The emergence of Classical Behaviorism

1. The emergence of Classical Behaviorism Its general claims Conditions of emergence intellectual, social and institutional The promise of behaviorism & rise of neobehaviorism Legacies Alan Collins, Lancaster University

2. And so? relations between characteristics of discipline & cultural milieu understanding origins of claims to be the ‘science of behavior’ … and we all study behaviour now - don’t we? So in what senses are we not behaviorists? Alan Collins, Lancaster University

3. Behaviorism became many things, it was not just a monolith Koch (1985) Classical behaviorism (1913-1930) Neobehaviorism (1930-1950) Smith (1997) Scientific knowledge and practice vs Social movement and practical expertise Alan Collins, Lancaster University

4. Classical behaviorism & its claims 1913: ‘Psychology as the behaviorist views it’ by John Broadus Watson a manifesto for a new psychology not entirely new but rhetorically powerful effects were delayed but - eventually - profound Alan Collins, Lancaster University

5. So what did it say? ‘Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness. The behaviorist, in his efforts to get a unitary scheme of animal response, recognizes no dividing line between man and brute’ (Watson, 1913, p158) Alan Collins, Lancaster University

6. Watson’s claims … Psychology ‘is’ (ought to be?) objective natural science Hallmarks: prediction and control Objects: NOT consciousness NOT uniqueness of human Alan Collins, Lancaster University

7. I do not wish unduly to criticize psychology. Ithas failed signally, I believe, during the fifty-odd years of its existence as an experimental discipline to make its place in the world as an undisputed natural science. Psychology, as itis generally thought of, has something esoteric in its methods. If you fail to reproduce my findings, it is not due to some fault in your apparatus or in the control of your stimulus, but it is due to the fact that your introspection is untrained Alan Collins, Lancaster University

8. Human psychology has failed to make good its claim as a natural science. Due to a mistaken notion that its fields of facts are conscious phenomena and that introspection is the only direct method of ascertaining these facts, it has enmeshed itself in a series of speculative questions which, while fundamental to its present tenets, are not open to experimental treatment. In the pursuit of answers to these questions, it has become further and further divorced from contact with problems which vitally concern human interest. Alan Collins, Lancaster University

9. What Watson is doing here: claim and exemplify failure … then diagnose causes wrong object … consciousness wrong method … introspection esoteric & lacks relevance to world subjective … no means of resolving disagreement Alan Collins, Lancaster University

10. Instead he wanted… Behavior as unifying object for psychology [NOT the first to claim this] Prediction and control … guiding evolution Deny mind as object of science … behavior also, more easily reduces to physico-chemical events Alan Collins, Lancaster University

11. 1878-1958 Chicago Physiologist Loeb Dewey & Angell 1908 position at Johns Hopkins Jennings, Lashley, Pavlov 1916 APA President 1920 resigned … On Watson Alan Collins, Lancaster University

12. Intellectual conditions for Watson’s manifesto • Evolutionary thought 2. Behavior already credible unifying concept for psychology 3. Existing work on behavior 4 Philosophies of positivism and pragmatism • Opponents … others?? Understanding the above more fully? Disputing the above? … reading Alan Collins, Lancaster University

13. Evolutionary thought 1859, 1871, 1872 Darwin’s major publications Hard to overestimate importance … Challenging uniqueness of ‘man’ Extending to aspects of behaviour e.g. emotion Adaptive and ‘practical’ value of behaviours … behaviours as selected ‘Laws’ of behaviour as universal Alan Collins, Lancaster University

14. Behaviour as a concept Importance of unifying concept Becomes technical term … late C19 biology Romanes 1884 ‘Mental Evolution in Animals’ 1894 ‘Lloyd Morgan’s canon’ Complex mentalistic processes should not be inferred in nonhuman species when simpler explanations - often not referring to internal states at all - will do 1906 H.S. Jennings Behavior of the Lower Organisms … shift from psychology of x to behavior of x Alan Collins, Lancaster University

15. In biology a legitimate scientific concept Into Psychology e.g. Pillsbury, 1911, began to define psychology as study of behaviour. McDougall's 1912 "Psychology: The Study of Behaviour” Also presence in writings by William James and ‘functionalists’ e.g. discussions of habit Alan Collins, Lancaster University

16. Research Pavlov (1849-1936) Two types of reflex (stimulus-reflex) unconditioned conditioned … both actions of the NS … how one relates to the other Alan Collins, Lancaster University

