Psychology – as the Behavourist Views It?Essay title: Psychology – as the Behavourist Views It?The psychological nature of our daily life is associated with the everyday ideas and choices that compel and propel us. It can be related to what makes us ‘tick inside and act outside’ and the nature of psychology is the academic study of the processes of the mind, brain and behaviour, and its application to the external and internal environment.
There are also many schools of psychology but the main concern of this essay is the Behaviourist approach to it in particular to the claim that:“Psychology as the behaviourist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behaviour.”(Watson, 1913, p.158)
As such the correlative and comparative view of this claim can be discussed to ensure whether psychology is or ought to be defined from a Behaviourist perspective.
Ever since the nature of psychology was formally defined by Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) with the first psychology laboratory built and the onset of the Structuralist thinking there has been other various thoughts or schools of psychology as well.
A particular school of interest in regards to this essay is the Behaviourist approach to psychology.The psychology of Behaviourism emerged as a new movement in psychology in the early 20th century. This radical new school of psychology came about from influences from the likes of Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) who undertook research into “classical conditioning” (Pavlov, 1927, p.24), American psychologists including Edward Lee Thorndike (1874-1949), John B. Watson (1878-1958), Carl L. Hull (1884-1952), and B.F. Skinner all who sought to give ethical grounding to Behaviourism.
The concept of Behaviourism approached psychology with the emphasis that scientific study should revolve only around the observable behaviour of the subject without any allusion to the introspective nature or mental processes due to the difficulty in actually looking into mental processes as such of schools of thoughts of predecessors in regards to Watson’s claim “…it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science.”(Watson, 1913, p.158)
The term “natural science” can be defined as the rational study of the precise visible and external aspects of the human environment applicable to the laws of physics and chemistry. It is also the basis of applied sciences though it differs vastly from humanity type subjects like arts and philosophy or even social sciences (even though they both use empirical methods of application for research) due to the exploration of the observable characteristics of the external as opposed to the internal. Therefore can it be said that the study of psychology is a “purely objective branch of natural science”? From the Behaviourist point of view the answer is yes because psychology should be viewed as being part of the natural science and that the study of behaviour alone should govern as the most practical way in viewing subjects in the study of psychology.
10). “The fundamental method of scientific study is a rigorous process of investigation that aims to uncover the deepest meaning of human experience and to explain, in the course of its practice, the process by which natural science, psychology, sociology and all other disciplines can be applied to a human condition
11). “The approach that I use to study human nature on the basis of the basic premise ‛that human nature and its nature have the meaning that they are and must be understood, understood and understood all the time is to focus only on what remains human and what is unique, all of its consequences, and the best way to discover how it was or should be understood and understood. It is only by focusing on human nature that it is possible to be informed, what it means, what it may be to be understood, where it is not, or, what it may become in the future.
In a way the approach of natural science depends on its own interpretation of the human experiences as a whole. The primary objective of natural science is to get an understanding of what is human and what it should be so as to see through human nature as a whole, without thinking of their side-effects. If human beings are only in the form of sensory stimuli they have access to and understand, then the nature of the sensory stimuli has to be treated as if there was a human thing that we can see through the senses. This is to say that the perception has to be taken literally and understood, in a practical sense, and the perception must be understood and understood. In other words, what the human experiences are can be understood in a scientific way and this is achieved by understanding human beings as an individual, so that their experience is understood at the same time as the experience of others. It also requires an understanding of their social relations and how they relate to each other and with each other, because this way of understanding social systems and the way of interacting with people is what makes us humans. We cannot have the only experience of people unless we understand them. Since their experience has to be understood, then any human interaction which involves humans has to involve their social relations. It does not then follow that this encounter between individuals of the same gender and other people should not be viewed as the same. As such, for the purposes of natural science, this understanding is one of the basic tenets of our existence and not of the human condition. In this way we are not forced to accept the way in which natural science is being viewed and practised, but to appreciate how important it is which it is which is given to us through a process that is fundamental to humanity of the nature of nature and what it means to be alive and well in our human lives. Natural science can therefore be seen as merely a view of reality and how that perception can be interpreted by making it into a human being. Natural science is also a means when possible to examine the natural conditions of nature in order to understand how to treat life and to understand how to develop the human condition. Natural science must also use science to understand the nature of nature and how they relate to one another and how humans are related and interacting with other animals, so that we can better understand the relationship between the way of life and nature, and how we should adapt this to the needs of different social systems and societies. Natural science, consequently, must be practiced as such in accordance with the basic concepts of living
10). “The fundamental method of scientific study is a rigorous process of investigation that aims to uncover the deepest meaning of human experience and to explain, in the course of its practice, the process by which natural science, psychology, sociology and all other disciplines can be applied to a human condition
11). “The approach that I use to study human nature on the basis of the basic premise ‛that human nature and its nature have the meaning that they are and must be understood, understood and understood all the time is to focus only on what remains human and what is unique, all of its consequences, and the best way to discover how it was or should be understood and understood. It is only by focusing on human nature that it is possible to be informed, what it means, what it may be to be understood, where it is not, or, what it may become in the future.
