Five Schools of Behaviorism

Study Notes

Five Schools of Behaviorism

Watson's Methodological Behaviorism:
- Excludes internal events (thoughts, feelings) from study.
- Focuses only on observable behaviors.
- Behavior is a response to a stimulus (S-R theory).
- Complex behaviors are chains of S-R connections.
- Watson's famous quote: "Give me a dozen healthy infants..." highlights a belief in environmental molding, implying that any individual can be trained to follow a specific trajectory.
- Allowed psychology to break free from mentalism.
- Findings helped further movements against racism.
Hull's Neobehaviorism:
- Includes intervening variables (internal physiological processes) between environment and behavior.
- Usually physiological (e.g., hunger).
- Drive-reduction theory.
- Uses intervening variables to understand the relationship between environment and behavior.
Tolman's Cognitive Behaviorism:
- More holistic approach, not just a series of S-R connections.
- Importance of intervening variables like motivation, expectation, which can only be inferred.
- Introduced cognitive maps.
- Demonstrated latent learning.
- Examined learning versus performance.
Bandura's Social Learning Theory:
- Emphasizes observational learning and cognitive variables.
- More holistic approach.
- Highlights difference between learning and performance.
- Introduces the idea of reciprocal determinism – a reciprocal influence among observable behaviors, environment, and internal events (thoughts, feelings).
- Recognizes self-referent thoughts and accomplishments important for learning.
Skinner's Radical Behaviorism:
- Return to a stricter form of behaviorism (emphasizing only observable behaviors).
- Internal events are behaviors subject to the same learning laws as overt behaviors.
- Environmental factors are the primary determinants of behavior.
- Environmental changes can produce behavioral changes.
- Recognizes that internal events might exist but they are unreliable since their order (pain, etc.) is not clear for establishing cause-effect relations.
- Focuses on operant behaviors, reinforcement.
- Reinforcement is the primary driver of behavior change.
- Unlike Tolman, Skinner did not consider intervening variables like "expectation of reinforcment".