Behaviorism and Neobehaviorism
Unit 7A: Chapter 13 Notes
Adapted from History of Psychology: The Making of a Science (Edward P. Kardas, 2014)
Susanne Nishino, Ph.D. 2013
Chapter 13: Behaviorism
Russia From 1860 - 1917
• By 1905 Russia nearly perpetual state of political & social agitation
• Three physiologists arose in this climate
– Ivan Sechenov
– Ivan Pavlov
– Vladimir Bekhterev
• Took 1st steps toward physiologically-based psychology that would for 1st time provide
convincing mechanism for associationism
• History of associationism traced back to ancient Greek philosophy
• Pavlov’s discovery of conditioned reflex made the scientific study of associationism or
associative learning possible
• Pavlov experimental paradigm set standard for what required for experimental analysis of
associative learning and virtually all advances that have been made since 1965, based on
procedures closely modeled on those Pavlov developed
Demise of Introspective Psychology: Behaviorism
• Multiple sources
• One source Russian physiologists Sechenov, Pavlov, & Bekhterev
• Pavlov’s discovery of classical condition re-energized older associative models of psychology
derived from British empiricists
• American Comparative Psychology early research such as Jacques Loeb & Herbert Spencer
Jennings followed by number of influential psychologists main emphasis study of animal
behavior
• Others began to study animals for own sake, gradually relinquished ideas about study animal
mind, instead began to use only objective methods
• John B. Watson most prominent, 1913 launched new school of psychology, Behaviorism,
intentionally rejected mentalistic approaches to psychology, emphasized all psychology should
be based on objective methods only, took a decade before psychologists as a whole began to
join new school in great numbers
• William McDougall, English psychologist, debated Watson on radio 1924, had own version of
behaviorism, his approach retained role for introspection, emphasized instinctive behavior with
definition different from earlier psychologists such as Herbert Spencer
• Watson’s brand of Behaviorism eventually evolved into Neobehaviorism
Russian Psychology
• Inspired by discoveries in physiology
• Most important was Sechenov’s realization of importance of physiological inhibition
– Previous physiological accounts of behavior depended solely on reflex activation,
insufficient to explain complexity of animal & human behavior
– Also promoted use of animal models for human behaviors, argued against introspective
methods
• Work inspired next generation of Russian physiologists, especially Pavlov & Bekhterev
• Their research strongly linked physiology to behavior, led to materialist and objective approach
to psychology unlike contemporary models elsewhere in Europe or U.S.
Ivan Sechenov (1829-1905)
• Met Hermann Helmholtz & Emil Du Bois-Reymond, students of Johannes Muller, pioneers in
applying methods of physical science to biology
• Du Bois-Reymond work on electric fishes, created field of electrophysiology
• Outside Russia Sechenev conducted physiological research, discovered reflexes could be
inhibited via direct stimulation of some parts of forebrain (thalamus) but not others (cerebral
cortex), discovery broadened understanding of reflect action, demonstrated that CNS played
role in control of reflexes
• Argued that all behaviors had cause, that cause always external & physical, not psychic or
mental
• Argued for psychology to become science to quit looking for universal theories derived from
introspection, instead concentrate on uncovering facts that could be verified
• Held physiology portal to psychology
• Argued because human psychology so complex, natural starting place simpler animal models
• Put in place pieces Russian physiologists would need to discover 1st empirical connections
between physiology & psychology
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
• Read Sechenev as student, interested in physiology of digestion, focused on all physiological
aspect of complex process, met Sergei Botkin, needed someone to supervise graduate students
in animal laboratory, hired Pavlov
• Used dogs to work out details of digestive process, pioneered surgical & insertion of tubes into
glands
• 1904 Nobel Prize for Physiology & Medicine
• Beginning in 1897 direction of laboratory’s research became behavioral, one of students
discovered that all that was required was close pairing in time of neutral stimulus followed by
food stimulus
Pavlov: Classical Conditioning
• Pavlov shifted research direction to study of new “Pavlovian” conditioning process, rejected any
explanations for conditioning that involved introspective elements
• Pavlovian Conditioning = known as classical conditioning = the pairing in time between a neutral
stimulus (any stimulus in any modality that does not naturally cause a consistent physiological
response) and a stimulus that does cause a consistent physiological response (e.g. food &
salivation) so that over time, the neutral stimulus comes to cause the same physiological
response
• “The results were according to our expectations: the observable relations between external
phenomena and variations in the activity of glands could be systematically analyzed; they
appeared to be determined by laws, because they could be reproduced at will” (Pavlov 1904,
quoted p. 292)
• Convinced only way to approach understanding of physiology was through elucidation of
underlying physiological laws
• Soon discovered other conditioning phenomena
– Extinction
– Generalization
– Spontaneous recovery
• These too seemed to rise to level of scientific laws, could be investigated in lab, without
recourse to consciousness or introspection
• By 1930 Pavlovian conditioning well known to American psychologists, Behaviorists found
conditioning powerful way to explain new responses, emphasized study of learning as new
central focus of psychology in United States
• Pavlov more interested in how conditioning could be suppressed or inhibited
• Pavlov’s research concentrated on conditioning of autonomic responses, surgery almost always
required
Vladimir Bekhterev (1857-1927)
• Emphasized conditioning of voluntary responses
• Realized Pavlov’s discoveries could be generalized to other responses than salivation
• In school specialized in psychiatry & mental illness, later research in neuroanatomy and brain
localization
