 1913 and defined behavioral psychology or behaviorism as †¦a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves