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Behaviorism. A non mentalistic view of Psychology. The main players:. Ivan Petrovitch Pavlov (1849-1936) John Broadus Watson (1878-1956) B.F. Skinner (1904-1990). Who influenced Pavlov?. The physiological work of William Beaumont (1785-1853)
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Behaviorism A non mentalistic view of Psychology
The main players: • Ivan Petrovitch Pavlov(1849-1936) • John Broadus Watson (1878-1956) • B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)
Who influenced Pavlov? • The physiological work of William Beaumont (1785-1853) • An expanded concept of reflex to explain higher functions of thinking, willing, judging -pioneered bySechenov (1829-1905) • The ideas of Descartes (1596-1650) about reflexes
Pavlov’s work: • Work on the digestive system. Nobel price in 1904 • Notices “mental secretions” -anticipated responses of the animals becoming familiar to the setting. • Studied these “mental secretions” -they become what we know as “conditioned reflex”.
Important conceptsPavlov brought us • The whole notion of conditioned reflex • Concepts of generalization, differentiation, excitation, inhibition, higher level conditioning • Concept of experimental neurosis
Pavlov today? • Visit the Pavlov Institute of Physiology in Russia
Who influenced Watson? • Reacts against Wundt and James -and their followers such as John Dewey • Infuenced by Loeb (tropisms) and Henry Donaldson (white rat neurology) -studied the myelinization of white rat nervous system & consequent changes in the complexity of their behavior. • Pavlov
Watson’s main contributions • Official founder of behaviorism as an independent and valid approach to psychology • Is a radical behaviorist • Introduces the notion of conditioned emotional response (little Albert) • Three emotions: fear, rage, love -all emotional life built on those • Applies this to advertising
B. F. SkinnerWho influenced him? • Bertrand Russel’s (a British philosopher) discussion of J. B. Watson’s book on behaviorism. (Then, Watson himself) • H.G. Wells article on G. Bernard Shaw and Pavlov (Then Pavlov himself)
What were Skinner’s main contributions? • Developed the Skinner box as a way to study operant behavior. • Important concepts: operant conditioning, reinforcement, contingencies of reinforcement, reinforcement schedules, discrimination learning, programmed instruction. • Developed the social implications of his theory.
A Skinner pageby undergraduate students • http://www.wabash.edu/depart/psych/Courses/Psych97A/STUDENT%20PROJECTS/Skinner/hammondk/