Behaviourism Theory John B. Watson

1. Behaviourism TheoryJohn B. Watson Nicole Karvelas Alison Lyn

2. Biography • Born in 1878, Greenville, South Carolina. • Earned his Ph. D in Psychology at the University of Chicago. • In 1908 he received his Doctorate. • Later became an associate professor of Psychology at John Hopkins University. • Wrote his dissertation about the relation between behaviour in the white rat and the growth of the nervous system. • Coined the term “Behaviourism” in 1913. • Famous for the Little Albert Experiment.

3. Behaviourism Theory • Watson saw psychology as the study of people’s actions with the ability to predict and control those actions. • Behaviourism considers that behaviour is observable and can be connected with other observed events. • So, there are events that lead to and follow behaviour. • Behaviourism’s goal is to explain relationships between stimuli, behaviour/responses and consequences.

4. Criticisms of Theory • His views of behaviourism was considered radical and was known for its anti - mentalism, its radical reduction of thinking to implicit response, and it heavy and somewhat simplistic reliance on conditional reactions.

5. Little Albert Experiment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt0ucxOrPQE&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FKZAYt77ZM

6. Connection to Violence in Society • John B. Watson would connect his behaviourism theory to violence in society by explaining how humans can be conditioned into violence, and once conditioned into doing violent acts, they will later commit one. • Another connection to violence in society is the observation of violence. Like the Social Learning theory,Watson would argue that when we observe a violent act, we will in turn imitate and commit something violent.

7. Statistics • For children who are exposed to violence, consequences can include emotional trauma, depression, injury and permanent disability, as well as other physical, psychological and behavioural problems that can extend into adolescence and adulthood. • On September 23, 1969 the final media report was issued. It noted that advertisers were spending $2.5 billion each year in the belief that television does influence human behaviour. • With regard to children, the report pointed out that while they turn to TV for mere entertainment, actually a process of "observational learning" takes place. • "The vast majority of experimental studies on this question have found that observed violence stimulates aggressive behaviour, rather than the opposite." • "Violence on television encourages violent forms of behaviour, and fosters moral and social values about violence in daily life which are unacceptable in a civilized society.” • http://www.cdnwomen.org/EN/section05/3_5_1_1-violence_facts.html • http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=2236&C=2058

8. Examples • The episode, entitled "True Night", featured Muniz playing a famous comic book writer who becomes a violent serial killer that preys on a group of local gang-bangers after they force him to watch while they rape and murder his pregnant fiancée. • In court, Nathan's lawyer uses as a defense a study that shows that people who see gun violence are more than twice as likely to commit violence themselves

9. Questions?????

10. Thanks for Listening!!!!