In science, behaviorism (Time 100 Ideas:95) (TR:13) is []
Overview
In 1885 to 1897, Ivan Pavlov did work on digestive glands and conditioned response, wherein he showed that by ringing a bell he could get a dog to salivate.
In 1913, John Watson, in his “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It”, asserted that the mind is a blank slate or tabula rasa at birth; the following are example quotes:
“Psychology as a behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is … prediction and control.”
— John Watson (1913), “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” (Ѻ)
In 1925, the two psychologists most frequently identified with behaviorist point of view, according to Albert Weiss, were Max Meyer, noted for his use of mechanical analogies, and John Watson, noted for his effort to reduce the soul, mind, and thinking to chemical processes; in a way that supposedly did away with Cartesian dualism.
In 1925, Albert Weiss, in the preface to his Theoretical Basis of Human Behavior, after stating that he was in complete agreement on essentials with Meyer and Watson, said the following about behaviorism: [1]
“Meyer’s explanation of human behavior by the aid of mechanical analogies and the theoretical conceptions which he has introduced have received such scant consideration that it is very evident that the modern conceptions of science as are found in mathematics, physics, and chemistry are still far from being second nature to most psychologists, and especially to that large group of writers who claim to be behaviorists of varying degree. The criticisms that have been directed against Watson’s writings have taught me that the difficulty which confronts anyone who tries to demonstrate that the complete explanation of human behavior does not require a ‘unique psychic’ factor any more than does geology.”
In the 1940s, Burrhus Skinner advanced ideas in behaviorism.
Quotes
The following are related quotes:
“Whether behaviorism is regarded as a phase in the development of psychology or biology, there can be no doubt that the methods and principles of the natural sciences as represented by mathematics, chemistry, physics and biology, are displacing the anthropomorphism, intuitionism, which in the past have molded social organization and defined our individual responsibility.”
— Albert Weiss (1925), A Theoretical Basis of Human Behavior (pg. v)
References
1. Weiss, Albert P. (1925). A Theoretical Basis of Human Behavior (pgs. v-viii). R.G. Adams & Co, 1929.
External links
● Behaviorism – Wikipedia.
