Psychology is defined in the encyclopedia Britannica as “the scientific discipline that studies
psychological and biological processes and behavior in humans and other animals
(Psychology, 2013).” As psychology
continues to evolve psychological perspectives have also changed. There are very few perspectives that have
principal values that are still being used in theories today. John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner, and Edward
Tolman, all developed theories for many schools of thought that are relevant to
modern-day psychology. In this paper I
plan to discuss, compare and contrast those theories.
John B. Watson was born January 9, 1878 in a rural town outside of
Greenville South Carolina called Travelers Rest. Watson’s mother was a very religious woman
who was against smoking, drinking and dancing but his father a somewhat
successful farmer was the complete opposite, he was a heavy drinker, committed
adultery and got into fights all the time.
Growing up in this type of environment contributed to Watson developing
behavior problems of his own; by mid-adolescence he was known as a troublemaker
and had been arrested at least twice.
Watson’s mother moved him to Greenville South Carolina where he entered Furman University at the age of sixteen and attained his Master’s
degree in 1900 at the age of twenty-one (Goodwin, 2008, p 338) .
John B. Watson attended the University of Chicago where he
intended to study philosophy and psychology.
“He quickly discovered that
neither philosophy nor introspective psychology appealed to him (he had no
talent for introspection), but he was comfortable with the general precepts of
a functionalist psychology. He was
especially attracted to comparative psychology-not a surprise considering his
rural background and familiarity with animals (Goodwin, 2008, p. 338).
John B. Watson argued against structuralism and functionalism
schools of thought because he believed that they were not effective as a
science and that the time had come for psychology to take its place as a
legitimate natural science. Watson
believed that it could do so by discarding its long-standing concern with the
conscious mental functioning as a subject matter and introspection as a
method. In Watson’s view, the mental
life as traditionally conceived simply did not exist. Rather, psychology should embrace behavior as
its subject matter and rely on experimental observation of that subject matter
as its method (Moore, 2011). This
perspective was known as behaviorism.
According to the International Encyclopedia of Organization
Studies Behaviorism is a theoretical
foundation with roots in psychology and an intentional focus on observable,
measurable behavior as the primary unit of analysis. Behaviorism systematically analyzes the
relationships between an individual’s behavior and environmental
contingencies. The study and practice of
behaviorism emphasizes predicting and controlling/managing behavior, and thus
is especially relevant to the organization studies. The behaviorism paradigm is in contrast to
the popular cognitive psychology theories, in that behaviorism is not focused
on internal cognitive or affective processes or indirect measures of beliefs,
attitudes, or feelings. Whereas
cognitive-based approaches attempt to understand and explain the multifaceted
causes and complexity of human behavior, behaviorism is based on the premise
that behavior is a function of its environmental consequences or contingencies
(Luthans, Avey, & Luthans, 2008).
Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born March
20, 1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. As
stated in the History of Modern Psychology Skinner
grew up at a time when optimism within the emerging white middle class was high
in America-the country had just emerged from difficult economic times in the
1890’s, and it had just beaten the overmatched Spanish in the Spanish-American
War. Skinner’s father was a moderately
successful lawyer, and his mother stayed at home and cultivated in young Fred
the Protestant values of hard work and a constant concern in “what others might
think” (Goodwin, 2008, p. 383).
B.F. Skinner attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York and
received a degree in English literature in 1926. Skinner’s biography describes him as being self-conscious of his social background,
disappointed by his peers’ lack of intellectual interest, disdainful or
extracurricular requirements such as physical education and chapel, and unlucky
in love (Morris, 2008, p. 460).
Skinner had an independent style of writing which was why he
decided to become a writer, but after writing for almost a year and not having
much success he began reading more and came across Bertrand Russell who was
praising the epistemological implications of Watson’s Behaviorism. According to Skinner’s biography, when Skinner sought advice about psychology
and higher education from his Hamilton professors, they directed him to
Pavlov’s Conditioned Reflexes and Harvard University (Morris, 2008, p. 461).
