History of Psychology - Session 5: Behaviorism PDF

History of Psychology Session 5: Behaviorism Rui Mata, Center for Cognitive and Decision Sciences October 21, 2024 Learning Objectives for Today Identify key researchers and ideas espoused by the behaviorist school in psychology Discuss the origins and main principles of classic and...

History of Psychology Session 5: Behaviorism Rui Mata, Center for Cognitive and Decision Sciences October 21, 2024 Learning Objectives for Today Identify key researchers and ideas espoused by the behaviorist school in psychology Discuss the origins and main principles of classic and operant conditioning Discuss impact and reach in both theoretical and applied psychology 3 Behaviorism: Watson – 1878 Birth Troubled youth (arrested twice) – Studies Philosophy studied under John Dewey (functionalist) – 1902 Doctoral Degree (24-years of age) on Animal Education: An Experimental Study on the Psychical Development of the White Rat, Correlated with the Growth of its Nervous System – 1908 Professor of Psychology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore – 1910 Editor of Psychological Review (after James Baldwin) – 1915 President of the APA – Psychodiagnostics during the First World War John B. Watson – 1920 Divorce and ring from Johns Hopkins Uni. due to affair (1878-1958) with Rosalie Rayner (a graduate student, cf. Watson & Rayner, 1920) – until 1945 work in advertisement – 1958 Death 4 fi Behaviorism Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20, 158-177. 5 Behaviorism: Theses and Methods Watson, J. B. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20, 158-177. 6 “Watson’s behaviourism was a very understandable reaction, and it had some methodological advantages—like so many theories which deny what they cannot explain. As a philosophical thesis it was clearly wrong, even though irrefutable.” Pooper, K. (1992/2002). Unended quest. Routdledge: NY. 7  Behaviorism: Methods Classical conditioning occurs when a conditioned stimulus (CS) which was previously neutral is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US) that has some valence/value. In the canonical Pavlovian experiment, the conditioned stimulus is a neutral stimulus (e.g., the sound of a tuning fork), the unconditioned stimulus is biologically potent (e.g., the taste of food) and the unconditioned response (UR) to the unconditioned stimulus is an unlearned re ex response (e.g., salivation). Yerkes and Morgulis (1909) introduced Ivan Pavlov’s experiments on “conditioned re ex” to the English-speaking community, after he had won the Nobel prize in Medicine "in recognition of his work on the physiology of digestion, through which knowledge on vital aspects of the subject has been transformed and enlarged" Goodwin R. (1991). Misportraying Pavlov's apparatus. American Journal of Psychology, 104(1), 135-141. 8 fl fl Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3(1), 1-14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hBfnXACsOI 9 Behaviorism: Methods Case study (single participant, Albert, 9-11 months) Method – Pavlovian (classical) conditioning: neutral stimulus (e.g., white rat) gains negative connotation through association with loud noise (unconditioned stimulus), and this later generalises to different stimuli (e.g., white beard) Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3(1), 1-14. 10 Behaviorism: Methods Watson, J. B., & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3(1), 1-14. 11  Behaviorism: Methods Law of e ect Edward Thorndike, american psychologist conducted research on animal learning using puzzle boxes, that is, apparatuses in which trapped animals could press or pull levers to escape. In 1905, Thorndike proposed the law of effect that states that “responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_effect 12 ff  The Schools: Networking Psychological Review “This study investigated the intellectual structure of early American psychology by generating 3 networks that collectively included every substantive article published in Psychological Review during the 15-year period from the journal’s start in 1894 until 1908. The networks were laid out so that articles with strongly correlated vocabularies were positioned close to each other spatially. Then, we identi ed distinct research communities by locating and interpreting article clusters within the networks. We found that, from the rst 5-year time block to the second, psychological specialties rapidly differentiated themselves from each other. Between the second and third 5-year time blocks, however, the number of specialties shrunk. We discuss the degree to which this shift may have been attributable either to a change in the journal’s editorship in 1904, or to a broader crisis of con dence, beginning that same year, in the use of “consciousness” as the discipline’s de ning concept.” Green, C. D., Feinerer, I., & Burman, J. T. (2015). Searching for the structure of early American psychology: Networking Psychological Review, 1894–1908. History of Psychology, 18(1), 15–31. http://doi.org/10.1037/ a0038406 This study continues a previous investigation of the intellectual structure of early American psychology by presenting and analyzing 3 networks that collectively include every substantive article published in Psychological Review during the 15-year period from 1909 to 1923. (…) We found that the Psychological Review was in some turmoil during this period compared with its rst 15 years attributable, rst, to Baldwin’s unexpected departure in 1910; second, to the pressures placed on the discipline by United States entry into World War I; and, third, to the emergence of specialty psychology journals catering to research communities that had once published in the Review. The journal emerged from these challenges, however, with a better-de ned mission: to serve as the chief repository of theoretical psychology in the United States. Green, C. D., Feinerer, I., & Burman, J. T. (2015). Searching for the structure of early American psychology: Networking Psychological Review, 1909–1923. History of Psychology, 18(2), 196–204. http://doi.org/10.1037/ 13 a0039013 fi fi fi fi fi fi fi Psychological Review: 1894-1898 the network does not seem to convey a simple opposition of structuralism vs. functionalism but rather consists of several clusters 14 Psychological Review: 1899-1903 more clusters - psych develops! 