Behaviroism and Social Learning Theories

Behaviorism and Social Learning Theories

PSY/230

Behaviorism is built on the framework that behaviors are conditioned through environment. The theory of behaviorism was introduced to psychology by major thinkers, such as B.F. Skinner, Ivan Povlov, Edward Thorndike, Clark Hull, and John B. Watson. Skinner was the first to come up with radical behaviorism and then the other key players formed the theories that build the theory into a science of observation and analysis. It all began when Ivan Sechenov published “Reflexes of the Brain”(1863) this work laid the foundations for the study of reflexes, animal and human behavior, and neuroscience. This brought about great thought and in the year 1900 Pavlov began studying the salivary response and other reflexes. These two very important pieces of works prompted B.F. Skinner to develop the philosophy of radical behaviorism and then other theories of behaviorism and social theories. The fundamental thought surrounding behaviorism is that people are conditioned by their surroundings and no matter what might be human nature, anyone could be “taught” to be anything. Skinner proposed that free will is only an illusion and that destiny is written. There is the belief in behaviorism that there are rewards and punishments for every action and that people could learn from either. Behaviorism is, in short, a theory that is built on a belief of learned behavior. According to behaviorism, there are two basic means that a person learns behavior, classical and operant learning.

Furthermore, Classical learning is the theory that Pavlov developed that explains a person’s automatic response when coming in contact with an unconditional stimulus, the mind becomes conditioned to have an triggered response. The response becomes conditioned by the mind by association with a certain stimulus. Suppose that when you smelled your favorite food, you also heard the sound of a whistle. While the whistle is unrelated to the smell of...