Psychological Perspectives of Watson, Skinner and Tolman

Psychological Perspectives of Watson, Skinner and Tolman

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. 

References

Cherry, K. (2013). B.F. Skinner Biography (1904-1990). Retrieved from http://about.com

Drasgow, E. (2010). Behaviorism. Encyclopedia of educational reform and dissent, 88-92. doi:10.4135/9781412957403.n43

Edward C. Tolman. (2005). Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/entry/wileycs/tolman_c

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

Moore, J. (2011). Behaviorism. The Psychological Record, 61(3), 449-463. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/887915346?accountid=35812

Morris, E. K. (2008). Skinner, Burrhus Frederic (B.F.)... Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 24(1), 458-467.

Psychology. (2013). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/481700/psychology

Theoretical Position: Carl Jung

Carl Jung's Theoretical Position

Carl Jung, born July 26 1875 in Switzerland was the son of a philologist and pastor who was concerned about his father’s inadequate belief in religion and tried several attempts to communicate with him about his own experience with God.  The two never had much success in understanding each other which led Jung to become a minister and discover philosophy from reading and go on to study medicine and become a psychiatrist because he so desperately wanted to understand the behaviors of people around him (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013).

Jung founded analytic psychology, in some aspects a response to Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis.  Jung proposed and developed concepts of the extraverted and the introverted personality, archetypes, and the collective unconscious (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). Analytical psychology explores the unconscious of an individual and joins the conscious through a range of disciplines and psychological methods.  Jung described psychological types; identified and described unconscious with the archetypes pervading it; and regarded the psyche as a self-regulating system seeking individuation.  The treatment method Jung developed was a therapy requiring intermittent relationships between clinician and patient for a short time period.  Jung put much emphasis on the importance of the analyst bringing only analytical attention into the relationship.  The analyst was to be divested of self and limited to prompting continuation of the patient’s monologue.  All ideas, images, verbal constructs, and so on, were to originate with the patient to avoid contamination by the analyst ("Carl Jung," 2006).  His goal was to understand the life of an individual with the world of the supra-personal archetypes. 

Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Alfred Alder all developed methods that were similar but their resulting concepts of the structure of the psyche and its motivations were different.  Freud’s psychoanalysis concentrated on sexuality, whereas Jung’s analytical psychology put emphasis on religion and Adler called his theory “individual psychology” and focused on power ("Carl Jung," 2006).  Jung and Freud had influence on each other during Jung’s academic development.  The idea of the unconscious in Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams is what interested Jung to collaborate with Freud.  However, Jung did not place emphasis on the importance of sexual development; he focused on the collective unconscious: the part of the unconscious that contains memories and idea inherited from our ancestors.  While Jung did believe that libido was an important source for personal growth, he did not agree with Freud that libido alone was responsible for the formation of the core personality (Carlson, 2010).  

Carl Jung believed that the human mind has three parts: the ego which is the conscious mind, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious.  He believed that the collective unconscious was a place where all the experiences and knowledge of the human species exist (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). He also believed that the process of individuation was essential in order for a person to become whole and fully developed as a human being.  Individuation refers to the emergence of a person’s differentiated identity in relation to a larger group of individuals with whom he or she is situated (Sleasman, 2010).

Carl Jung’s concepts of introversion and extraversion have contributed to personality psychology and also had influence on psychotherapy.  As a psychiatrist he gave advice to patients suffering from alcoholism which eventually led to Alcoholics Anonymous, which is a nationwide program that helps millions of people who are suffering from this addiction.

References

Carl Jung. (2006). The Essentials of Philosophy and Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/entry/hodderepe/jung_carl

Carlson, H. (2010). Psychology of the Science of Behavior. Personality, ISBN 978-0-205-64524-4(1), 434.

Encyclopedia Britannica. (2013). Carl Jung. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/308188/Carl-Jung

Sleasman, B. (2010). Individuation. Encyclopedia of Indetity, 395-397. doi:10.4135/9781412979306

Women in Psychology: Mary Ainsworth

Women in Psychology: Mary Ainsworth

Mary Dinsmore Salter Ainworth, an American psychologist who specialized in the study of infant attachment was born December 1, 1913 in Glendale Ohio.  Mary was the oldest of three sisters and both of her parents were graduates from Dickinson College.  When Mary was five years old her father earned his Master’s in History degree and was transferred to a manufacturing firm in Canada where he moved his family.

