Perspective
Watson & Skinner Perspective
Psychological perspectives will always change as long as psychology continues to move forward. Not one perspective or approach would be considered wrong or incorrect. It just adds to our understanding of human and animal behavior. Most psychologists would agree that not one perspective is correct, although in the past, early days of psychology, the behaviorist would have said their perspective was the only truly scientific one (McLeod, 2007). Two Psychologists who are well known for their theories on behaviorism are John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner. In this paper I will discuss their own perspectives on behaviorism. Behaviorism is an approach to psychology that combines elements of philosophy, methodology, and theory. It emerged in the early twentieth century as a reaction to "mentalistic" psychology, which often had difficulty making predictions that could be tested using rigorous experimental methods. The primary tenet of behaviorism, as expressed in the writings of John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner, and others, is that psychology should concern itself with the observable behavior of people and animals, not with unobservable events that take place in their minds. The behaviorist school of thought maintains that behaviors as such can be described scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs such as thoughts and beliefs. John Boardus Watson(January 9, 1878 – September 25, 1958) was an American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism. Watson promoted a change in psychology through his address, Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it, which was given at Columbia University in 1913. This is sometimes called "The Behaviorist Manifesto"(Watson, 1913). The first paragraph of the article concisely described Watson's behaviorist position: Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal
Psychological perspectives will always change as long as psychology continues to move forward. Not one perspective or approach would be considered wrong or incorrect. It just adds to our understanding of human and animal behavior. Most psychologists would agree that not one perspective is correct, although in the past, early days of psychology, the behaviorist would have said their perspective was the only truly scientific one (McLeod, 2007). Two Psychologists who are well known for their theories on behaviorism are John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner. In this paper I will discuss their own perspectives on behaviorism. Behaviorism is an approach to psychology that combines elements of philosophy, methodology, and theory. It emerged in the early twentieth century as a reaction to "mentalistic" psychology, which often had difficulty making predictions that could be tested using rigorous experimental methods. The primary tenet of behaviorism, as expressed in the writings of John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner, and others, is that psychology should concern itself with the observable behavior of people and animals, not with unobservable events that take place in their minds. The behaviorist school of thought maintains that behaviors as such can be described scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events or to hypothetical constructs such as thoughts and beliefs. John Boardus Watson(January 9, 1878 – September 25, 1958) was an American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism. Watson promoted a change in psychology through his address, Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it, which was given at Columbia University in 1913. This is sometimes called "The Behaviorist Manifesto"(Watson, 1913). The first paragraph of the article concisely described Watson's behaviorist position: Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal