Behaviourist approach in Psychology - Essay Example

Psychology - Behaviourist approach Behaviourism is the approach to psychology that is based on the assertion that behaviour can be researched from scientific point of view without any recourse to inner mental state. This is a form of materialism that denies any objective significance for a mind. Its importance for psychological cure has been stark and made it one of the major bases of pharmacological therapy. One of the postulates of behaviourist conception is that free will is illusory, that all behaviour is defined by a set of forces comprised of environment and different genetic factors, either through reinforcement or association. The behaviourist school of thought competed with the movement of psychoanalysis in psychology during the 20th century. Its main representatives were Ivan Pavlov, who researched classical conditioning, John B. Watson who declined introspective methods and looked for to limit psychology to experimental methods. Skinner B.F., tried to provide ethical basis to behaviourism by relating it to pragmatism. There are different emphases within that broad approach. Some behaviourists dispute that the observance of behaviour is the most suitable way to investigate mental and psychological processes. Other scholars consider that it is the only way of examining such processes, while others still disagree that behaviour itself is the sole appropriate psychological subject, and that general psychological terms, such as belief, objectives, etc. have no referents and simply refer to behaviour. Those who take this point of view refer sometimes to their realm of study as behavioural science or behaviour analysis rather than psychology. In 1913 Watson was the founder the behaviourist movement. He grounded his suppositions on preceding work of Pavlov and later Skinner and Thorndike “Learning theories” were worked out. Learning theories are considered to be more scientific than psychoanalytic theory of Freud as learning theories could be tested in a laboratory. There is no generally accepted classification of behaviourism versions, but major are: Classical version or Watson’s behaviourism with the objective study of behaviour. Methodological version or the objective study of the third-person behaviour. Radical (Skinnerian) behaviourism, includes behavioural approach to “mental life”. Teleological or post-Skinnerian version, purposive and close to microeconomics. Theoretical version that accepts observable internal states. At the beginning of the 20th century, Watson defended in his work Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviourist (1913) the value of a psychology that regarded itself with behaviour in and of itself, but not as a way of exploring consciousness. It was an essential break from the structuralist psychology, which utilised the introspection method and regarded the behaviour research valueless. Watson studied the organisms’ adaptation to environments, to be more specific, the definite stimuli that lead organisms to make responses. Most of work of Watson was comparative while he studied the behaviour of animals. His approach influenced by the work of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, stressed the stimuli role and physiology in producing conditioned responses, i.e. assimilating most function to reflex. That is why Watson is considered to be a stimulus-response (SR) psychologist. Watsons approach persuaded many psychologists of the importance of behaviour studying. He wrote that “psychology as a behaviourist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science” (1913, p. 158). In the sphere of comparative psychology in particular, it was compatible with the idea of Lloyd Morgan against anthropomorphic works where mental states had been freely ascribed to animals. It was taken up by such researchers such as Edward L. Thorndike, he studied cats ability to escape from puzzle boxes. But most psychologists took the position of methodological behaviourism: they accepted that behaviour was the easiest observation method in psychology, and regarded that with its help it is possible to draw conclusions about mental states. Other well-known behaviourists took this approach, for example Clark L. Hull, who described his views as neo-behaviourism; Edward C. Tolman, who developed the so called cognitivist program or purposive behaviourism. Tolman asserted that rats constructed cognitive maps of the learned mazes even without reward, and that the bond between stimulus and response (S→R) was interposed by a third item – organism (S→O→R). With the increase of interest in animal cognition in the 1980s mentalistic language together with discussion of consciousness is extensively used even in debate of animal psychology, in ethology and comparative psychology. Nevertheless, it is consistent with the positions of methodological behaviourism. Behaviourisms best known exponent and theorist Skinner B. F., who carried out research work mainly in comparative psychology within 1930-1950, developed a clear version of behaviourist philosophy that is called radical behaviourism. Skinner founded a new kind of psychological science - the experimental analysis of behaviour or behaviour analysis. Skinnerian behaviourism departs from methodological one most notably in acknowledging treatment of states of mind, feelings and introspection as scientifically treatable. This is carried out by identifying states of mind as non-dualistic, here Skinner applied a divide-and-conquer approach, where some instances were identified with behaviour or bodily conditions, and feelings got a more detailed analysis in terms of behaviour. Nevertheless, radical behaviourism didn’t manage to identify feelings as behaviour causes. Among other items that differ are rejection of the reflex as a pattern of all behaviour and defence of the science of behaviour additional to but autonomous of physiology. This mainly philosophical view gained strength from Skinner’s successful early experimental work with pigeons and rats, of special importance was his idea of the operant response, of which the traditional example was the lever-press by a rat. In contrast with the version of a reflex or physiological response, an operant is a group of structurally clear but functionally equivalent responses. Operants are often regarded as species of responses, where the individuals are different but the class coherent in its function – i.e. mutual consequences with operants and reproductive success with species. It is a clear difference between Skinners theory and SR theory. It should be mentioned that Skinner achieved great success in training animals to produce unexpected responses, to emit numerous responses, to demonstrate numerous empirical regularities at the solely behavioural level. This imparted credibility to his conceptual analysis. This is largely the analysis in which he destroys the theoretical weaknesses then and still dominating in psychology. Skinner in one of his books stated that “the variables of which human behaviour is a function lie in the environment” (Skinner, 1977, p. 1). He remarked also that “cognitive constructs give… a misleading account of what is inside a human being” (Skinner, 1977, p. 10). In his turn another researcher Hempel believed that “it is a mistake to imagine that human behaviour can be understood exclusively in non-mental, behaviouristic terms” (Hempel, 1966, p. 110) Contemporary psychology and philosophy largely share Hempels vision that the behaviour explanation cannot omit invoking a creatures demonstration of its world. Psychology has to use psychological terms. Behaviour without demonstration or representation is blind. Theorizing without reference to internal processes is explanatorily inferior. Behaviourist approach, not psychology or cognitive science, offers a misleading report of what is inside one’s head. Psychologists go on to investigate more about behaviour and how knowledge of it can be used to improve the welfare of animals and people. Despite much researches use people as subjects, researches with animal subjects continue to be essential for giving some fundamental answers. Since Charles Darwins work, which stressed connectedness in evolution from animals to people in their physical characteristics and mental abilities, psychologists have worked to comprehend the basic processes and principles that underlie the behaviour of all human and nonhuman creatures. As knowledge has accumulated, identification of features that are unique to various species has produced information that promotes comprehension and advancing the welfare of people and animals. Animal research has been the major contributor to our knowledge of basic learning processes and motivational systems, such as hunger, thirst, and reproduction. Animal research has provided critical information about the sensory processes of vision, taste, hearing, and pain perception. Studies of animal cognition have provided a comparative and ecological perspective on issues of the mind and intelligence. Other studies have shown how sensory functions and levels of cognition can depend critically on early experience. Through research with animals, we have learned about modes of adaptation to change, including evolution, development, and all types of learning. The research has told us about important connections between stress and disease and has suggested psychological interventions for coping with stress more effectively. Animal researches have been used to identify and clarify the basic behavioural principles which have led to the rise of effective methods for encouraging learning and self-reliance in various populations. Animal researches have contributed to treatment of difficult clinical problems, for example controlling self- injurious behaviour of autistic adults and children or teaching tube-fed since birth children to eat normally. Animal behavioural researches have been fundamental for understanding the scale of behavioural effects of environmental toxicants and psychoactive drugs. Different behavioural researches by psychologists have contributed greatly to our understanding of drug abuse and physical dependence. Researches with specifically bred strains of rats and mice are contributing importantly to comprehension the extent and nature of genetic vulnerability to drug dependence. Moreover, psychologists develop behavioural methods for screening compounds in lab animals and are actively developing new medicine for the treatment of such disorders as schizophrenia, anxiety, depression and when “early intensive behavioural intervention is an appropriate treatment” for such cases as described in 2000 by Docket. (cited by Keenan M., 2004). Moreover, Krasner L. noted that “in the 1970s, the self-identified behaviorists emerged from the laboratory, the clinic, and the mental hospital to the “natural” social environment” (cited by Rutherford A., 2003). The researches also have contributed to methods of help to animals, for instance, to re-establish populations of threatened species, in developing humane methods of animal control in the wild, in designing proper living conditions and enhancing the well-being of captive animals. Though experiences in the world shape behaviour, comprehension how the nervous system works is essential to a complete understanding of behaviour, as well as behaviours that are problematic: mental illness, drug addiction, memory disorders. Most of the information about the relationships among physiology, anatomy, and behaviour has come from animal researches. Recent investigations on the brain, particularly on chemical neurotransmission processes, together with behavioural research in animals has provided enormous obstacles forward in comprehension of the functioning of the central nervous system. What is critical to understanding is described further: biological correlates of anxiety, fear, and other forms of stress; the process of recovery after neural damage; dependence-producing and subjective effects of psychotropic drugs; mechanisms that control eating and other motivational processes; and of course