History of Psychology: Functionalism, Behavioralism, Operationalism and Cognitive Theory - Assignment Example

With the help of a solid intellectual foundation in the form of his upbringing, he was able to write a number of books of various topics ranging from educational psychology, psychology related to religion and mysticism; the area of expertise continue. He was a prominent supporter of functionalism in his era and believed that his competitors and fellow colleagues should narrow down their approach of appraising theories if only they can be tested. The biggest contribution towards the world of psychology would be the book that was written in 12 years, by the name of "Principles of Psychology".

Another prominent supporter of functionalism was Edward Thorndike, who was another American Psychologist based in Columbia University. He laid the foundations for the educational psychology, and is known for introducing many theories which are being used to this date; an example would be that of Thorndike's Theory of Learning (Thomas, 2004). Herman Ebbinghaus is another contributor to behavior and psychology. He was a German Psychologist and pioneered research in memory and on the nature of psychology.

Like all others mentioned, this scientist also disregarded experimental psychology and believed that the way to measure psychology would be introspection. . On the other hand, researched on the behavior of animals and released the experiments showing that a human mind learns from the mistakes it makes, the things that go his way are reinforced and others are not. Pavlov also researched behaviorism in the form of reflex actions that dogs have. Classical conditioning was the area he was awarded the noble peace prize.

The radical perspective on behaviorism of Skinner is that the phenomena that are happening should not be completely absent but should be at least visible to the observers; this is in contrary with the methodological perspective on Watson who believed that the thought processes of the person are the covert speech that they make (John, 1997). The philosophy in psychology that believes that the scientific concepts must be tested and verified and must be defined in those terms only. In other words, the theories and concepts must show results which are visible and verifiable in many situations (Thomas, 2004).

Associationism is another concept in philosophy that believes in the fact that the mental processes of an entity work on the basis of association that they make from one state to another (William, 1994). Logical positivism deals with the fact that the non-verifiable behavior is essential for the field of psychology and behaviorism; the knowledge that is present should be able to be coded in a certain standard. The concept of associationism and operationalism are the basis for the development of behaviorism; the fact that an idea originates in the minds through the experience that they have, amplified with the help of senses and association with certain operations.