Modern Psychology

Abstract

The study aims to identify the different perspectives of three well known psychologists Watson, Skinner and Tolman. The research highlights the key work of the three psychologists in the area of behavior psychology in relation to modern psychology. Furthermore, the research also compares the work of the Watson, Skinner and Tolman and presents an overview with respect to behaviorism.

Table of Contents

Abstractii

Introduction1

Thesis Statement1

Aims and Objectives1

Discussion2

Watson2

Skinner3

Tolman4

Targeted Behaviorism5

Conclusion6

References7

Modern Psychology

Introduction

In an important sense, questions about the social origins of modern psychology are fundamental to any consideration of social context of specific psychological ideas during the present century. In fact, there was a period during which the creation and dissemination of psychological ideas was strongly influenced by the existence of a professional group of psychologists, who had immense knowledge, as they had control over validated, psychological ideas. Some of the major names in the history of psychology are Watson, Skinner and Tolman. These psychologists have significant contributions to human behavior. As a result, the research paper will focus on a comparison between the perspectives of the three psychologists in relation to modern psychology as modern psychology is related to human behavior.

Thesis Statement

There is a significant relationship between modern psychology and the perspectives of Watson, Skinner, and Tolman.

Aims and Objectives

The aim of this research paper is to compare the perspectives of Watson, Skinner and Tolman and determine how the perspectives are related to modern psychology.

Discussion

Watson

One of the new trends in modern psychology is behaviorism. John Watson is one of the pioneers of behaviorism. In just ten years before Watson received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. The main provisions of behaviorism by Watson were simple, bold and straight. He called for a scientific psychology dealing only with observable behavior, which can be objectively described in terms of "stimulus-response." Later, Watson rejected all concepts and terms related to the thought process in psychology. Words such as 'image', 'reason', 'consciousness', which have traditionally been used ever since the early philosophy for the behavioral sciences have lost all meaning. Watson is particularly stubborn in denial of the concept of consciousness. He believed that no one had ever seen or touched, or smelt consciousness (Buckley, 1989).

According to Watson, consciousness is nothing more than a scientific assumption, which is equally inaccessible to experimental verification, as the old notion of soul. Therefore, methods of introspection, which suggest the existence of conscious processes, were entirely irrelevant and not related to the science of behavior (Benjamin, 2007). The basic ideas of behaviorism movement were not created by Watson as they were developed in psychology and biology for a number of years. Watson, as well as all the founders of the psychology, developed ideas and positions that were consistent with the intellectual spirit of the times. Here we consider are the main forces that Watson was so successfully brought together to form a new system of psychology: 1) the philosophical tradition of objectivism and mechanism, and 2) animal psychology, and 3) functional psychology.

In 1913, Watson's insistence on greater objectivity in ...