John B Watson Behaviorism Essay

While children are in the early stages of growth, they have been praised and complimented on their good grades and intelligence. However, this type of praise and compliment is not the key to success in schoolwork and life. The most important key to success lies in the focus on effort not praises and compliments based off how well a child does on something, such as a game or test. Behavioral psychology or more commonly referred to as behaviorism explains why putting forth effort is important. Behaviorism falls under the category of a school of thought. John B. Watson, who is considered to be the “father” of behaviorism, was the founder of it. Behaviorism is a theory in which behaviors are learned and developed though conditioning. It is completely based off of peoples’ behaviors, instead of their mind. This is because Watson believed that observation is the key to success in psychology, and behaviors can be directly observed, while the contents inside of the mind cannot. To have children aim towards putting forth effort, instead of receiving praises, conditioning needs to take place. However, the right conditioning needs to be put into effect. There are two major types of conditioning that fall in under the school of thought, behaviorism. One major type is classical conditioning. It is a technique where a there is a stimulus is present, …show more content…
Instead of the “I Am Smart” stickers that were commonly given out, the new stickers with the encouraging phrases will implement the essence and importance of hard work and effort. These will help students realize that the key to success in life and schoolwork lies within a student. As long as the students themselves are willing to put out all of their effort and learn, then they will go far in life. A student does not have to be born with intelligence or ability, while they are in the process of growing up, they can acquire these