William McDougall’s book Character and the Conduct of Life is what inspired Mary Ainsworth interest in psychology at the age of 15.  In this book McDougall endeavours to make practical application of his psychology for the benefit of those who desire to be usefully happy and blamelessly successful.  He hopes that it may be found to go a little farther than others of similar aim in affording practical guidance in the conduct of life, and whatever view we may take of the attempt, it can scarcely be denied that this modest hope is amply justified.  The book falls into two fairly distinct parts—the first dealing with the more formal and general aspects of conduct, the second with the more material and specific aspects ("Character and the Conduct of Life: Practical Psychology for every man," 1927).  Mary went on to attend the University of Toronto and was enrolled in the honors psychology program. 

In an article about the secure child Mary Ainsworth stated that “Throughout my entire career the underlying aim has been the understanding of intimate interpersonal relationships, especially the earliest of these, and they influence subsequent personality development.  Undoubtedly it was the interest –then half-recognized—that led me to choose to study psychology when an undergraduate at the University of Toronto in the early 1930s” (Volpe, 2010). 

Mary describes her primary interest in psychology increased while attending Professor William Blatz’s course in genetic and abnormal psychology in which he introduced the student’s to his “security theory”.   Security theory is essentially a theory about personality development.  It can be characterized as an open-ended theory (Volpe, 2010).  At the same time, and experimental project directed by Professor Sperrin Chant taught Mary that research could be fascinating.  Professor Blatz suggested that Mary begin dissertation research relevant to his security theory under the supervision of him and Professor Chant.  Mary’s dissertation was completed in 1939 and published in the following year (Salter, 1940).  It was believed to be the first publication stemming from Blatzian security theory.   Mary stated that these were the reasons that inspired her to stay at the University of Toronto as a Graduate where she earned her B.A. in 1935, her M.A. in 1936 and her Ph.D. in 1939 (Volpe, 2010) .

After obtaining her Ph.D., from the University of Toronto, Mary began her career as a professor at the University of Toronto before joining the Canadian Women’s Army Corp in 1942 during World War II where she was assigned to the Directorate of Personnel Selection.  After a brief period of post-war government services as the superintendent of Women’s Rehabilitation in the Canadian Department of Veteran’s Affairs, Mary returned to the University of Toronto to teach personality psychology and conduct research in the assessment of security (Arcus, 2001).

In 1950 Mary married Leonard Ainsworth, a graduate student at the University of Toronto.  This marriage created a conflict of interest on Mary’s behalf because she was a faculty member at the university so the couple relocated to England where Leonard accepted a doctoral program at the University College, London.  Soon after that Mary began a research position at the Tavistock Clinic with John Bowlby, who was using evolutionary and ethological theory to explore the development of attachments to caregivers and the consequences of maternal separation and loss for young children (Darity Jr., 2008).  The research team at the Tavistock clinic studied the effects of maternal separation on child development.  Comparison of disrupted mother-child bonds to normal mother-child relationship showed that a child’s lack of a mother figure leads to “adverse development effects.”

Mary’s work at the Tavistock clinic with Bowlby caused her earlier interest in security and developmental surface and she created a plan to conduct a longitudinal study of mother-infant interaction in a natural setting at her earliest opportunity.  That opportunity came when her husband accepted a position in the East African Institute of Social Research in Kampala, Uganda.  It was there in Uganda that Mary studied mothers and infants in their natural environment, observing and recording as much as possible, and analyzing and publishing the data years later after joining the faculty at John Hopkins University of Baltimore (Arcus, 2001).

