Evaluate Whether Behaviourism Has Contributed To Our Understanding Of Human Behaviour.

This essay will evaluate whether behaviourism has contributed to our understanding of human behaviour. Behaviourism is an approach in psychology which is determined by conditioning. It focuses on the relationship between stimuli and responses. It is concerned with observable and measurable aspects of human behaviour and is not interested in looking at biological facets. Instead it proposes that behaviours are learned through changes in response to the environment. John B. Watson (1912) was an American psychologist who developed the concept of behaviourism. There are a number of theorists that have endeavoured to clarify an understanding of human behaviour, psychologists such as Pavlov, Skinner and Thorndike all made a contribution. This essay will endeavour to examine how these theorists have contributed to our understanding.

Before John Watson’s time, psychology was generally based on “what happens in the mind”, (Toates, 2012, pg. 161) and the mental events that occurred. Watson was against the view that psychology is involved with subjective events, Watson, (1913) cited in Toates (2012, p. 161) disputed that psychology should mainly focus on observable data, whilst clearly focussing on behaviour. Watson (1913) suggested that classic conditioning could clarify all parts of human behaviour. Watson and Raynor …show more content…
His studies were influenced by the work on Thorndike. Skinner (1948), cited in Toates (2012, p. 167) studied operant conditioning by overseeing experiments and utilizing rats in which he placed in a ‘Skinner Box’. He has contributed majorly to our understanding of human behaviour. His tests were run on animals and he has shown that humans can learn the same way. The work of Skinner was developed from the viewpoint that classical conditioning was too simple to be a total clarification of human behaviour. He believed that the most ideal approach is to comprehend human