Psychology Assignment: Watson's Behaviorism vs. Insight Learning

This psychology assignment delves into the realm of behaviorism, examining its core principles and the significant contributions of John B. Watson. The essay begins with an introduction to behaviorism, explaining how behaviors are shaped through conditioning and interactions with the environment. It then highlights Watson's key contributions, including his behaviorism manifesto, his views on language and emotion, and the famous "Little Albert" experiment. The assignment further explores insight learning and trial-and-error learning, contrasting these two approaches through experiments conducted by Kohler and Thorndike respectively. The essay analyzes the differences between these learning methods, discussing the role of the subject, the nature of the response, and the implications for modern learning. The analysis also considers how these learning theories differ in the role of practice and the long-term retention of learned skills, as well as the ethical considerations of Watson's experiments, providing a comprehensive overview of behaviorism and learning theories in psychology.

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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

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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

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Rayner ("John B. Watson (1878–1958) - Popularizing Behaviorism, The Little Albert Study, The
"Dozen Healthy Infants", Life after the University", 2019). This experiment was quite similar to
the one performed by Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov on dogs by conditioning food to the
sound of the bell. From this experiment, Pavlov worked on the condition that dogs salivated at
the sight of food. He would ring a bell immediately before giving the dog food and it was later
observed that the sound of the bell alone leads to salivation of the dogs. Based on this
experiment, Watson was interested in taking the research of Pavlov further to ascertain that
reactions based on emotions can similarly be conditioned in humans. In this experiment, Watson
introduced loud noises as a stimuli to condition to fear white rats, monkey masks and rabbits that
initially the baby was not afraid of ("John Broadus Watson", 2019). He paired the white rat by a
loud bang and this elicited fear in the baby. Watson similarly explained that the fear could also
be unlearned through continuous exposure to the stimuli that elicited fear and learning of new
interactions between the stimuli.
Watson additionally pioneered critical observation and experimental research on infants
and newborns. His research was mostly about distinguishing learned and unlearned behavior. His
observations distinguished that crying, sneezing, urinating, defecation, blinking, grasping, and
eye movements were unlearned, while crawling, producing sound and handedness were learned
(Plaud, 1991). He additionally traced the beginning of sounds to three ser of stimuli that were
fear, rage, and love. These he quantified as viscera habits. He encouraged parents to approach
child-rearing by adjusting the individual needs of the baby to the needs of society.

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Conclusion
Watson contributed immensely to the understanding of various behaviors and the
environmental stimuli that condition human behavior. Many therapists in modern times utilize
the concept and contribution of John B. Watson to the field of behavioral psychology. His
contribution additionally gave psychological the natural science title, with the ability to carry out
controlled laboratory testing on observable traits as opposed to the introspect method of Sigmund
Freud Psychoanalysis. Many therapists still apply the principle of conditioning and learning that
were popularized by John B. Watson and Ivan Pavlov. However, there are divergent views that
ascertain Watson’s theory underestimated the critical importance of cognition and thought. The
“little Albert” experiment has additionally been faulted on an ethical basis, as there was no
indication of the re-conditioning of the child to remove the instill fear of white rats. However,
Watson's behaviorism has played a critical role in advancing child psychology and socialization
processes.
Question 2.
Introduction
Insight learning and trial by error learning are two major theories that explain what takes
place in the learning process. The two theories differ in the form they take, with insight learning
relying on the cognitive process while trial and error are based on the behavioral aspect of
conditioning through stimuli and response, thus the s-r paradigm framework. Insight learning is a
Gestalt theory that explains the whole is important than bits and parts. Insight learning
establishes that learning takes place as a whole as proposed by its proponent, German
psychologist Wolfgang Kohler ("Insight learning - Psychology", 2019). It is based on the

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premise that learning occurs through sudden grasping of the solution without the trial and error
processes. Edward Lee Thorndike was the proponent of the trial-and -error theory of learning. He
stated that there is a connection that is formed in the nervous system between a stimulus and a
response. According to this, learning occurs through trial and error, where there is no existing
solution available for the learner. The learner, therefore, tries one method, and if it does not help
him, he rejects it and tries another method. In this way, the learner is on the course for a correct
solution.
Kohler’s insight learning was based on analyzed through an experiment with Sultan the
chimpanzee. He placed a hungry sultan in a cage and out a banana out of the reach of the cage.
He then presented sultan with two sticks one shorter one and the other a bit long. Sultan was to
use the sticks to reach for the banana. However, both of the sticks were not long enough to reach
for the banana independently, and they needed to be co-joined ("Theory of Learning by Insight |
Psychology", 2019). Sultan tried using both of these sticks to reach for the banana to no avail.
Eventually, Sultan was able to join the stick and through this, he reached for the banana. The
chimpanzee was never taught or conditioned to reach to join the sticks. It seems that the
chimpanzee did this on its own through an epiphany. This is a form of an example of learning
through insight.
Thorndike, on the other hand, used a cat placed in a puzzle box as an experiment for the
trial-and -error method of learning. A hungry cat was placed inside a puzzle box and fish was
placed outside as an incentive. The cat was required to open the door of the puzzle box and reach
for the fish. The door of the cage was made in a way that that could open it by pulling down a
lever ("Trial-and-Error Learning TheoryOscar Education", 2019). The cat made a lot of attempts
in opening the door such as scratching the cage, jumping up and down, trying to push the bars,

