Book: The Story of Psychology Discussion/ Questions: In the late 1800s and early

Question

Book: The Story of Psychology

Discussion/ Questions: In the late 1800s and early to mid-1900s, Behaviorists sought to answer questions about humans by studying animals, since that was considered to be somewhat more ethical. Animals were put in specific conditions and trained to engage in specific behaviors. The knowledge gained was then applied to human behavior. Behaviorists believed that behavior was the most important concept to study, rather than less tangible mental processes since behavior is more clearly observed. Looking back today, behaviorism has run its course and is no longer the height of fashion, but at the time it felt like it was behaviorism or the highway. What did we learn from behaviorism that continues to apply today? Please describe one or two examples of behaviorism that we use in modern psychology. And what concepts have we left behind?

Explanation / Answer

Behaviourism continues to be among the dominant paradigms in the discipline of psychology. Evidence based psychotherapeutic practices such as Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy employ several behaviourist techniques such as systematic desensitisation, response prevention, modelling and homework. Marketing and advertising industries also use certain principles of learning such as classical conditioning, operant conditioning and modelling in order to promote the their brand value and the subsequent sale of their products. Certain concepts of behaviourism that have been definitely left behind is the mechanistic view of human behaviour as a stimulus-response machine, who functions without a mind. The notion that all human behaviours are determined by the environment has also been discarded.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse B
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.