According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology, Mary concluded that there are qualitatively distinct patterns of attachment that evolve between infants and their mothers over the opening years of life.  This was based on her original observations in Uganda and subsequent studies in Baltimore. This was known as the Baltimore project where she visited the homes of 26 families after a child was born up until they turned twelve months.  Her findings were detailed narratives of mother-infant interactions. Mary stated that although a majority of these patterns are marked by comfort And security, some are tense or conflicted, and she found evidence suggesting that these relationships were related to the level of responsiveness that mothers showed toward their infants from the earliest months.  In one study she found mothers who responded more quickly to their infants cries at three months were more likely to have developed secure attachments with their babies by year one (Arcus, 2001) . 

While teaching at John Hopkins University Mary and her colleagues began working on creating an assessment to measure attachments between mothers and children.  It was at John Hopkins University the she developed her famous ‘Strange Situation” assessment, which is said to be one of the most common used procedures in child development research (Arcus, 2001).  The Strange Situation has also been extended to the studies of attachment behaviors and correlates in rhesus monkeys, chimpanzees, and dogs used as pets and guide animals for the blind (Darity Jr., 2008) . 

The Strange Situation is a twenty-minute procedure where there is a series of separations and reunions between mother and toddler.  Three main patterns of attachments were observed: (1) anxious/avoidant, in which the child tended not to be distressed at the mother’s departure and to avoid her on return; (2) securely attached, in which the child was distressed by mother’s departure and easily soothed by her on return; and (3) anxious/resistant, in which the child tended to become highly distressed at the mother’s departure, only to seek comfort and distance simultaneously on her return by engaging in behaviors as crying and reaching to be held, but then attempting to leave once picked up (Darity Jr., 2008) . A fourth category disorganized/disoriented attachment was added by one of Mary Ainsworth colleagues, Mary Main in which a child may cry during separation but avoid the mother when she returns or may approach the mother, then freeze or fall to the floor.  Some show stereotyped behavior, rocking to and fro or repeatedly hitting themselves.  Mary Main found that most of the mothers of these children had suffered major losses or other trauma shortly before or after birth of the infant and had reacted by becoming severely depressed.  In fact, 56% of mothers who had lost a parent by death before they completed high school subsequently was said to have children with disorganized attachments (Solomon, 1990).

Mary Ainsworth’s research and development of the “Strange Situation” assessment has played an important role in the understanding of child development.  She contributes her desire to move forward with the research to William Blatz’s “security theory” because she believed that it was the concept of security itself that was a guiding principle for her work on showing how early attachment styles contribute to later behaviors (Volpe, 2010).

 References

Arcus, D. (2001). Mary Ainsworth. The Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology. Retrieved from http://Gale Virtual Reference Library

Character and the Conduct of Life: Practical Psychology for every man. (1927). The International Journal of Psychoanalysis. Retrieved from http://www.pep-web.org/toc.php?journal=ijp&volume=8&PHPSESSID=1l7sci6cgldms8jedbf6gnjrm3#p0549

Darity Jr., W. A. (2008). Mary Ainsworth. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 1. Retrieved from http://Gale Virtual Reference Library

Salter, M. D. (1940). An evaluation of adjustment based on the concept of security. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for Identifying Infants as Disorganized/Disoriented during the Ainsworth Strange Situation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago.

Volpe, R. (2010). The Secure Child. Timeless lessons in Parenting and Childhood Education. Retrieved from http://www.infoagepub.com

History of Psychology

History of Psychology

Psychology is the study of the human nature.  Psychologist study the human mind and behavior to figure out why people think, feel and behave the way they do.  The study of psychology dates back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, China and India.   Psychology was a branch of philosophy until the 1870s, when it developed as an independent scientific discipline in Germany and the United States.

In order for a psychologist to be effective in practice they must first study the history of psychology to get an understanding of how theories and scientific methods were developed. Knowing the history of psychology and seeing the parallels between arguments made now about the relative influence of heredity and environment and comparing them with those made in earlier times, allows the psychologist a more informed understanding of the issue (Goodwin, 2008). 

I plan to discuss the roots in early philosophy leading into the 19^th century that influenced the development of modern psychology by identifying philosophers that historically relate to the beginnings of psychology as a formal discipline, Identify major philosophers in the western tradition that were primary contributors to the formation of psychology as a discipline and explore the development of science of psychology during the 19^th century.