While Skinner was a graduate student at Harvard with the help of
his friend and colleague Fred Keller he invented the operant conditioning
chamber known as the “Skinner Box” and devised measures known as cumulative
records where he demonstrated lawfulness in behavior that operated on the
environment and was strengthened by its consequences in a process he called
reinforcement (Morris, 2008, p. 461). B.F. Skinner also invented the “baby
tender.” It is important to note that the baby tender is not the same as the
“Skinner box” which was used in Skinner’s experimental research. He created the enclosed heated crib with
plexiglass window in response to his wife’s request for a safer alternative to
traditional cribs (Cherry, 2013.
After attaining his Ph.D. in psychology in 1931, B.F. Skinner
created his own school of thought known as “radical
behaviorism,” which became the primary influence of modern behaviorism in the
psychological and social sciences. Unlike
methodological behaviorism, radical behaviorism advocates the analysis of all
forms of behavior, both public and private, as long as they are observable in
some way. Although radical behaviorists
accept that some behavioral phenomena are private, they believe they can be
analyzed and explained by the same principles as public behaviors. In contrast to the S-R model of classical
behaviorism, which assumed that behaviors are produced by stimuli in a simple,
associationistic sort of chain, Skinner argued that most behaviors are produced
by more complex relationships with the external environment. These relationships include not only stimuli
that precede behaviors but also, more important, stimulus consequences that
follow them and alter the probability of their occurrence in the future (Molm,
2005).
Edward Tolman was born April 14, 1886 in West Newton Massachusetts
a wealthy area in Boston. Tolman’s
father was president of a manufacturing company and his mother was adamant of
her Quaker background. As a youth, he
learned the virtues of perseverance and hard work from his father and the need
for a reflective life with a strong moral foundation from his mother (Goodwin,
2008, p. 364). Edward attended the Newton public schools and
then, went to college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and
graduated with a degree in electrochemistry in 1911. Besides not wanting to compete with his
older brother, Edward did not pursue a career in that field when he discovered
William James during his senior year (Goodwin, 2008, p. 364).
According to the History of Psychology Tolman enrolled in two summer classes at Harvard immediately following
graduation from MIT in 1911, a philosophy course and an introductory psychology
course, the latter taught by Robert Yerkes.
Yerkes sold him good on psychology, and he entered graduate school at
Harvard, earning his doctorate in 1915 (Goodwin, 2008, p. 364).
According to the encyclopedia of Cognitive Science Tolman believed that behavior was more than
simple reflex reactions to stimuli. In
1922, he introduced his own ‘new formula for behaviorism’ with the aim of
providing a scientific treatment of concepts, such as motive and purpose that
had been rejected as subjective and mentalistic by other behaviorists. Tolman published articles providing objective
definitions for emotions, ideas, and consciousness, as well as for purpose and
cognition. He also supervised a number
of students whose research with rats in mazes provided support for his
theoretical position. He brought theory
and data together in a book titled Purposive Behavior in Animals and Men,
published in 1932. Tolman’s system of
psychology, with its emphasis on the goal-directed nature of behavior, became
known as purposive behaviorism ("Edward C. Tolman," 2005). Tolman
was considered the father of cognitive theory after his completed his research.
In Perspective, The History of Psychology states that Behaviorism has been a powerful force in
American psychology. It dominated the
research scene for several decades and it still continues to have a widespread
use in business, education, psychotherapy, and everyday life (Goodwin, 2008, p
394). Watson, Skinner and Tolman
were all behaviorist that believed in different ways that behavior was the
reason that a person functioned the way they did. Watson, Skinner and Tolman
all developed theories that have help create many forms of behavior
modifications in modern psychology.
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Goodwin, C. J. (2008). A History of Modern Psychology (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Luthans, F., Avey, J., & Luthans, B. (2008).
Behaviorism. International encyclopedia
of organization studies, 100-103. doi:10.4135/9781412956246.n37
Molm, L. (2005). Behaviorism. Encyclopedia of social theory, 45-48. doi:10.4135/9781412952552.n20
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