Behaviorism and Classical Conditioning

Abstract

The year 1913 marks the birth of the most radical of all psychological concepts, that of "Behaviorism" (Moore, 1921). Since the original behavioral theories were studied by scientists such as Edward Thorndike and John B. Watson, there have been many variations of the behaviorist view that have surfaced over the years. In this paper I will attempt to give a detailed description of the history of behaviorism including information about some of the most influential men associated with this movement. I will also explain the methodologies associated with behaviorism such as classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and other controversial theories and views.

Behaviorism The atmosphere surrounding the psychological community in the early 20th century had grown stale and weary after many years of highly mentalistic and overly "conscious" theories. In 1913, John B. Watson gave several lectures describing a new, exclusively mentalistic concept of the science of psychological study. Watson abandoned any possibility of introspection, choosing to claim that psychology can only be the study of observable human behavior and anything that is not observable does not exist. To many psychologists of his time, Watson's new theories were not only radical, but ridiculous, but "to the younger American psychologists, fatigued and discouraged by introspective verbosity concerning the thought processes, behaviorism came as a godsend" (Berman, 1927). Since its conception, behaviorism has gone through many transformations beginning with Watson's radical behaviorism and branching into other areas such as philosophical behaviorism, physiological behaviorism, social behaviorism, and eclectic behaviorism.

The Behaviorists In 1913, in one of the most famous lectures in the history of psychology, John Broadus Watson (1878-1958) called for a radical revisioning of the scope and method of psychological research: "Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely

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