• 1907 founded Psychoneurological Institute, Objective Psychology published 1910, incorporated
Pavlov’s conditioning model, instead of using autonomic responses, emphasized voluntary
movements in response to external stimulation
• Demonstrated that Pavlovian conditioning applied to voluntary behaviors as well
• He noted that his methodology did not require researchers to perform surgery
• Conflicts with Pavlov, career declined
Nascent Behaviorism
• Bekhterev & Pavlov pioneers of nascent behaviorist movement, no evidence knew of Watson’s
work
• Pavlov’s data combined with Watson’s ideas eventually led to theoretical & practical synergy
• Russian physiologists argued for & sought objective methods to study psychology while rejecting
consciousness & introspection, used animal models of human behavior & provided behavioral
psychology with 1st strong methodologies: classical conditioning
• Edwin B. Twitmyer discovered classical conditioning one year before Pavlov, reported in
dissertation 1902 & at APA meeting 1904, few took notice
Classical Conditioning: New Discoveries Since Pavlov
• Pavlov explained in terms of contiguity in time, temporal relationship between previously
neutral stimulus (CS) & stimulus that caused physiological reaction (UCS) was key to process,
conditioned stimulus had to precede unconditioned stimulus, limit to how much time could pass
before conditioning failed
• Robert Rescorla (1968) demonstrated simply temporal contiguity not enough, showed that CS
would not cause classical conditioning even when paired with UCS unless CS reliably predicted
occurrence of UCS
• Modern explanations require CS & UCS stimulus close in time and the CS reliably predict the UCS
• Modern does not require appeals to consciousness or introspective accounts
American Psychology: Turn of 20th Century
• William James & G. Stanley Hall living & influential
• E. B. Titchener at Cornell promoted structuralism view of psychology
• Functionalists at Chicago & Columbia opposed to structuralism, alternative little different from it
• Animal research beginning to become prominent, proponents differed over goals, one side
research as way to understand minds of animals, other side believed animal consciousness
unapproachable to scientific methods
• Comparative Psychology = branch of psychology that explores the behavior of all animals
(including humans) and attempts to demonstrate phylogenetic linkages of those behaviors
between species & assess their adaptive value
Comparative Psychology: Turn of 20th Century
• At turn of century, relatively few psychologists specializing in comparative psychology,
• As in Russia, animals consciousness unapproachable came to dominate new subfield of
comparative psychology
• Chicago Jacques Loeb studies in animal tropisms (forced movements), catalogued how reached
to physical stimulus, believed animals passive until faced with specific environmental stimuli,
then would react in stereotypical manner
• Johns Hopkins H. S. Jennings believed behavior of so-called simple organisms was highly variable
& responded differently to same physical stimuli depending on internal state
• Robert Yerkes set out to compare how different animals might learn, used new & original
apparatus, looked at learning in many species, wrote article on importance of classical
conditioning, did not apply Pavlovian to own research
• Yerkes friend & collaborator eventually adopted classical conditioning methods into his own
research
John B. Watson (1878-1958)
• Recognized early that same methods used to study animals could be used to study humans
• At 1st Watson only person bold enough to consider quitting focus on human consciousness &
use of introspective methods, radical reorientation of psychology
• Behaviorism arrived on stage
• Chicago’s 1st PhD in psychology, thesis learning ability of albino rats
• Ran Chicago’s animal laboratory, research concentrated on elucidating sensory capacities of
animals, especially vision, also conducted naturalistic observation & field experiments
• Editor of most prestigious journal in psychology, Psychological Review, influence in field largely
from publication of articles & books, editors of scholarly journals gatekeepers of new ideas,
1915 President of American Psychological Association
• Famous speech at Columbia 1913 and subsequent publication journal pitted Behaviorism
against two original schools of thought in psychology: Structuralism & Functionalism
Behaviorism
• Behaviorism = the approach to psychology spearheaded by Watson that sought to eliminate
consciousness and introspection and substituted objective methods that focused on animal &
human behaviors only
• Behaviorism not original with Watson, earlier trends in animal psychology, testing, applied
psychology & clinical psychology demonstrated utility of focusing on behavior while minimizing
or ignoring consciousness & introspective reports
• Animal researchers laid foundation by emphasizing relationship between environmental events
& behavior, and behavioral complexity of all creatures
• Pavlov’s research on conditioning instrumental, provided mechanism to explain how
associationism worked
• Thorndike’s pioneering experiments with puzzle boxes influential
• Galtonian style testing under way
• Applied Psychology making headway education & classroom practice
• James’s clinical psychology led effort to include psychopathology & treatment as part of
psychology
Watson & Behaviorism
• Watson’s contribution to meld disparate streams into one, proposed radical new approach to
psychology, served to nearly separate psychology from its past
• Argued for a completely new psychology that dispensed with introspection & consciousness in
single stroke, called his approach “Behaviorism”
• Claimed Structuralism & Functionalism made little progress in advancing psychology because
both wedded to consciousness in different way, neither could provide coherent scientific
account of discipline
• He wished to “never use the terms consciousness, mental states, mind, content, introspectively
verifiable, imagery” (Watson 1913, quoted p. 300)
• In their place proposed the study of behaviors only
• “Psychology, as the behaviorist views it, is a purely objective, experimental branch of natural
science which needs introspection as little as do the sciences of chemistry and physics. It is
granted that the behavior of animals can be investigated without appeal to consciousness . . .
