Behaviorism At 100

Behaviorism At 100

Summary of the Main Points

For the last 100 years, behaviorism has evolved greatly as a science quite separate from psychology. This happened after the failure in attempts by several scientists to change psychology into a natural science. Behaviorism as a natural science can improve the status of other natural sciences by offering explanations to certain aspects of behavior that would attract explanations from mystical and superstitious perspectives (Ledoux, 2012). In this regard, behaviorism will improve the overall human development by solving the human behavior-related problems. Moreover, this is only achievable if there is harmony and mutual respect between other natural scientists and behaviorists.

The discipline of behaviorism originated from biology. However, this discipline has evolved to offer comprehensive analyses to wider areas such as human values, ethical standards, and the field of engineering (Ledoux, 2012). Behaviorism explains the close connection between the surrounding environment of the organism and the responses these stimuli elicit.

Behaviorism has several applications in real life. Many aspects of our life require behavior change. Such areas include green house emissions that cause global warming. Children suffering from autism can successfully realize fruitful lives when handled with behaviorists. Furthermore, the discipline of behaviorism continues to inform the instructional methods in schools (Ledoux, 2012). Better outcomes are realized when learners receive instruction with the use of models created by behaviorists.

 

Behaviorism as a discipline

Behaviorism evolved into a separate discipline from psychology due to several reasons. Firstly, psychology did not recognize standards, and procedures based on scientific evidence. Secondly, behaviorism never relies on non-scientific and mythical explanations to behavior, which marked the foundations of psychology (Ledoux, 2012). Lastly, behaviorism is already a discipline as a natural science, and should continue independently.

Evaluation of Claims

Ledoux (2012) claims that psychology, as a discipline did not recognize scientific procedures of relying on evidence. This claim does not entirely hold, since most experiments carried out in the other branches of psychology rely on empirical data. Thus, the deductions from such experiments follow rigorous scientific procedures. The second claim on mythical and non-scientific explanations is still not plausible. This because psychology seeks to connect behavior and stimuli, not to offer the scientific sense, and mechanisms accompanying such complex processes. However, there should be some incorporation of necessary concepts from other natural sciences to enrich the stimuli-behavior connection. The last argument of behaviorism being established, and thus should be a separate discipline does not hold. The writer seems to rely on what otherwise should be justified. This argument appears viciously cyclic.

Opinion on the Claims

The only valid claim should be on the inability of psychology as a discipline to adopt explanations from other fields of natural sciences. However, this requires evidence of complete refusal from the psychologists to accept mechanistic justifications of behavior, and the presence of non-scientific accounts to various forms of behavior. The writer does not offer any instances in support of these two grounds.

Skinner and Behaviorism as a discipline

To evaluate the view that Skinner would have given the new discipline of behaviorism, it is imperative to reflect on his psychological endeavors. Skinner got his doctorate in psychology, but his instructors had a firm biological background. The mentors of Skinner had emphasized the need for a proper explanation to the mechanism of interaction between stimuli and behavior (Ledoux, 2012). Such a view would have made Skinner to radically reduce the boundary between psychology and other natural sciences, and thus keep behaviorism within the realm of psychology.

References

Ledoux, S. F. (2012). ‘Behaviorism at 100: Over its second 50 years, the study of behavior evolved to become a discipline, behaviorology, independent of psychology’. American Scientist, Academic One File in the CSU Online Library. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA287112109&v=2.1&u=oran95108&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w.

 

 

 

 

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