In many higher educational institutions, almost at every faculty they give lectures on psychology. Therefore, many students are interested in the areas of behaviorism and other branches of science. Such knowledge will be useful in practical life. Psychology gives an idea of how the psyche of the individual works. This knowledge is important for every person, because it provides an opportunity to understand themselves and others well.
Behaviorism is a branch of psychology that studies the behavior and activity of an individual. But one of its founders, Skinner, called his brainchild more philosophy. It was based on the work of Russian scientists in the field of reflexology and the ideas of Darwinism. The founder of the movement, John Watson, wrote a special manifesto in which he spoke of the meaninglessness of the concepts of consciousness and subconsciousness. The direction gained particular popularity in the 20th century. To some extent, behaviorism is similar to psychoanalysis, but still they are different. Proponents of behaviorism believe that all concepts of "consciousness", "subconscious" and the like are quite subjective. Therefore, observation cannot be used; only the information obtained by objective methods is reliable.
Behavioralism is a direction based on reactions and incentives. That is why his supporters love the works of the famous Russian physiologist Pavlov. By reaction we mean activity, external and internal, first of all, these are movements. They can be fixed. The stimulus is the cause of this or that behavior. The nature of the reaction depends on it.
Initially, behaviorism was thought to be the simplest direction, and Watson's formula is ideal. But in the course of further experiments, it was found that one stimulus can cause different reactions or many reactions. That is why the idea was put forward that there is an intermediate link between the stimulus and the reaction.
The development of behaviorism after Watson was continued by Skinner. His main task was to study the mechanism of behavior. He developed the idea of positive reinforcement. According to Skinner, a positive stimulus affects the development of certain behaviors. In the course of scientific experiments, he confirmed his thoughts. But on the whole, his upbringing did not interest him; for him, it was much more important to study the mechanisms of behavior.
According to
Skinner, behaviorism is a
branch of psychology that should give concrete answers to the questions posed. If this cannot be achieved, then the answer does not exist. For him, the controversial point was the presence of each person’s creativity. He does not deny this, but does not show support either.
In the course of his scientific work, Skinner came to the conclusion that man is formed under the influence of society. He denied Freud's ideas that everyone creates himself as a person.
But nevertheless, behaviorists made some mistakes. The first was that any action should be considered in conjunction with a specific person. The second mistake was a reluctance to understand that a stimulus can cause many different reactions. Even if it was produced under the same conditions.