The position is taken here that the behavior of man and the behavior of animals must be
considered on the same plane; as being equally essential to a general understanding of
behavior. It can dispense with consciousness in a psychological sense” (Watson, 1913, quoted p.
300)
• “Should human psychologists fail to look with favor upon our overtures and refuse to modify
their position, the behaviorists will be driven to using human beings as subjects and to employ
methods of investigation which are exactly comparable to those now employed in animal work”
(Watson, 1913) quoted p. 300).
• Cited examples where behavioral approach already success: educational psychology,
psychopharmacology, advertising, forensics, & testing
• Favored adoption of uniform experimental procedures
• Later began to research human psychology, wanted to study psychopathology, began to study
newborn babies, created Watson’s infant laboratory, one of babies Little Albert, research with
Little Albert high point of Watson’s research career, also the beginning of the end of it
• After World War I, became interested in studying emotional behavior in humans
• At first could only identify three instinctive emotions, unlearned behaviors: fear, rage, love
• Began to realize repertoire of unlearned behaviors, reflexes, in babies, discovered baby strong
grasp reflex, also found some babies were afraid of stimuli (rats, dogs, masks) while others not
Watson & Behaviorism: “Little Albert”
• Observations of baby fear of stimuli led to hypothesis that babies exhibiting such fears must
have learned conditioned emotional responses
• Conditioned Emotional Responses = terminology 1st introduced by Watson & Rosalie Rayner to
describe the acquisition of emotional responses in children through classical conditioning
• To test hypothesis selected Alfred B. (Little Albert)
• “Healthy from birth and one of the best developed youngsters . . . He was on the whole stolid
and unemotional. His stability was one of the principal reasons for using him as a subject in this
test” (Watson & Rayner, 1920, quoted p. 302)
• Stated goals to determine whether could condition Little Albert to be afraid of white rate,
whether fear would transfer to other objects, and if emotional responses could be removed
following acquisition
Little Albert
• Watson & Rayner used loud noises, after only two trials Albert showed fear responses, showed
fear of white rat that had not scared him previously, five days later again showed fear & burst
into tears, also showed fear transferred to cotton & seal fur coat
• Fear did not disappear over time, did not decondition or extinguish Albert’s fears, left hospital to
go home
• Watson’s student Mary Cover Jones (1924) later 1st to demonstrate possible to extinguish
conditional emotional responses
• Later critics Albert’s observed fear responses stimulated by removal of thumb from his mouth,
how unusual in psychology for study using only one subject to have achieved prominence &
notoriety
• Today accepted that people & animals can acquire fear responses through conditioning,
extinction of fears possible through behavioral theory techniques (counterconditioning &
flooding)
Watson: Applied Behaviorism
• Watson & Rayner, collaborators, eventually married, Watson already married
• Watson’s total commitment to behaviorist tenets, argued that children should be treated like
little adults and should never be kissed or hugged
• Scandal with Rayner, immediate resignation, career after Hopkins at J. Walter Thompson
advertising agency
• Used behaviorist methods bringing scientific approach to manipulation of consumer behavior
through advertising, brought earlier ideas about biological primacy of love, rage, & fear to
advertising, saw job as attempt to stimulate one of those basic impulses through advertising
• Likely Watson’s vision of Behaviorism spread more quickly though pop writings than if remained
at university
Watson’s Legacy
• After founding Behaviorism, contributed much to establishing applied psychology
• Helped move psychology away from philosophy toward biology, later in life opened conduit
between psychology & business
• Behaviorism slowly became the leading school of thought in American psychology
• Behaviorism’s appeal to nearly emerging mass markets and Watson’s late career expertise in
advertising helped him sell Behaviorism to the public
William McDougall (1871-1938): Behaviorism
• Outspoken early critic of Watson
• McDougall also called his brand of psychology, Behaviorism
• Watson Behaviorism & McDougall Behaviorism far apart in theory & practice
• Instincts major focus of McDougall
• Defined instincts “an inherited or innate psycho-physical disposition which determines its
possessor to perceive, or pay attention to, objects of a certain class, to experience an emotional
excitement of a particular quality upon perceiving such an object, and to act in regard to it in a
particular manner, or, at least, to experience an impulse to such action” (McDougall, 1926,
quoted p. 305).