15 Psychological Review: 1904-1908 The Baldwin show… Cattell sells his share of Psych Rev to Baldwin in 1904. 16  Baldwin is arrested at a brothel in Psychological Review: 1909-1913 1908 and leaves the USA, John Watson becomes sole editor in 1910. 17  Watson’s behaviorism progressively Psychological Review: 1914-1918 takes over Psych Review (and psychology!) 18  Watson’s behaviorism still on the rise Psychological Review: 1919-1923 while Psych Rev becomes the “chief repository of theoretical psychology” 19  Behaviorism: Clark Hull Clark Hull 1943 (1884-1952) The goal of “Principles of behavior” was quanti cation and formalisation of experimental results that became ever more multi-factorial; this spirit is embodied in one of the formulas that Hull proposed to characterise behavioural responses: SER = SHR × D × V × K SER: excitatory potential (likelihood that the organism would produce response r to stimulus s) SHR: habit strength (derived from previous conditioning trials), D: is drive strength (determined by, e.g., hours of deprivation of food, water, etc.) V: stimulus intensity dynamism (some stimuli will have greater in uences than others) K: incentive (how appealing the result of the action is). 20 fi fl Behaviorism: Skinner – 1904 Birth – 1928 Studies Psychology (Harvard University, Boston) – 1931 Dissertation from Harvard University, The concept of re ex in the description of behaviour – 1936 Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota – 1946 Chair of the Psychology Dept. at Indiana University – 1948 Professor of Psychology at Harvard University – 1974 Retirement – 1990 Death Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) 21 fl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtfQlkGwE2U 22  Behaviorism: Theses/Principles Behaviorism and the study of classic and operant conditioning dominated the analysis of animal and human behaviour for a large period of the 20th century… Classical conditioning A learning process in which an existing (e.g., innate) response to a potent stimulus comes to be elicited in response to a previously neutral stimulus, achieved by repeated pairings of the neutral stimulus with the potent stimulus. For example, the dog will salivate to a bell that has been repeatedly paired with feeding in the past - think of Ivan Pavlov’s dog! Operant conditioning Learning process in which behavior is sensitive to, or controlled by its consequences. For example, a dog will learn to do a trick if it gets a treat afterwards, or not to sit on the couch if punished - think of Edward Thorndike’s puzzle boxes and B.F. Skinner’s tokens! 23 Behaviorism: Impact https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-d6jypCsUw 24  Behaviorism: Impact A novel in which Skinner suggests how principles of behaviorism can be used to shape societies, using as an example the ctive small and self- suf cient community, Walden Two (a reference to Henry Thoreau’s Walden, 1854). 1948 25 fi fi Behaviorism: Impact Korn, J. H., Davis, R., & Davis, S. F. (1991). Historians’ and chairpersons’ judgments of eminence among psychologists. American Psychologist, 46(7), 789–792. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.46.7.789 26 Joseph Wolpe South African psychiatrist and in uential gure in behavior therapy. Systematic desensitization a technique to help people effectively overcome phobias and other anxiety disorders based on principles of classical conditioning; a person is exposed to a stimulus at a low level, and once no negative reaction is present a stronger version of the negative stimulus is given. 1915-1997 Rachman, S. (2000). Joseph Wolpe (1915–1997). The American Psychologist, 55(4), 431 -432 27 fl fi Behaviorism: Fall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-d6jypCsUw 28  Summary Behaviorism: rejection of consciousness as the object of psychology; focus on learning as opposed to instinct as the source of adaptation; rejection of introspection (even under experimental control) as acceptable methodology, instead focus on observable outcomes (behavior); emphasis on experimental control and methodological rigour Watson: focus on classical conditioning; little Albert as a marketing tool for classical conditioning and against psychoanalysis Hull: focus on quanti cation and a mathematical description of learning that includes multiple factors, spanning states of the organism (drive), stimuli characteristics, and reinforcement history Skinner: focus on operant conditioning; comparison of reinforcement and punishment, ends favouring the former; effort to establish behaviourism as a comprehensive theory of behaviour; interest in applications, ranging from animal applications (killer pigeons) to societal design (token economies; Walden II) Impact: spread and impact of behaviourism was enormous; behaviourists took over outlets (e.g., Psychological Review), associations (e.g., APA), and departments (e.g., Harvard) 29 fi