“There is no new information, only discovered information” (Modern Day Psychology, para. 1). Psychology has developed from the theories and ideas of many great men and women. These men and women unabashedly declared their ideas to be factual. In some cases, they were correct, but in others they were not. Sometimes one idea contradicted another and the truth was never known. Psychology continues to advance, however, because researchers continue to seek the truth.
Opinions have been changed and updated since the days of Descartes, but one thing has remained the same: the quest for absolute knowledge. Scientists want to understand why people do the things they do. Although views have changed over time, some theories are still very much in use today. The theories of John Watson, Edward Tolman, and B.F. Skinner are still valid theories and are in use in modern psychology.
Born in 1878, John Watson began attending University classes at 16 years old and was awarded a Masters degree at 21. After a year of working, Watson decided to return to school and attended the University of Chicago to study philosophy. Using the skills he gained at the University of Chicago, Watson created a new school of psychological thought that is now known as behaviorism. Watson believed that everything that organisms do, including acting, thinking and feeling, should be viewed as behaviors (McIntyre, 2003). Watson initiated the classical conditioning theory (also referred to as classical behaviorism). Watson believed that thoughts and feelings were not pure emotion, but rather a reaction to some other stimuli; there was a reason for every reaction. His theory was that people do not just react, they respond.
Little Albert is the subject of Watson’s most recognized experiment. Albert was the child of an employee in Watson’s laboratory. Little Albert was brought to work with his parent every day and was kept occupied by playing with lab rats. This behavior supported Watson’s behaviorism theory. Little Albert was given the rat as a stimuli and he both reacted and responded by playing with the rat. After the initial observation, Watson added the sound of a hammer. When Albert began to play with the rat, the sound of a hammer began to clang in the background. This sound scared Albert and was only initiated when Albert was playing with the rat. After a few instances of the hammer clanging while Albert was playing with the rat, Albert began to cry when he was given the rat, regardless of whether the sound of the hammer was present. Albert had begun to associate the frightening sound of the hammer with the rat (Watson & Rayner, 1920). Watson’s theory of classical conditioning continues to be used today, mostly in child psychology and in the training of animals.
Watson believed that behavior was learned. Behavior did not just exist; somehow the behavior was derived from past experiences and environments. These theories are still practiced today. Many times, if a person is experiencing difficulties with one particular aspect of life, and that aspect of life can be attributed to an event, psychologists will attempt to reverse that behavior with behavior modification techniques. These techniques were adapted from Watson’s theory.
Edward C. Tolman (1886) earned his PhD from Harvard University in 1915. Contradictory to Watson’s theory, Tolman believed that learning could occur without a reward or threat. Tolman believed that behavior was not an automatic response, but rather an experience that could transfer between environments (both positively and negatively).
Similar to Watson’s experiments, Tolman’s experiments involved lab rats. Tolman used the rats as the primary subject, while Watson used the rats as a stimuli. Tolman observed the rats running through mazes without the promise of a reward when they arrived at the end of the maze. This study produced the theory of latent learning. Tolman believed that learning can occur without the promise of a reward, and his latent learning theory proposed this idea. This theory did not limit itself to rats and other animals; it carried over to humans as well. Like Watson, Tolman believed that behavior is driven by motive, but Tolman believed that behavior is constant and only changes when motive changes.
Tolman believed that humans are always learning, whether they realize it or not. He believed that every interaction that a human witnesses causes some sort of learning. This belief led him to study cognition. Tolman began to use “cognitive maps” in his studies. Cognitive maps are “mental maps, mind maps, cognitive models, or mental models that are a type of mental processing, or cognition, composed of a series of psychological transformations by which an individual can acquire, code, store, recall, and decode information about the relative locations and attributes of phenomena in their everyday or metaphorical spatial environment” (Cognitive Maps, para. 1). Tolman is credited with coining the phrase “cognitive map.”
Tolman’s theory of behavior declared that learning can occur without reward and often happens without knowledge; that is, the person who is learning often does not realize that he or she is learning until the information learned is needed and used at a later date. Tolman is known as the father of cognitive theory, and is credited with the creation and implementation of cognitive maps. Tolman believed that cognitive maps were a way that humans use to structure and store knowledge, particularly spatial knowledge, “allowing the ‘mind’s eye’ to visualize images in order to reduce cognitive load, and enhance recall and learning of information” (Cognitive Maps, para. 2). The use of cognitive maps helped to support Tolman’s behavioral theories.
B.F. Skinner was born in 1904 and attended Hamilton College. In 1926, Skinner was awarded a degree in English Literature. Skinner intended to become a writer, but was unsuccessful, and after a year became fascinated with psychology. Skinner enrolled at Harvard University to study psychology.
It was evident while Skinner studied at Harvard that he was different from the average student. Skinner thought about things with much more depth than many students. Eventually, Skinner graduated from Harvard with his PhD and continued on to create the Radical Behaviorism theory.
This theory, similar to Watson’s theory, suggested that behavior is a result of one’s environment. The environment acts as a cause for the behavior, meaning that the environment acts as an incentive or a deterrent for certain behavior. Skinner’s theory was also similar to Watson’s theory in that the theory attempted to predict future behavior with environmental stimuli. Skinner’s theory was similar to Watson’s theory in several other ways, including its dependence on scheduled reinforcement. This scheduled reinforcement proposed that the recidivism of the behavior is dependent on the reward. Absence of a reward for poor performance deterred any chance of recidivism. This positive reinforcement is known as operant conditioning.
Skinner’s theory differed from Watsons because Skinner believed that behavior was a consequence of the environment that one is in. Skinner “rejected the idea of inner cause for behavior, and placed emphasis on observable behavior as opposed to the theorizing, based on unverifiable evidence, often done by others” (McIntyre, 2003). Skinner thought that the recidivism of a behavior was based on the reward or punishment received at the time the behavior was presented or possible at multiple times when the behavior was presented. A schedule of reinforcement could produce results for this behavior, but the subject would need to be continuously motivated to produce such results, which meant that at times the reward would need to become greater and greater.
Although Watson’s and Skinner’s positions seem very similar, their outlooks do differ in one substantial way. While Watson believed that psychology should be the direct study of behavior as a science, disregarding emotion and outside incidences that may influence or impair scientific study, Skinner believed that emotions are part of the psychological makeup. Skinner believed that even inner feelings and emotions were behavior, whether acted upon or not. He believed that these emotions support the outward behavior, even if it is on a deeply subconscious level. Because of this belief, Skinner included emotions in his research and theories.
Watson, Tolman, and Skinner were surprisingly similar, yet significantly different at the same time. Each of these theorists believed that behavior was the foundation of human functionality. Each theory believed that behavior was caused by some force, but that causing force was different with each theorist. While one believed that emotions caused behaviors, another believed that fear of punishment or anticipation of reward caused them. Even with their differences, each of these theorists proposed substantial contributions to behavioral psychology. Many theories were proposed before these theories and many have been proposed since, but these three theories seem to maintain their place as the most respected theories in behavioral psychology, and will continue to hold that place for the foreseeable future.
References:
PsychWeb Psychology Art. (n.d.). PsychWeb. Retrieved from http://www.psychweb.com/2010/02/17/modern-day-psychology/
New World Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Tolman, Edward C.. Retrieved from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Edward_C._Tolman
Behavior Advisor. (n.d.). The Hystory of Behaviorism. Retrieved from http://www.behavioradvisor.com/
Journal of Experimental Psychology. (n.d.). Conditioned Emotional Reactions. Retrieved from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/emotion.htm
