Now the psychology is one of the most popular and demanded branches of science. The behaviorism, studying behavior of animals and the person is distinguished from its main directions.
What is behaviorism
The behaviorism is the direction of psychological science as which main subject objectively fixed characteristics of behavior act. The behavior, in turn, acts as set of reactions to any external influences. Other popular directions, such as humanistic or descriptive psychology, pay attention only to the subjective parties of mentality of the individual.
Reactions which can be designated by a symbol R act as unit of the analysis of behavior. Reactions act as the investigation of certain incentives – S. The main method of the research S and R is the experiment.
Predecessor of behaviorism
Watson as he created harmonious methodology of behaviorism is considered the founder of this branch of psychological science, having united results of work of many scientists. But the first significant works in this area appeared thanks to Eduard Li Torndayk (1874-1949). He the first began to make experiments on animals, trying to study objective manifestations of their behavior. His experimental were cats, monkeys and rats.
The invention of a method of a problem box became its main achievement: the animal was located in the closed cage in which there was a mechanism opening a door. Everyone experimental found a way out independently sooner or later, and further with success used the received result.
Thanks to these researches Torndayk formulated fundamental laws of behaviorism:
- the law of exercise (behavioural reactions depend on frequency and time of repetitions);
- the law of effect (the strongest is the communication of S and R causing satisfaction of requirements);
- the law of associative shift (at simultaneous presentation of two S if one of S satisfies requirement – the second begins to stimulate the same reaction).
Founder of the bikhevioristichesky direction
In 1913 John Bordeo Watson (1878-1958) provides theoretical aspects of the new psychological direction in article "Psychology from the point of view of the Behaviourist". He criticizes psychology for her subjectivity and uselessness in practice and claims that it is necessary to refuse flatly subjective methods of study. According to Watson, it is objectively possible to study only behavior as set of reactions to irritants from the environment.
The scientist considered that the main task of psychology is to find S which cause reactions necessary for us. This situation shows his point of view on unlimited opportunities of education. Besides, he considered that acquisition of skill in a classical look, without science, is an uncontrollable process which always consists of a number of tests and mistakes.