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and shaking parts of the cage box in a classic trial and error fashion. All these attempts failed to
enable the cat to reach for the fish placed outside of the cage. However, the paw of the cat fell by
chance on the latch and the door opened and the cat reached out for the fish. The second time the
cat was put inside the cage, she took less time in opening the cage and this decreased even
further in subsequent trials until it reached a point when the cat came immediately out as soon as
it was placed inside the box, without further errors in trying to come out.
Sultan, in Kohler’s experiment, can perceive the relationship between various aspects in a
stimulus situation, establishing a connection between one stimulus and other, to form a core and
insightful learning while the cat in the trial and error experiment by Thorndike, learns to connect
a stimulus with a potentially rewarding outcome. This form of learning is based on the stimulus
and reward/response connection, known as S-R. learning through trial and error is gradual, as the
cat in the puzzle box takes several steps before reaching the correct response. On the other hand,
learning by insight is spontaneous, with the subject moving from a state of no solution quickly to
a solution state ("Kohler and Insight Learning", 2019). Additionally, Thorndike’s trial and error
show that the cat is responding to a very specific stimulus while not attending the entire stimulus
field, while in the insight learning, there is the perception of the whole, whereby in this instance,
the chimpanzee had to form a relationship between various stimuli present.in trial and error, the
form of response is known as molecular, while for insightful learning is molar ("Thorndike’s
Trial and Error Theory | Learning | Psychology", 2019). The most important factor in trial and
error in carrying out practice and constant repetition before achieving an insightful solution. This
form of learning in modern life is used in obtaining practical skills such as physical and motor
skills. Insightful learning, on the other hand, is mostly used in cognitive and verbal learning.

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These two methods of learning also differ in the role the subject plays in the learning
situation. For example, the animals that are in the lower level of the phylogenic scale acquire
learning through trial and error as they rely upon mechanical and passive forms for learning. This
includes random blind activities and the solution is reached only by chance. In insightful
learning, the subject observes, survey and inspects the situation critically and participate actively
in the learning process. This is done in animals of higher phylogenic orders such as humans and
chimpanzees.
Conclusion
Both of these learning methods, differ with the strength of learning and the process
involved. The trial and error form of learning is largely temporary and highly dependent on
practice, and it weakens when this practice is discontinued. Insightful form of learning is long-
term and the new skill acquired is not easily forgotten, even in the absence of practice.
Additionally, from the foregone, it can be established that trial and error method can be
characterized with a poor transfer of the acquired skills, while insightful learning can easily
transfer the skills since it is based on the cognitive and mental process that can relate a situation
with another and apply the appropriate stimuli response.

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References
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (2013). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing
critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance improvement
quarterly, 26(2), 43-71.
Galef, B. G. (2015). Laboratory studies of imitation/field studies of tradition: Towards a
synthesis in animal social learning. Behavioural processes, 112, 114-119.
Insight learning - Psychology. (2019). Retrieved 1 October 2019, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGQBbRqdaVM
John B. Watson (1878–1958) - Popularizing Behaviorism, The Little Albert Study, The "Dozen
Healthy Infants", Life after the University. (2019). Retrieved 1 October 2019, from
https://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2543/Watson-John-B-1878-1958.html
Kohler and Insight Learning. (2019). Retrieved 1 October 2019, from http://oer2go.org/mods/en-
boundless/www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/
learning-7/cognitive-approaches-to-learning-48/kohler-and-insight-learning-201-12736/
index.html
Moore, J. (2013). Three views of behaviorism. The Psychological Record, 63(3), 681-691.
Plaud, J. (1991). Oil on the troubled waves: John Broadus Watson and the ways of
behaviorism. Current Psychology, 10(4), 305-310. doi: 10.1007/bf02686903
Theory of Learning by Insight | Psychology. (2019). Retrieved 1 October 2019, from
http://www.psychologydiscussion.net/learning/learning-theory/theory-of-learning-by-
insight-psychology/2513

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Thorndike’s Trial and Error Theory | Learning | Psychology. (2019). Retrieved 1 October 2019,
from http://www.psychologydiscussion.net/learning/learning-theory/thorndikes-trial-and-
error-theory-learning-psychology/13469
Trial-and-Error Learning TheoryOscar Education. (2019). Retrieved 1 October 2019, from
https://oscareducation.blogspot.com/2013/01/trial-and-error-learning-theory.html
Trial-and-Error Learning TheoryOscar Education. (2019). Retrieved 1 October 2019, from
https://oscareducation.blogspot.com/2013/01/trial-and-error-learning-theory.html