According to the Journal of Analytical Psychology Rene Descartes is regarded as the “father of modern philosophy”.  Descartes was said to be a key figure in instigating the scientific revolution that has been so influential in shaping our modern world.  He has been revered and reviled in almost equal measure for this role; on the other hand seen as liberating science from religion, on the other as splitting soul from body and man from nature (Withers, 2008).  Rene Descartes had the radical view of the mind as a separate and understandable entity that could be understood through meditation and contemplation.

Philosopher Sigmund Freud distinguished science from philosophy by classifying psychoanalysis as the philosophy of life. In the theory of positivism, Freud rejected the notion which had been previously out forward by other philosophers that God would die and that there were no “scientific men” as the story of creation placed the theory.  This aspect of philosophy formed the basis of Freud’s psychoanalytic theory where he believed that human beings were driven by two major conflicting desires namely life drive and death drive.  In this case positivism played a great role at ensuring that all human beings who were focused had to look up to God for survival and at the same time live positively.  Positivism is a vital aspect in psychology as it was significant in the formulation of the discipline. (Eijk, 2005).

Wilhelm Wundt who is known to future generations as the “father of experimental psychology” established the very first psychology laboratory where he conducted studies on mental disorders, religious beliefs and abnormal disorders in relations to the human brain.  It was from his studies conducted in the psychology laboratory that Wundt was able to exert an enormous influence on the development of psychology as a discipline (Alan, 2008).

Ralph Waldo was a major philosopher in the western tradition and a primary contributor to the formation of psychology as a discipline especially in the concept of transcendent where he refers to the world and man being connected to God.  From his views, man could explore and learn almost everything he wished to through the freedom which allowed the soul as well as nature to converge.  This is a major aspect of modern psychology where liberation of the soul and its integration with nature leads to a more fruitful learning process (Eijk, 2005).

Another contributor to the discipline of psychology was Abraham Maslow.  Abraham Maslow was best known for creating ‘Maslow’s hierarchy if needs”, a theory of psychological health predicated on fulfilling innate human needs in priority, culminating in self-actualization.  “What a man can be, he must be” is the need we call self-actualization which refers to the desire for self- fulfillment, namely, to the tendency for him to become actualized in what he is potentially (About.com/Psychology, 2013).     Maslow stressed the importance of focusing on the positive qualities in people, as opposed to treating them as a “bag of symptoms” (""Dr. Abraham Maslow, Founder of Humanistic Psychology, Dies"," 1970).  Maslow believed that the main idea in psychology was to enable people to attain their full potential through the establishment of beneficial relationships.

The development of the science of psychology in the 19^th century can be contributed to Wilhelm Wundt when he established the world’s first psychology lab to conduct experimental study of self-conscious by using scientific research methods to investigate reaction times. The classical conditioning experiments by Ivan Pavlov were another contribution to the development of psychology during the 19^th century.  The pioneer study of the human memory by William James was also made more rampant in this century (Kroker, 2003).

After experimental psychology, other areas of specialization such as scientific pedagogy appeared in the early 1880s led by G. Stanley Hall and the educational theory by John Dewey was another milestone in the same era. The very first psychological clinic was built in the 1890s by James Cattell and it incorporated anthropometric methods which were used to test the mental condition of the clients. Similarly, in 1898 Sigmund Freud was developing a new approach to the study of the mind known as psychoanalysis (Eijk, 2005).

References

"Dr. Abraham Maslow, Founder of Humanistic Psychology, Dies". (1970). New York Times. Retrieved from http://select.nytimes.com

About.com/Psychology. (2013). What is Self-Actualization. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds_2.htm

Alan, K. (2008). Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/wilhelm-wundt/

Eijk, P. (2005). Medicine and Philosophy in Classical Antiquity: Doctors and Philosophers on Nature, Soul, Health and Disease. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Goodwin, C. J. (2008). A History of Modern Psychology (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Kroker, K. (2003). The progress of introspections in America, 1896-1938. History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 34(1), 77-108.

Withers, R. (2008). Descartes' dreams. The Journal of Analytical Psychology, 53. doi:10.1111/j.1468-5922.2008.00760