17. Pavlov Findings: temporal displacement of CS and UCS, extinction, generalization, discrimination, disinhibition Interactions of excitation, inhibition and temperament Mechanistic, reductionist, environmentalist Alan Collins, Lancaster University

18. H.S. Jennings (1868-1947) Biologist at Johns Hopkins when W. arrived Work on learning in animals … protozoa 1906 Behavior in Lower Organisms withdrawal from talk of ‘animal mind’ observable indicators …objective criteria Hypothetical constructs rarely needed or justifiable … ‘by 1910 his theories are almost indistinguishable from those found in Watson’s proclamation’ Logue, 1985 Alan Collins, Lancaster University

19. And others… Thorndike puzzle boxes .. learning … positive outcomes MacDougall The Study of Behaviour, 1912 … but for him essential component in understanding behavior is notion of purpose Cattell behaviour as key object of investigation for psychology Also functionalists such as Angell Alan Collins, Lancaster University

20. Positivism & Pragmatism Caution on making causal links Philosophy …. Pragmatism American … Charles Peirce & William James truth as what works … efficacy as truth meaning in what can be observed Positivism not directly drawn on by Watson but… knowledge from what can be observed/experienced Alan Collins, Lancaster University

21. And something to oppose … Wundt, Titchener: Consciousness dominated Behaviour: an alternative, unifying object of study? Alan Collins, Lancaster University

22. Recap … Evolution Behavior as a concept Growing body of work: reflexes, materialism, environmentalism, learning etc. Pragmatism & postivism Opposition …. Watson and his manifesto Alan Collins, Lancaster University

23. Further conditions Psychology in American universities Social change urbanization and adaptation (Smith, 1997) Utility of knowledge philosophical justifications/traditions social pressures Alan Collins, Lancaster University

24. Psychology in American universities • William James course on Physiological psychology at Harvard • First doctorate (Hall) • Lab at Johns Hopkins (Hall) • Psychology degree course at Harvard 1893 Research labs at 15 US universities Alan Collins, Lancaster University

25. By 1903 “psychology produced more doctorates in America than all other sciences save chemistry, zoology and physics’ O’Donnell, 1985by 1913 more American psych research papers than German and more American psychologists in Who’s WhoSo by early twentieth-century, American psychology was beginning to dominate …. A psychology that still saw consciousness as a key emtity to be explained Alan Collins, Lancaster University

26. Social change Industrialisation and urbanisation e.g. 1880: 25% of US pop in cities; 1900 40% Uprooting of values: Smith (1997): demanded adaptation and adjustment of behaviours to new circumstances … and highlighted these as important themes in modern society Alan Collins, Lancaster University

27. Utility Philosophical moral project … e.g Porter truth as judged through effects on world … - see Pragmatism (Peirce, James, Dewey) Tensions in US academia: psychology as a separate science? pure versus applied science? Alan Collins, Lancaster University

28. Examples of pressures to utility in early C20 (O’Donnell, 1985) Major figures e.g. James arguing that to prosper psy had to speak to educators, alienists, clergy etc Expansion of education between 1880-1900 education as a cure for social ills idea of a pedagogical science APA … principled interventions rise of psychometrics Retaining public and financial support Alan Collins, Lancaster University

29. Returning to Watson & behaviorism Emergence Existing object: behaviour Existing method: experiment Alternative to ‘failing’ approaches to psychology & their objects: consciousness, introspection Pressures to utility aims of science as prediction and control And…? E.g. rhetorical force of Watson’s writings, crises and disputes over introspection & consciousness (e.g. imageless thought) Alan Collins, Lancaster University

30. And what happened to classical behaviorism? Delay in take-up (Samelson, 1981) By 1920s-30s dominating American academic psychology … but not a ‘monoculture’ Transformation into neobehaviorism Tolman, Hull, Skinner Alan Collins, Lancaster University

31. Three important conclusions… Smith (1997) on Watson: Watson’s “criticism of psychology’s failure as a science was inseparable from his aspiration for it as a human technology” (p. 653) Danziger (1997) “Behaviorism had been revolutionary in the sense that, although it had sprung out of a discourse about the place of mind in nature, it had transformed that discourse into one about the control of human conduct.” (p. 101) Psychology: knowledge of universal aspects of human nature better world through the control of individual development … Alan Collins, Lancaster University