the biology of memory and learning. Psychologists who carry on animal researches have contributed to the study of all these spheres alone and in dynamic dialogue and collaboration with chemists, biologists, molecular biologists, physicians and pharmacologists. Now it is time to define practical applications of the behaviourist approach for education, treatment for abnormal behaviours, or behaviour shaping. They are Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning. Both suggest that all behaviour is “learned”. This vision dominated in experimental psychology until the late 1950’s when its postulates were criticised by Cognitive and Biological Psychologists. Classical Conditioning is the type of learning made famous by Pavlovs experiments with dogs, in which a dog was trained to salivate at the bell ringing. This conditioning plays explains why the stomach rumbles when we have hunger, and why familiar medicines alter in effectiveness with repeated usage. Operant conditioning in its turn forms an association between a behaviour and a consequence. Being called also response-stimulus conditioning it forms an association between the animals behaviour (response) and the following consequence (stimulus). Operant theory draws on the apparently simple notion that creatures respond to the consequences of actions, and that free-will behaviour can be interpreted in terms of its prior consequences (so called history of reinforcement). Like the basic postulates of classical conditioning, this fundamental framework can be applicable in a wide range of situations, from misbehaving children to the efficiency of workers in a factory. Recent experimental researches published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behaviour Processes and The Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour 2004 and later show clearly that behaviour is affected both by molar variables (average rates of reinforcement) and molecular variables (for instance time, preceding responses). What is necessary is comprehension of the real-time dynamics of an operant behaviour that will involve processes at both long and short time scales. The theories and researches of the Behaviourist Approach gave rise to therapies specially designed to change or modify behaviour by using learning principles. A lot of these therapies have been notably successful for some people who have some specific behaviours or habits that they and others want to change. The researches have found that once a person understands the principles of learning, he or she may be able to modify his/her own behaviour by taking several significant steps. One has to control discriminative stimuli, develop small, realistic steps for accomplishing the goal, provide a schedule of frequent reinforcement, consider using imagery of being successful at achieving the goal, seek models which are more proficient with the target behaviour and thus modify the behaviour or habits. In behaviour modifications, therapists use positive reinforcements to shape behaviour in a desired way. The children may receive rewards such as smiles, hugs, or food for doing their schoolwork and behaving properly. In other behaviour modification programmes, children work for points or tokens, they can exchange the points for sweets or toys. This method is effective in shaping the behaviour of juvenile delinquents and children with normal intelligence as well.  Behaviourist approach application in education is prescriptive as it shows what the students are to learn, in what order and how. Additionally, the use of behavioural objectives ensures that learners concentrate on core points rather that regarding the information in general. As bonds are not usually established between those objectives, the gained knowledge would be fragmented that will also prevent the formation of a respective mental model. We may conclude that human behaviour is determined partially by heredity and partially by environment. Additionally, it can be modified through learning. Behaviour has many causes, but most scientists try to isolate single ones. This makes the scientific study of behaviour difficult. Many psychologists use controlled experiments where they investigate the effect of one factor at a time on a definite kind of behaviour. Some researchers design experiments to study the behavioural effects of some factors in different combinations. Still other researchers research behaviour in the "real" situations by observing people in their daily life and activities. Observation of behaviour outside of controlled experiments cannot evince that one thing causes another. Studying people in the real life often helps researchers see the ways in which identified in experiments causes actually work in daily lives of human beings. References Hempel, C. (1966). Philosophy of Natural Science. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall. Keenan, M. (2004) Educational curriculum for a child on the autistic spectrum. Applied behaviour analysis. The Psychologist, 17: 2, 72-75. Rutherford, A. (2003) Operant Conditioning at Metropolitan State Hospital. The Behavior Analyst, 26, 267-279. Skinner, B.F. (1995). Why I am not a Cognitive Psychologist. Behaviourism, 5, 1-10. Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20, 158- 177. References Hempel, C. (1966). Philosophy of Natural Science. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall. Library book Keenan, M. (2004) Educational curriculum for a child on the autistic spectrum. Applied behaviour analysis. The Psychologist, 17: 2, 72-75. http://www.bps.org.uk/_publicationfiles/thepsychologist%5C0204keen.pdf Rutherford, A. (2003) Operant Conditioning at Metropolitan State Hospital. The Behavior Analyst, 26, 267-279. http://htpprints.yorku.ca/archive/00000200/01/rutherford_tba.htm Skinner, B.F. (1995). Why I am not a Cognitive Psychologist. Behaviourism, 5, 1-10. http://skeptically.org/skinner/id9.html Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20, 158- 177. http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/views.htm Read More