Behaviorism Vs Functionalism Essay

There are two major positions in the philosophy of the mind which many consider to be plausible. These positions are that of Behaviorism and Functionalism. Many feel that these two are plausible in that they are two sides of the same coin in that one relies on observable behaviors to describe actions but the other relies on mental states as causal roles for other mental states and actions. I chose these two as the most plausible because I feel that they could both be very plausible ways to look at and explain behavior in humans and animals. Through much explanation and analysis we will begin to a form a conclusion to which one is the most plausible out of the two.
Behaviorism is an approach to the world in which the action of humans and animals …show more content…
They also thought that, behaviors could be used to increase prediction and control of certain behaviors. This is so in that when certain stimulus are present, a certain behavior can be predicted to occur and vice versa in that when a certain behavior has occurred one can begin to predict the nature of the stimulus and how effective the stimulus was. This led to a type of psychology called “S-R” or stimulus response psychology. In that, mental states could be explained by a combination between antecedent and observable behaviors, in what many call behavioral hypotheticals. For example, “If water is available, John will drink”. Instead of a statement involving mental states such as “John is thirsty, so he drinks the water”. So when a certain stimulus provided by the environment is present, a certain response will be predicted to occur as a result. With these revelations Watson began to feel that he could condition any behavior to occur by conditioning. This can be seen in a quote by Watson in which he stated that, “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well- formed and my own specialized world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any specialist I might