Psychology Research Paper 2022

Running Head: PSYCHOLOGY 1
Psychology
Name:
Institution

PSYCHOLOGY 2
Question 1.
Introduction
Behavioral psychology or behaviorism, is a learning theory that intimate behaviors are
established through conditioning. This means that behaviors are a result of interactions with the
environment, through which the stimuli in the environment shape the action of an individual.
This theory proposes that behavior can be studied in an observable and systematic manner
irrespective of the internal mental state of a person. Behaviorism also proposes that unobservable
traits such as emotions, moods, and cognitions are subjective and only observable behavior
should be considered. According to proponents of behavioral psychology, through the right
conditioning, any individual can potentially be conditioned to engage in any task irrespective of
his internal thoughts, personality traits, or genetic background. Among the notable proponent of
this school of though is John Broadus Watson also considered as the father of behavioral
psychology. J.B. Watson formally published a paper on behaviorisms in 1913, known as
“Psychology as the Behaviorist views it.” From the paper, J.B. Watson believes that all human
behavior is a result of personal experience. In this, any person can be conditioned to act in any
particular way with the right incentives. This field of psychology grew tremendously between
1920 to 1950s as a result of psychologists' efforts to establish psychology as an observable and
quantifiable science. This included making contributions and theories that tried to analyze human
behavior.
J.B. Watson's contribution to behavioral psychology is captured in the behaviorism
manifesto that he published in the year 1913, entitled, “Psychology as the Behaviorist views it.”
This paper outlined behavioral psychology as an objective science that based its theories and

PSYCHOLOGY 3
findings on experiments and research that relied purely on data that can be observed (Ertmer &
Newby, 2013). Watson explained that earlier psychological perspectives such as the
psychoanalytical theory by Sigmund Freud had failed in the quest of making psychology a
natural science due to its focus on unobservable attributes and consciousness. Watson viewed
this studied to be highly subjective with no scientific backing. He believed that psychologists
should concern themselves with observable traits rather than unseen inner workings of the mind.
In response to these introspections, Watson together with other psychologists saw the need to
formulate theories that relied on laboratory studies, as an effective way of academic learning.
Watson introduced the world to the work of radical psychologists that followed after him, such
as Skinner.
Watson’s application of his behavioral psychology model was in many aspects of human
behavior including memory and language. He viewed language as a manipulative habit, which
was a result of human being able to interfere with sounds by using the larynx. In this sense,
Watson established that language, like other behavior, is taught (conditioned) through
observation and imitation (Galef, 2015). He ascertained that humans can relate certain sounds
and words with various objects, situations, and shapes. Following this, Watson further explained
that just as people were able to associate various sounds with objects and situations, they too
could associate behaviors and feelings with objects and situations this formed the basis for
Watson’s theory, that people could learn, unlearn or relearn lessons (Moore, 2013). The hallmark
of the Watson study was on emotion, and he based his studies on how to learn emotions.
According to him, emotions were just mere responses to external stimuli.
One of the major contributions by Watson in explaining conditioning and behavioral
psychology was captured in the experiment “little Albert” that he did with his wife Rosalie