Ethics and Behaviorism
Psychology made remarkable transformations throughout the years, from the early beginnings of philosophical thinking to the more modern scientific method, psychology has been relentless; constantly changing and growing into the psychology that is known and respected today. Though all branches of psychology are important, behaviorism has its own special place in history. Behaviorism took over the world in the 1900’s, more specifically the world of psychology, and the man who led this take over was John Watson. Watson is the official founder of behaviorism because he fought to establish not only himself but also his new form of psychology (Schultz & Schultz, 2011). Many people were fascinated with Watson and his ideas, …show more content…
Back in the 1920’s there were no rules to dictate how an experiment is to be done, or the correct way to treat a patient. Psychology was just getting up on its feet which made it a fairly underdeveloped community. It was not until 1953 when the American Psychological Association (APA) published the first code of ethics (Smith, 2003). The code started out as 170 pages and through many revisions and corrections is now today a sixteen-page document. Only the most prominent and important ethics made it to the most recent edition, making todays code of Ethics something to respect and abide by. Watson and Jones definitely influenced the production of the ethics code, more specifically section G which deals with the moral and ethical rules to follow when conducting research. An example would be code G.2.a; Informed consent in research (Ethics & Professional Standards, 2013). This code states that all participants need to consent to the research activities, and if they are not able to consent that a parent consent for them. Little Albert could not consent and it is speculated that his mother had no idea that the experiments were taking place, so she could not consent either. The fact that Watson did not try to undo the conditioning also sparks ethical debate. He did not ensure the child’s wellbeing after the experiments which is arguably the most important code to abide by. Some of the ethical principles were founded because of Watson and Jones’s experiments, though they were not the only ones who performed unethical research experiments. Wendell Johnson was a psychologist who practiced in Iowa and conducted and experiment in 1939 that involved psychologically destroying orphans with negative language. Wendell did not look out for his patient’s wellbeing and even showed guilt by trying to hide his experiments from the
Psychology made remarkable transformations throughout the years, from the early beginnings of philosophical thinking to the more modern scientific method, psychology has been relentless; constantly changing and growing into the psychology that is known and respected today. Though all branches of psychology are important, behaviorism has its own special place in history. Behaviorism took over the world in the 1900’s, more specifically the world of psychology, and the man who led this take over was John Watson. Watson is the official founder of behaviorism because he fought to establish not only himself but also his new form of psychology (Schultz & Schultz, 2011). Many people were fascinated with Watson and his ideas, …show more content…
Back in the 1920’s there were no rules to dictate how an experiment is to be done, or the correct way to treat a patient. Psychology was just getting up on its feet which made it a fairly underdeveloped community. It was not until 1953 when the American Psychological Association (APA) published the first code of ethics (Smith, 2003). The code started out as 170 pages and through many revisions and corrections is now today a sixteen-page document. Only the most prominent and important ethics made it to the most recent edition, making todays code of Ethics something to respect and abide by. Watson and Jones definitely influenced the production of the ethics code, more specifically section G which deals with the moral and ethical rules to follow when conducting research. An example would be code G.2.a; Informed consent in research (Ethics & Professional Standards, 2013). This code states that all participants need to consent to the research activities, and if they are not able to consent that a parent consent for them. Little Albert could not consent and it is speculated that his mother had no idea that the experiments were taking place, so she could not consent either. The fact that Watson did not try to undo the conditioning also sparks ethical debate. He did not ensure the child’s wellbeing after the experiments which is arguably the most important code to abide by. Some of the ethical principles were founded because of Watson and Jones’s experiments, though they were not the only ones who performed unethical research experiments. Wendell Johnson was a psychologist who practiced in Iowa and conducted and experiment in 1939 that involved psychologically destroying orphans with negative language. Wendell did not look out for his patient’s wellbeing and even showed guilt by trying to hide his experiments from the