Understanding of Psychology Letters



Understanding of Psychology Letters

Introduction

Similarities and difference between Yerkes and Watson

In the first half of the century, Robert Mearns Yerkes played a leading part in the development of American Psychology. He was the leading factor in the investigation of behavior of infrahuman animals. He gave particular emphasis to the higher primates. For these things, he is very well known as it helps in maintaining and emphasizing the strong biological cast of American Psychology (Benjamin, 2006). His own work in the field of animal has antedated the growth of behaviorism, changed the face of Gestalt psychology, and existed for the completely evolutionary, traditional and psychological tradition, which he called as comparative psychobiology.

He also found out that the psychology dealt with the human being. Being the chairperson of the American psychologist he was able to prepare programs for the Humans being through which the army was tested i.e. its soldiers were tested for different mental capabilities. Robert Yerkes is well known for his work on comparative psychology, which deals with the Chimpanzees and Apes (Cohen, 1979). His work was greatly influenced by the Darwinism; this can be seen by the fact that is his writing emphasized the difference between the human and the infrahuman's, was only matter of degrees.

John Watson grew up in South Carolina. He did his Doctorate from the University of Chicago in Psychology. He was a psychologist who believed in the Behaviorist point of View. According to him, Psychology should be considered the science of observable behavior. He was follower of behaviorist point of view who consider science to be purely a part of objective experimental branch of natural science (McKeachie and Doyle, 1966). The main purpose of psychology accroding to him was the prediction and than the control of behavior (Myers, 1998). He said in the year 1913 that the Introspection does not form any essential part of the methods, nor is the scientific value relating to the data dependent on the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpret when based on consciousness (Roback, 1961).

He is well known for his controversial experiment known to the present world as the little Albert. John Watson with his assistant conditioned a child to fear a white mouse. The boy whenever got in contact with the mice got afraid due to this conditioning (Todd and Morris, 1994). This is because John Watson associated the mouse to the terrible sound in the form of loud and freighting sound. He was able to make the mouse look devil to this little boy (Wade, 1995). There was a serious criticism in general public and the psychologist community who said that it was against the norms of ethics. The boy died at the age of six due to the side effect of the experiments (Watson, 1954).

I am not willing to turn psychology over to Titchener and his school

Watson has a different point of view when he takes Psychology. He considers that the use of science in the field of Psychology is a ...