Behaviorism tends to put together the element of psychological theory, methodology, along with philosophy. This concept surfaced during the late nineteenth century and was a response to depth psychology as well as other traditional psychology forms that tended to be difficult in making assumptions which could be experimentally tested. The earliest behaviorism derivatives are traced as far back as the 19th century where Edward Thorndike pioneered the law of effect. The law of effect is a process which incorporates the strengthening of behavior by using reinforcement. The theory was further strengthened by B. F. Skinner who studied the controlling nature of consequences. He developed the operant conditioning a technique that deals with the modification of voluntary behavior. Classical conditioning, another behavior analytical approach, was developed by Pavlov to understand the mechanism through which humans acquire specific behaviors, reflexes responding to specific responses. This paper will analyze the psychological concept of behaviorism with the aim of getting a better understating to human and animal behavior.
Behaviorism is a psychological approach to understanding human and animal behavior. According to this approach, behaviors are developed based on stimuli from the environment and hence a consequence of a person’s history. Behaviorism understands the importance of inheritance in behavior development but pays emphasis on environmental factors like punishment and reinforcement as they act as stimuli and motivates an individual. Behaviorists believe that experience shaped the behavior of an individual. They believe that each can be trained to behave or act in a specific way with the right conditioning. The behaviorist philosophy gained popularity in the 1920’s with John B. Watson being termed as the father of behaviorism. It was developed as a desire for the establishment of psychology as a science which can be objective and measurable.
Theoretic Framework
Researchers in behaviorism were interested in developing theories that can be clearly described and measured through empirical means with the aim of contributing to the field of science. They also hoped for these experiments to be replicable. Based on this need, two types of conditioning were developed; classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
Classical Conditioning
Pavlov discovered the laws of classical conditioning in a successful experimental discovery. In an experiment with dogs, he notices that they notice that dogs salivated every time they were in contact with the person who fed them, rather than on merely seeing the food. He called the psychic secretion an anticipatory behavior and developed a study around it. In his study before giving food to the dogs, he each time gave presented them with stimuli, the sound of a metronome. He repeated the experiment some few times. He discovered that the stimuli elicited salivation in the dogs. The dogs associated the stimulus with food and hence its salivation. In the experiment, the dog’s food was the unconditioned stimulus (US) as it didn’t have any effect on the dog. At the beginning of the experiment, the metronome didn’t have any effect on the dogs and hence a neutral stimulus (NS), after conditioning, it became the conditioned stimulus (CS), and the dogs started associating it to food. Based on which stimulus is presented first to the subject there can be either this forward conditioning or backward conditioning were developed.
In forward conditioning the conditioned stimulus is presented first before the unconditioned stimulus. The onset of the conditioned stimulus can be presented in overlap with the unconditional stimulus. An example is when an individual hears a buzzer for five, and the air is puffed into their eye, they automatically blink. After several chances, even without the puff, the individual would still blink at the sound of the buzzer alone. This is called the Delay conditioning. In case there is no overlap in the two stimuli, the conditioning is called trace conditioning. There is a trace interval before the unconditional stimulus is started after the end of the conditioned stimulus.
Backward conditioning occurs when the conditional stimulus follows the unconditional stimulus. This form of conditioning is used for inhibitory purposes. In this case, the conditioned stimulus is used to signal the end of the unconditional stimulus. This can occur in three ways. In temporal conditioning, an unconditional stimulus is presented at regular intervals. When an individual makes the conditioned response immediately after the unconditional stimulus, they are said to be conditioned. Another option is the exposure to a conditional stimulus and positive stimulus while they are paired together. The last option is the extinction procedure where conditioned stimuli are presented repeated, and the unconditional stimulus is absent. This occurs after conditioning has been done through either of the other two processes.
Operant Conditioning
B. F Skinner developed operant conditioning. It was beneficial in modifying voluntary behaviors in individuals through reinforcement and punishment. These tools of operant conditioning can either be delivered (Positive response) or withdrawn (negative response). The operant conditioning differs from the classical conditioning in that stimuli in operant condition comes from punishment or reward of the response gotten. The process of behavioral change is voluntary. In a case where a child is bought a car (reward) if they behave well, they can decide either to accept or deny the reward (Yilmaz, 2017).
According to this conditioning, operant behavior can be modified through either punishment or reinforcement. Both of these core tools can be negative or positive. Positive and negative reinforcement leads to an increase in the chance of behavior they follow occurring. Negative and positive punishment, on the other hand, reduces the chances of the occurrences of these behaviors. In positive reinforcement, a reward is given after a response. In negative reinforcement, there is the removal of aversive stimuli after a behavior. This is a rise in the chances of these behaviors occur. In positive punishment, an aversive stimulus is introduced after a behavior. Negative punishment occurs when a reward is removed after a behavior. These two leads to a decrease in the likelihood of that behavior are occurring. Other than punishment and reinforcement, extinction can occur (Baum, 2005). This is when there is no longer either positive or negative reinforcement. The behavior has less chance of occurring.
Empirical Evidence
Numerous researches have been done to try and replicate these theories in real life. Behaviorism has mostly been instrumental in behavioral analysis (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968). B. F. Skinner first developed this discipline as a means of changing human behavior to those that are socially significant. It utilized the operant conditioning to modify human behavior. A specific goal is developed, and the behavior monitored. This is to determine if the desired behavior is occurring. Based on the behavior reinforcement is made on the desired behavior and incentive reduced for undesired behavior. Behaviorism in behavioral change has been instrumental in numerous fields including criminal behavior, education, parenting severe mental disorder, substance abuse, phobias, and sports.
Behaviorism has also played a huge role in learning. According to the theory, it assumes the learner is passive, and hence able to respond to the environment, and they can shape their behavior based on either reinforcement or punishment. These core tools can either be positive in the case where a stimulus is applied or negative when it is withdrawn (Sperry, 2017). A successful experiment, learning, occurs when there is a change in the learner’s behavior. Based on classical conditioning, there is an assumption that there is a connection between unconditioned and conditioned stimulus in brain centers. Classical conditioning has been quite effective in understanding eye blinking conditioning and fear conditioning. Research shows that different regions with neurons in the brainstem and cerebellum alter their behavior after conditioning has occurred. This helps in the performance of learning tasks that are simple. It is also seen that other regions of the brain like the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, and the hippocampus are necessary or conditioning especially on a complex task (Von Dawans, Ditzen, Trueg, Fischbacher, & Heinrichs, 2018).
Conclusion
Understanding behaviorism is quite important as it creates a chance to either change or modifies it to fit socially accepted behaviors. Theorists have been able to develop behaviorism theory which creates a systematic approach to the behavior of humans and animals. Behaviorists understand the importance of environment in behavior development. Studies have been carried out to understand the development of behaviors, with theorists like John Watson, B. F. Skinner and Ivan Pavlov making headway discoveries that are still in the application in the contemporary world. Classical conditioning, developed by Pavlov, and Operant conditioning, developed by Skinner, are still in an application today in behavioral change programs and learning. They have played a huge role in the modification of human and animal behavior.