Definition of Psychology
Considering the word’s origin, psychology is the doctrine of the human soul. This science generally studies human behavior, thoughts, feelings, and mind. Undoubtedly, psychology is found in everyone’s life, whether paying attention to it or not. This diverse science consists of various subdivisions that study different theories, and learning theory is one of the areas studied by psychology.
Learning is a change in behavior due to experience (OpenStax, 2020). Learning theory studies methods, systems, and ideas related to learning activities. All of this is being studied to apply this knowledge to quality instruction that meets the interests and needs of learners. Behaviorism and humanism are both approaches to the theory of human learning, although they are radically opposed.
The Basic Principles of Behaviorism
Behaviorism is an approach to psychology that considers only the physical characteristics of a person and their reaction to the environment, ignoring human interests, intelligence, and feelings. Behaviorism is known for bringing objectivity to psychology and observing visible behavior during an experiment (OpenStax, 2020). Behaviorists believed that the study of consciousness was a mistake since it was impossible to assess the mind objectively, and the only acceptable option for them was to control behavior (Muhajirah, 2020). Behaviorists generally limit psychology to studying human and animal behavior and believe prejudice can be determined without considering mental behavior. Behaviorist scientists have identified the relationship between reward and behavior.
The Basic Principles of Humanism
Humanism is an approach to psychology that focuses on the study of people. It is fundamentally different from the behaviorist approach. Proponents of humanism believe that people determine their behavior, while behaviorists argue that people act in response to their environment, meaning that experiences shape and change their behavior. Abraham Maslow can be considered the father of the humanistic trend in psychology (Muhajirah, 2020). The main ideas of humanistic-oriented psychology focus on the individual and their experience, paying attention to and valuing human dignity, creativity, and self-realization.
Key Historical Events When Behaviorism Impacted the Field of Psychology
Edward Thorndike’s Experiments
The main historical events of behaviorism include Edward Thorndike’s law of effect and Ivan Pavlov’s principle of reinforcement. The law of effect is the reaction to the subject’s action (OpenStax, 2020). In the case of a positive reaction to an action, the subject intensifies the reaction, and in the case of a negative response, the action weakens or disappears. Edward Thorndike experimented on cats in boxes (OpenStax, 2020). Their task was to get out of the box, but this was possible only after the cat pressed a bar or pulled a lever.
Such actions set the thread in motion, lifting the weight that opened the door. If the cat performed the required reaction, it was rewarded with food. The time it took to learn the reaction was measured during the experiment. Even if the cat accidentally stepped on the switch, it was rewarded, and the timer was turned off. The observation allowed the experimenter to display the results as a graph (OpenStax, 2020). The graphic showed that the cats demonstrated gradual learning, with different types learning similarly but at different rates.
Ivan Pavlov’s Experiment
The behaviorist Ivan Pavlov invented the principle of reinforcement or classical conditioning. Pavlov’s experiment was accidental, as the researcher worked in physiology and studied the amount of saliva secreted from a particular food (OpenStax, 2020). The principle is based on the fact that experimental animals or humans develop an unconscious reflex in response to a stimulus (OpenStax, 2020). Pavlov was conducting his experiments on dogs when he accidentally noticed that saliva is released at the sight of food. Over time, saliva began to be secreted at the sight of the empty bowl from which the dog was fed and eventually at the footsteps of the person who usually fed them (OpenStax, 2020).
Later, he conducted several separate controlled experiments to confirm his opinion. Each time, he chose new factors unrelated to food, such as sound, light, and so on, as stimuli. Once the response to sound was learned, the presence of food was not necessary for salivation. Through his experiments, Pavlov discovered learned and unlearned responses, such as salivation in dogs in response to a particular sound or any other non-food-related stimulus (OpenStax, 2020).
Inspired by Pavlov, John Watson founded behaviorism based on the principles of classical conditioning. He conducted similar research using stimuli, but he studied fear and people this time. He was convinced that the behavior of animals and humans results from reactions to factors (such as fear, for example) and can be studied, subsequently proving the idea experimentally. Thus, the experiments conducted by I. Pavlov and E. Thorndike were significant discoveries and are still relevant today. Behaviorism as a branch of learning theory still impacts the modern world. The study of psychology is impossible without understanding the history, experiments, and scientists of the past.
References
Muhajirah, M. (2020). Basic of Learning Theory. International Journal of Asian Education, 1(1), 37–42. Web.
OpenStax. (2020). Psychology (2nd ed.). XanEdu Publishing Inc. Web.