Watson's Theory Of Behaviorism Essay

Prior to the twentieth-century, the mind and human consciousness were the main focus of psychological work and studies, however, during the early twentieth-century, the concept of behaviorism was emphasized and dominated psychology.
The theory of behaviorism was first shown in Russian psychologist, Ivan Pavlov’s (1927), animal studies, through which he discovered classical conditioning. American psychologist, John B. Watson (1913), was one of the strongest believers in behaviorism; establishing the psychological school of behaviorism, and much of his thinking derived from Pavlov’s work and classical conditioning. Watson’s “Little Albert” experiment (1920) is one of the most controversial and highly unethical experiments conducted; however it proved substantially beneficial to psychologists, and contributed to much of what we know about behaviorism and conditioning today. Furthering the behaviorist perspective, B. F. Skinner (1948), another American …show more content…
This knowledge can prove extremely beneficial in terms of understanding their needs, and thus helping them change or improve their actions, possibly creating a more positive outlook and a happier student. A downside to using behaviorism is that a student may only be acting negatively due to a poorer mood or feelings at that certain time, however on another day they may be more positive. The variation in behavior may not always be understood in terms of the students’ mood or feelings, but rather, the idea that it’s simply their behavior towards the current task. Furthermore, if the child has a negative or unstable home life, this might also have an effect on their behavior, however, since behaviorism is only concerned with what is observable, this might not be recognized as a cause of the student’s behavior in the