Early Behaviorism

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Early Behaviorism
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The Influence of Darwin

• Says there are NO fundamental differences between
  humans and animals

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Reflexes
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Ivan Sechenov (b. 1829)

• Studied with Muller, du Bois-Reymond, Bunsen,
  Helmholtz
• Research on inhibition of reflexes

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1863 Reflexes of the Brain

• Brain was simply a center for organizing reflexes
• A mechanistic, physiological theory saying that
  all behaviors are reflexes of the brain
• Extension of physiology into psychology

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Does the Name Pavlov Ring a Bell?

• Ivan Pavlov (b. 1849)
• Mugged in NYC
• Croaked from the flu

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• Physiologist studied digestive reflexes
• Nobel prize for medicine 1904
• Digestive reflexes
• Physiological reflexes
• Psychic reflexes
• Saw conditioning as a way to understand brain
  functioning
• Conditional reflexes

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Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning

• He noticed that his dogs salivated at sight of
  food from a cupboard
• Neutral stimuli elicited salivation

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• Experiment Sound a tone -gt place food in a
  dog's mouth -gt dog salivates -gt after a period of
  time the dog salivates at the sound of tone

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Pavlovs Theory of Personality

• His dogs had 4 personalities
• Sanguine, melancholic, choleric, phlegmatic
• Based his assertions on balance between
  excitatory and inhibitory processes

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Charles Sherrington (b. 1857)

• Studied inhibition of reflexes in cat
• Concluded brain sends down inhibitory messages to
  body
• Synapses
• Multiple inputs, summation, inhibition,
  integration
• Behavior controlled by external and internal
  stimuli

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Transition from Reflexes to Behaviorism
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Edward Thorndike

• 1898 dissertation cat in the box study
• Gradual and continuous improvement on performance
• Strengthening of association
• Direct, mechanical connection between stimulus
  (puzzle box) and response (pulling string)

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Thorndikes S-R Learning

• Throwback to the associationists (Hartley, Mill,
  Bain)
• The mind is ONLY S-R connections
• 1911 Animal Intelligence

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The Law of Effect

• If effect of a response is positive, S-R
  connection is strengthened
• If the effect of a response is negative, S-R
  connection gets weakened

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Learning

• Learning always involves acquisition of new S-R
  associations
• Associations acquired by automatic, stamping-in
  of the law of effect
• Thoughts and intentions play NO role in learning

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Watson's Behaviorism John Watson (b. 1878)
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School at Furman U.
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• Chicago with Dewey Angell
• Moved to neurology
• 1903 dissertation on rats development
• Marries a student!
• 1908 Johns Hopkins

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1913 Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It

• Behavior is ALL there is
• No mind in psychology
• Against introspection structuralism
  functionalism

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1914 Behavior, An Introduction to Comparative
Psychology

• Animal Psychology methods
• Emphasis on S-R connections
• New theory of learning
• Contiguity of S and R important

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Watson and Pavlov

• Translated Pavlov (from French) to English
• Reproduced Pavlov's experiments in his lab

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Thinking

• We don't think, we only "think we think"
• Thinking is barely perceptible movements of mouth
  and throat

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Emotions

• Emotional responses in infants are really
  behavioral responses
• Emotions like fear, anger, joy seen as nothing
  but responses made to certain stimuli

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1920 Watson and Rayner "Little Albert"
experiment

• Conditioning of fear

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Problems w/ Little Albert Study?

• Distortions in the story
• Ambiguity about his age
• Some are skeptical that conditioning occurred in
  the way Watson described

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Treatment of Mental Illness

• Symptoms were simply conditioned reflexes where
  the conditioning was counterproductive
• Psychologists should become social engineers
• De-conditioning precursor to systematic
  desensitization

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Motivation and Instincts

• Motivation was too mentalistic
• E.g., hunger stimulus, eating response
• No instincts complex chain of reflexes

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Watson and Child Development

• Psychological Care of the Infant and Child 1928
• First son Billy Became a Freudian, later
  suicide
• Second son Jimmy severe psychological problems
• Daughter Polly Attempted suicide numerous times

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How to Commit Career Suicide Big John and
Rosalie

• Watson 42-yr-old professor
• Rosalie Rayner 19-yr-old student
• Watson Rosalie dismissal from Hopkins

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Watson and Advertising

• Tested smokers preferences blindfolded
• Piloted timed obsolescence
• Marketing research
• Conditioned fear advertising

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Watsons Contributions

• Provided a scientific psychology
• Mind Behavior
• Everything in psychology could be explained in
  terms of S-R connections
• Advertising and Marketing pioneer

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• Died in 1958 from cirrhosis of the liver