Four behavioral theorists who made their mark on psychology

Behaviorism, also called behavioral psychology, is a school of thought that revolves around the idea that human and animal behaviors are conditioned. This means that behaviors can be learned and reinforced through exposure. In this article, you will learn about the most important individuals who helped shape this field of psychology.

John Broadus Watson

John B. Watson was a U.S. psychologist who is regarded as the father of behaviorism because of his publication from 1913, Psychology As The Behaviorist Views It. It is now considered a classic piece of literature in psychology. In this paper, Watson proposed that because psychology is the science of human behavior, it should be studied in a laboratory just like how animals are often observed. 

In 1914, he published An Introduction to Comparative Psychology, in which he advocated the use of animals in studies and believed that conditioned responses were the most optimal technique. However, in 1918, he became interested in studying infants and their behavior, leading to another of Watson's most famous contributions to psychology. 

In 1920, Dr. Watson led a psychological experiment on an 11-month-old boy referred to as "Little Albert."  Little Albert was the ideal subject for this experiment because he was stable and not very emotional. Watson hypothesized that a fear of animals could be conditioned by performing a specific set of stimuli. When presented with a white rat, the doctors would strike a steel bar, producing a loud noise. Over time, Albert became conditioned to fear the rat because of the sound associated with it. This would become one of the prime examples of classical conditioning.

This study also demonstrated that conditioned fears could be transferable. Not only did Albert fear the white rat, but he also displayed the same negative reactions toward other animals and even inanimate objects like fur coats. 

Although the Little Albert experiment has provided us with insights into human behavior, it is also considered controversial by many people. Because of the subject and the nature of the study, it has been considered unethical by people who have reviewed this case.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov

Unlike John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov was not a trained psychologist. Still, he was interested in the same ideas as Watson and would also produce his own famous experiments related to classical conditioning. Pavlov would become one of the most prominent behavioral theorists in the field.

Dr. Pavlov was a Russian physiologist highly trained in working with the cardiovascular system and finding ways to manage blood pressure. His skills allowed him to put a catheter into a dog pain-free and without anesthesia. He was able to note the effects of pharmacological and emotional stimuli on the dog's blood pressure by making careful dissections of its cardiac nerves. Although his earlier work does not relate to psychology, this experience would lead to future work with animals.

Pavlov is best known for his experiments with dogs and salivation. Initially, he believed animals would salivate when being presented with food. However, he noticed this would only occur when the dogs heard his lab assistant approaching. This realization led to his theory that the animals' behavior toward food is a learned response to a specific stimulus, which would be known as a conditioned reflex and, later, Pavlovian psychology.

In Pavlov's famous experiment, food was an unconditioned stimulus, and salivation was the unconditioned response. He would choose to use a metronome as a neutral stimulus, which by itself did not cause a response in the dogs.

Following this, Dr. Pavlov would begin his conditioning procedure, and just before delivering food to the dogs, he would let the metronome click. After a series of trials, the sound of the metronome would cause the dogs to produce more saliva because it led them to believe that food would be arriving shortly.

The metronome became a conditioned stimulus, and salivation became the conditioned response. According to Pavlov, for this to work, the new stimulus must be presented in a close enough timespan; otherwise, the subjects would not learn to associate the stimulus with the possibility of food. His discovery was groundbreaking and would provide the framework for classical conditioning, which would later be expanded upon by John B. Watson. 

Edward Lee Thorndike

Another one of the most influential behavioral theorists of all time is Edward L. Thorndike. Dr. Thorndike was a psychologist who primarily worked with animals. He is also responsible for creating the Law of Effect and developing what would later be known as operant conditioning.

Thorndike's Law of Effect proposes that "responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation." 

He would perform most of his studies on cats. To test his learning theory, he would create a puzzle box for them that involved ways to escape and a piece of fish outside the enclosure. The fish incentivized the cats to try to find a way to escape from the puzzle box. 

The cats would find a lever that would open the box. Once they obtained the fish, they were put back into the box, and once again, Dr. Thorndike would take note of how long it took for them to escape. Eventually, because the cats learned that pressing the lever had positive outcomes, they would keep doing it and would become much quicker at it. This phenomenon would become known as reinforcement.

Burrhus Frederic Skinner

The U.S. psychologist B. F. Skinner was highly influenced by John B. Watson's work and his concept of behaviorism. He was dismissive of the psychoanalytic contributions of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Skinner believed that instead of any psychological explanation for a person's mental state, including their beliefs, desires, and memories, all humans and animals and their behaviors were dictated by their environment. 

Skinner believed that the goal of psychology, as a science, was to be able to predict and control behaviors. To reflect this, he wrote two books. One is the fictional utopian novel Walden Two, and the other is the successful book Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Here, he suggested that the future of humanity should discard concepts such as freedom and dignity, basically implying that free will is a myth. 

Though these ideas may seem radical, Skinner is famous for his work on operant conditioning and the Law of Effect. Although Edward L. Thorndike previously created these behavioral and learning concepts, it was B. F. Skinner who gave operant conditioning its name and developed it further.

Operant conditioning is a process in which behaviors can be learned from reinforcement and punishment, and the person or animal will make an association between the behavior and its outcome. His work would refine the earlier concepts that Thorndike developed, and he would also be influenced by his methodology as well. 

Like Thorndike, Skinner would perform different studies on animals, especially rats and pigeons, and would become the inventor of the Skinner Box. The Skinner Box has many similarities to the puzzle box that Thorndike created for his experiments. The difference is that Skinner's would also include negative reinforcement.

This invention would have a lever system for the rats, and the pigeons would work by key-pecking. The box would also have an electrical current running through it, producing a shock, which was the punishment. For example, in the case of the rats, they would eventually learn that hitting a lever would turn off the current. Over time, they would immediately look for the lever after being placed in the box to escape the electrical current. 

Skinner also taught the rats to associate a light with the electrical current. A light was turned on just before switching on the current, so when the light was produced, the rats would go straight for the lever to turn off the electricity. This experiment is similar to Pavlov's as Skinner trained his rats to have a conditioned stimulus and response, confirming that all behaviors can be programmed.

Behaviorism today

Despite this, there are still many takeaways from behaviorism, and its findings are still relevant. Behavioral training is still used today, and therapies that aim to change people's thoughts and responses, like cognitive behavioral therapy, are used to help millions of people.

Changing your behavior

If you have behaviors that you haven't been able to change on your own, consider talking with a therapist. A therapist can teach you techniques to implement outside of therapy. The two of you can then discuss what modifications, if any, need to be made, making it a practical way to change behavior. If you have a hectic schedule or find that making it to an in-person appointment isn't feasible, consider online therapy. With online therapy, you can work on changing your behaviors from the comfort of your home at a time that works best for you. 

Evidence has shown that online therapy has been proven to be slightly better than in-person therapy regarding cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT). A literature review of 17 studies on the effectiveness of online CBT or eCBT, when contrasted with traditional therapy, found that eCBT was better at reducing the symptoms of depression. It was also noted that eCBT could be less expensive and used effectively for other mental health conditions like PTSD, eating disorders, and anxiety.

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