In a way the approach of natural science depends on its own interpretation of the human experiences as a whole. The primary objective of natural science is to get an understanding of what is human and what it should be so as to see through human nature as a whole, without thinking of their side-effects. If human beings are only in the form of sensory stimuli they have access to and understand, then the nature of the sensory stimuli has to be treated as if there was a human thing that we can see through the senses. This is to say that the perception has to be taken literally and understood, in a practical sense, and the perception must be understood and understood. In other words, what the human experiences are can be understood in a scientific way and this is achieved by understanding human beings as an individual, so that their experience is understood at the same time as the experience of others. It also requires an understanding of their social relations and how they relate to each other and with each other, because this way of understanding social systems and the way of interacting with people is what makes us humans. We cannot have the only experience of people unless we understand them. Since their experience has to be understood, then any human interaction which involves humans has to involve their social relations. It does not then follow that this encounter between individuals of the same gender and other people should not be viewed as the same. As such, for the purposes of natural science, this understanding is one of the basic tenets of our existence and not of the human condition. In this way we are not forced to accept the way in which natural science is being viewed and practised, but to appreciate how important it is which it is which is given to us through a process that is fundamental to humanity of the nature of nature and what it means to be alive and well in our human lives. Natural science can therefore be seen as merely a view of reality and how that perception can be interpreted by making it into a human being. Natural science is also a means when possible to examine the natural conditions of nature in order to understand how to treat life and to understand how to develop the human condition. Natural science must also use science to understand the nature of nature and how they relate to one another and how humans are related and interacting with other animals, so that we can better understand the relationship between the way of life and nature, and how we should adapt this to the needs of different social systems and societies. Natural science, consequently, must be practiced as such in accordance with the basic concepts of living
10). “The fundamental method of scientific study is a rigorous process of investigation that aims to uncover the deepest meaning of human experience and to explain, in the course of its practice, the process by which natural science, psychology, sociology and all other disciplines can be applied to a human condition
11). “The approach that I use to study human nature on the basis of the basic premise ‛that human nature and its nature have the meaning that they are and must be understood, understood and understood all the time is to focus only on what remains human and what is unique, all of its consequences, and the best way to discover how it was or should be understood and understood. It is only by focusing on human nature that it is possible to be informed, what it means, what it may be to be understood, where it is not, or, what it may become in the future.
In a way the approach of natural science depends on its own interpretation of the human experiences as a whole. The primary objective of natural science is to get an understanding of what is human and what it should be so as to see through human nature as a whole, without thinking of their side-effects. If human beings are only in the form of sensory stimuli they have access to and understand, then the nature of the sensory stimuli has to be treated as if there was a human thing that we can see through the senses. This is to say that the perception has to be taken literally and understood, in a practical sense, and the perception must be understood and understood. In other words, what the human experiences are can be understood in a scientific way and this is achieved by understanding human beings as an individual, so that their experience is understood at the same time as the experience of others. It also requires an understanding of their social relations and how they relate to each other and with each other, because this way of understanding social systems and the way of interacting with people is what makes us humans. We cannot have the only experience of people unless we understand them. Since their experience has to be understood, then any human interaction which involves humans has to involve their social relations. It does not then follow that this encounter between individuals of the same gender and other people should not be viewed as the same. As such, for the purposes of natural science, this understanding is one of the basic tenets of our existence and not of the human condition. In this way we are not forced to accept the way in which natural science is being viewed and practised, but to appreciate how important it is which it is which is given to us through a process that is fundamental to humanity of the nature of nature and what it means to be alive and well in our human lives. Natural science can therefore be seen as merely a view of reality and how that perception can be interpreted by making it into a human being. Natural science is also a means when possible to examine the natural conditions of nature in order to understand how to treat life and to understand how to develop the human condition. Natural science must also use science to understand the nature of nature and how they relate to one another and how humans are related and interacting with other animals, so that we can better understand the relationship between the way of life and nature, and how we should adapt this to the needs of different social systems and societies. Natural science, consequently, must be practiced as such in accordance with the basic concepts of living
Within psychology there is the study of mental states and processes (evident through approaches such as Structuralism with the identification of mental processes as a fundamental, Functionalism’s study of the adaptive nature of mental processes, and various other schools of psychology delving into the nature of mental states and processes) and there is a definitive role the assertion of behaviour plays in the psychological study.
The definition of ‘behaviour’ is “the actions or activities of the individual as matters of psychological study” (Delbridge and Bernard, 1995, p.80).Behaviour viewed from as external can also be categorised into instinctive, cognitive and/ or responsive of the organism in certain situations.There is also the biological sense that ‘behaviour’ is viewed as a biological response of the neural system from an organism to exhibit a stimulus-response pattern usually in relation to stimuli provided from the environment.
Biologically “behaviour” is attributed to the endocrine and nervous system within an animal with the complexity of its nervous system contributing to the complexity of behaviour exhibited by an organism and also its capability to adapt and learn new responses.
The study of psychology attempts to describe and analyse behaviour and interaction of the mind and body but also in terms of describing the mental processing or introspective nature (as first stated through the psychology of Structuralism).
Empirical study within the Behaviourist psychology views that the only observable factors for psychological assessment