Learning from a behaviorist perspective

Behaviorism began with a persuasive 1913 polemic by John B. Watson which identified scientific psychology as part of biology. Watson was succeeded by neo-behaviorists Clark Hull, E. C. Tolman and, a little later, by radical behaviorist B. F. Skinner, who became the most influential. All behaviorists were strongly influenced by the work of the Russian physiologist IP. Pavlov and the field soon split between those who studied Pavlovian (classical) and operant (instrumental, Skinnerian) conditioning, primarily with animals as subjects. Skinner discovered new experimental methods which led to the discovery of reinforcement schedules. Behaviorism was over-shadowed in the 1960s by the cognitive movement, whose proponents nevertheless strove to stick with third-party-accessible data although they largely abandoned work with animals and were less finicky about theory than the behaviorists. Cognitive psychology rarely aspired to practical application where radical behaviorism, particularly, scored some successes. If psychology is ever to be a science of practical use, it will be behavioristic.

Duke Scholars

Author John E. R. Staddon Psychology & Neuroscience