Behaviorism of Pavlov and Watson

1. Behaviorism of Pavlov and Watson

2. Russian influence on American Psychology • Early 20th century • Sechanov - objective measurement of behavior as reflexes • Pavlov – physiologist studying dog digestive system and the conditioned response • American behaviorism based upon the S -> R relationship

3. Reports of the Conditioned Response • 1904 – Pavlov reported finding the conditioned response while accepting a Nobel prize in physiology • However: • 1902 – American Edward Twitmeyer reported similar behavior in humans in his dissertation • 1904 – He reported these findings at the American Psychological Association Conference

4. Why Pavlovian Conditioning and not Twitmeyer Conditioning? • Related to the discovery process in science • Discovery usually evolves – one discovery leads to another as you keep investigating it • While scientific discoveries evolve, there is no clear cut judgment as to the value of the evolution like natural selection – should it continue

5. The situation • Two research findings, both found accidentally, both report the same findings, and reported at the same time • One ignored for 70 years • One continued to become a major foundation of psychology

6. The Fame of Pavlov • Pavlov announced his finding and his intent to continue his research while accepting a Nobel prize • Twitmeyer – a lowly lecturer reported his findings as the last speaker at an APA session chaired by William James and others who showed no interest in his ideas

7. Reasons for Twitmeyer’s obscurity • Proposed reasons: • Most of his findings were uninteresting to his audience • Twitmeyer unable to promote his ideas • American psychology not ready to see the significance of his discovery • Poor introduction by James and lack of discussion • Blaming his obscurity on him personally is probably overly simplistic

8. Pavlov – highly respected scientist Established highly productive lab Other researchers interested Substantial support system encouraged him Twitmeyer – new with no reputation Small lab, no staff, little money No colleagues interested No security – junior faculty position Pavlov and Twitmeyer

9. Most important reason • American psychology not ready to see importance of his discovery and the need to follow-up on it • American psychologists were mostly dualists • Twitmeyer’s findings that that a mental process can cause a physical reaction was unimportant

10. Important aside • Neither Pavlov nor Twitmeyer 1st to report this type of conditioning • Animals salivating at he sight of food was reported in 1763, 1803, 1872, and 1878 • Pavlov’s fame is due to his continued study of the phenomenon and his enthusiasm

11. Pavlov, the driven scientist • Science was important than almost everything else • 1887-1891 – period of poverty – did his research at home • Lab assistant ½ hour late one morning during the Bolshevik revolution

12. Pavlov the surgeon • Recognized that standard lesion work had limited value • Introduced the use of sterile procedures during animal surgery • Major surgical procedures: • isolation of part of the stomach in a pouch outside a dog • Severed the esophagus so food would not go to stomach

13. Pavlov and classical conditioning • 1st noted in 1891 described a nuisance response • Later studies described what we know about classical conditioning: generalization, extinction, principles of reinforcement, etc.

14. Other studies in Pavlov’s lab • 1921 – Role of conditioning in neurotic behavior • Conditioned terror response • 1925 – Conflict induced neurosis • Pavlov’s conclusion was that neurotic behavior was an imbalance in the interaction of inhibitory and excitatory systems

15. Other studies in Pavlov’s lab • Individual differences • Impoverished versus enriched environments

16. John B. Watson • Adopted Pavlov’s objectivism • 1903 – awarded 1st PhD in Psychology from the University of Chicago • Early studies were on the neurological and behavioral development of the rat • Hampton Court Maze

17. Watson defines behaviorism • 1913 – publishes Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It • Rejected introspection and all mention of mental processing and consciousness • To be a member of the natural sciences, psychology needed to become more objective

18. Watson as the founder of behaviorism • Watson reported that most of the behavioral ideals were developed by a colleague, Knight Dunlap • Max F. Meyer published in 1911 Fundamentals of Human Behavior stated basically the same thing as Watson • Why is Watson given the credit?

19. Watson as the founder of behaviorism • Chairman of Psychology Department at Johns Hopkins • Good looking and an eloquent speaker • Able to take many ideas, crystallize them into a system of study, and had the position to promote it

20. Primary principles of behaviorism • Only study observable behavior • Verbal reports from subjects can be used, but only if supported by observations • Reaction time studies could be used • Some mental tests can be used, but not those that measure mental processes • Study of animal behavior is important

21. 1919 study of the human infant • Fear conditioning in a human infant • Conditioning not just a laboratory phenomenon with animals • Attempted to answer 3 questions: • Can an infant be conditioned to fear an animal that appears at the same time with a loud fear producing sound? • Would such conditioning be transferred to other animals and inanimate objects? • How long would these fears persist?

22. The study • Albert healthy 9 month old showed no fear of live animals and inanimate objects placed near him. Showed fear to loud noise • 2 months later – fear conditioned by striking iron bar behind his head when he attempted to touch a white rat • 5 days later – generalization test – Albert shown animals and inanimate objects • 5 days later – 1 trial of pairing white rat with noise- Albert moved to different room – showed little fear t rat, rabbit or dog • 30 days later – length of time question

23. Inaccuracies about what happened in the study • Watson forced to leave academia still wrote many articles in the popular press without his data –he burned everything • Bottom line: study poorly controlled and badly confounded – interesting but uninterruptible

24. Watson after academia • Lost his position at Johns Hopkins due to affair with his graduate student Rosalyn Rainer • Never able to find another position • Turned to advertising and publishing psychology books for the public • Continued to study children and conditioned fear – decreasing fears