McDougall: Instincts
• Not 1st to study instincts, believed previous definitions inadequate because only focused on
inborn patterns & tendencies
• Added emotion & goal directedness to earlier definitions
• Instinct always included three components
– Behavior
– Emotion
– Goal
• Both animals & humans possessed instincts, only human instincts could be modified or inhibited
by culture or habit
• Proposed seven basic instincts & associated emotions, later added mating & associated lust
emotion to list
• List p. 305
McDougal: Hereditarianism
• British, after World War I accepted chair of psychology at Harvard, never fully comfortable in
U.S.
• His hereditarianism ran counter to prevailing environmentalism 1st promoted by functional
psychology, later radicalized by Watson & Skinner
– Hereditarianism = the view that individual differences in behavior are mostly due to
innate & inherited factors
– Environmentalism = the view that individual differences in behavior are mostly due to
experience & other environmental factors
• Also a Lamarckian, conducted research attempting to demonstrate successive generations of
white rats could inherit increased abilities in discrimination tasks
• Became interested in parapsychological topics,
The Battle of Behaviorism
• Over time psychologists appreciation of views of McDougall & Watson, each grains of truth
• Before reconciliation possible, newer form of Behaviorism = Neobehaviorism took stage for four
decades
• 1924 Watson-McDougall radio debate over nature & definition of Behaviorism
– Watson wanted to rid psychology of all mentalist terms & use only objective methods,
did not deny existence of consciousness, but denied can be studied objectively
– McDougall studied behavior of animals & humans, but not willing to part with analysis
of consciousness through introspection, dualistic position
– End of debate Watson judged winner by narrow margin
Border with Philosophy
• Behaviorism sealed border long existed between psychology & philosophy
• Eventually led to another solidifying distinction between disciplines = experimentation
• Behaviorists promoted design & conduct of experiments that did not require introspective
methods, took psychology into newly founded laboratories
Behaviorism to Neobehaviorism
• McDougall “in America the tide of Behaviorism seems to flow increasingly” . . . “Dr. Watson
knows that if you wish to sell your wards, you must assert very loudly, plainly, and frequently
that they are the best on the market” (Watson & McDougall, 1929, quoted p. 307).
• Watson’s ideas narrowly won debate, quickly won hearts and minds of nearly all American
psychologists
• Neobehaviorism followed, not monolithic, practitioners agreed studying behavior objectively
was key, disagreed over other issues
• Three most prominent neobehaviorists = Edward Tolman, Clark Hull, & B. F. Skinner
• In Europe Gestalt Psychology school emerging, followers dissatisfied with structuralism & its
emphasis on mental elements, proposed radical solution disregarding elements, looking at
relationships instead
Ideas
• Behaviorism synergized classical conditioning, physiological psychology, comparative
psychology, testing, applied psychology & clinical psychology, all interested in behavior not
mental states, saw little difference in methods necessary to study human or animal behavior
• Combining classical condition with psychophysics allowed investigation of sensory capacities of
animals
• Behaviorism moved into applied areas, Little Albert demonstrated fears could be learned &
extinguished, blossomed into modern day behavioral medicine & wellness therapies
• Business took advantage of behavioral approach, research in marketing & power of advertising
• Hereditarian theories competed with environmental, debated existence, extent, & nature of
instincts
• 1st inklings of widespread technological change date from rise of radio & subsequent forms of
media created since
Summary
• By turn of 20th century, Russian psychologist’s advances in physiological psychology, Pavlov work
on conditioned reflex most important, filtered to the U.S.
• American psychology in flux as Structuralism, Functionalism, applied psychology, & animal
research vied for attention
• Behaviorism began with 1913 Watson speech, worked for advertising agencies, lectured, wrote,
& promoted applied psychology using Behaviorism
• William McDougall British behaviorist, Lamarckian, hereditarianism, emphasized role of instincts
in behavior
• Watson & McDougall debate on raid in “The Battle of Behaviorism”
• Watson’s position gradually strengthened, taken over by Neobehaviorism